Roadtrip to Exmouth, Winderabandi Point & Kalbarri – Part IV
One could argue that driving 7 hours after snorkeling for an hour and toasting in the sun might not be the best idea as it is. It certainly isn’t when most of that drive is through the night. Night driving in Australia really isn’t recommended because wildlife such as kangaroo in particular get very active at night. They flock to the tarmac because it’s still warm from the heat of the day. We were driving for three hours when the sun set, so the majority of our drive had to be done in the darkness.
We still have about 3 hours to go when we see the first flock of roos. One of them sits right on my lane as I’m driving and doesn’t even bat an eyelid when I drive around it. In the fading daylight, the brownish kangaroos merge all too well with the red sand on the side of the road, which makes them even more difficult to spot. Liam and I are both watching the road with eagle eyes to make sure we don’t miss any.
One hour from Kalbarri, just before we turn off the highway, we can hear a loud pop on the side of the car. When Liam stops to check, he’s flabbergasted to see that one of the back tire’s outer tube has completely shredded. The inner tube seems fine so we decide to carry on driving slowly. Not even 10 km later, we can see a light waving on the side of the road. A young fella with a beanie hat stops us. We’re not sure what do to, it’s 10 pm and this may well be a set up. He seems genuinely shaken and desperate for a lift to Kalbarri, to the point of offering to us that he can sit on the boat so we don’t have to let him into the car. It’s 10 pm and it’s getting seriously cold. Kalbarri is another 50 km ahead, so we take him in and keep driving. It’s immediately becoming apparent that the tire is now on the brink so we have to pull over and change it. Thankfully, our new friend Chris from Mauritius is a car mechanic so he changes the tire almost formula one pit stop style.
Back on the road with the spare tyre, we spot kangaroo after kangaroo. This really isn’t the place for night driving let along speeding, which is how our friend came off the road in the first place. After dropping Chris safely at the YHA in Kalbarri, we are so happy to finally get to the Kalbarri Edge Resort, where we will spend the last two nights of our holiday. At 1 am we drop like flies into the soft bed, thankful that we don’t have to set up a tent again.
Kalbarri has an incredible amount of activities on offer. I have been here once, Liam several times, and we’re still nowhere near bored of the place. After cooking up our last bacon and eggs on this trip, we explore the Blue Holes, just a few kilometres out of town. These rock pools off the coast are perfect for snorkelling. Sadly we get there in high tide, and we don’t fancy snorkelling in these choppy waters, so we opt instead to drop the boat into the Murchison River to go towards the national park and see some gorges from the water.
The river is tidal since it’s fed by ocean water from one side and rain water inland. There is a narrow passage from the ocean into the river, which we wouldn’t even dream of navigating with our little tinny. Vicious waves break over the reef that separates the ocean from the estuary in Kalbarri. We head up the river, admiring the outer ranges of the Kalbarri National Park. Many little bays feature invitingly looking picnic benches but we savour our pies from the bakery (by now we must be on pie number 5 at least for the trip) on the boat. As we progress past the ranges on the one side and wetlands featuring lots of Pelicans (Kalbarri’s signature animal) and other birdlife, the water becomes more and more shallow, to the point where Liam has to get out of the boat to push us into deeper waters. As this becomes a bit tedious, we decide to turn around so Liam can do some fishing and I can enjoy our last gorgeous holiday sunset at the beach.
After savouring the last of our meat and burgers, sweet potatoes and zucchini as well as cheese and crackers in our little apartment, we head to the pub for a couple of pints. The Kalbarri Motor Hotel looks like a traditional country pub, featuring lots of fishing images, one with a great white shark. The life music is heavily 80s centred which is always a guarantor for a fun night – but we don’t last long. After all this camping, we really value our comfortable bed and the Jacuzzi in the bathroom. It’s astonishing how you don’t take the comforts of a running hot shower or an electric kettle for granted anymore after a few nights of camping. I love about sleeping in a tent that it brings you back to basics in a way.
The Kalbarri National Park stretches north and south of the town. On the way back to Perth, we take our time to stop at some of the viewpoints. These stunning cliffs provide faraway ocean views and we can again see many humpback whales breaching in the distance. A few easy to get to lookouts on the way out of Kalbarri are Eagle Gorge, Grandstand, Island Rock, Castle Cove and Nature’s Bridge. The last three are accessible without the need to drive from one to another, via a short boardwalk. The cliffs and gorges of this national park alone are worth coming here, but the humpback spectacle makes it even harder to leave the place on a sunny, 28 degree western Australian winter day. But we need to make a move.
Before I know it, we’re just under 2 hours from Perth and I’m just finishing this blog post with my laptop sat on a cardboard box on my lap so it doesn’t overheat, listening to Dido singing “I still got sand in my shoes”. How true!
