Kalbarri - 19 September

19 September 

On to Kalbarri the next morning via a few National Park lookouts overlooking the Gorge and the Murchison River. 

We took a whale watching cruise late in the afternoon and "enjoyed", with the eight tourists from Hong Kong and China the movements of the whales and the dolphins. Lorraine asked the skipper if he could let them know that the reason the whales disappear so quickly after they've broken the surface of the water is because they squeal and shriek so loudly - tell them that the whales are scared!

Ooooh!  Arrrrgh!  Scream, Scream!
Whales heading south.
It was great to see some whales slapping their tales and rising above the water - particularly after the poor showing on the whale cruise at Kooljiman/Cape Levique.  And after all of our attempts to catch a fish on this trip - from Derby, Broome ... to Kalbarri we decided if we were to catch anything, it had to be here, our penultimate town on the west coast.  Who knew there was such a thing as a 4 o'clock in the morning?!  But it was at 4 am the alarm roused us and we were up and off to the jetty to board the boat by 4.45 am.  
Rods and reels all ready for early morning action.
After introducing ourselves to the other seven anglers we enjoyed a hot cup of coffee, then we were off out the heads to the open sea, the Indian Ocean.  
Dawn breaking. Beautiful!

Clearly the early morning is the time to catch fish.  Lorraine caught a red snapper and had difficulty hauling in the 6 kg monster, calling, "John, help me, help me!" 
Lorraine's catch - a red snapper.
... but John was hauling in his own red snapper at the same time, so the skipper helped Lorraine haul in her catch.


 John successfully brought in about six fish, a couple had to be thrown back, a couple kept for additional bait and these two - absolute beauties!
John's red snapper and bald-chin grouper/blue-bone grouper.
The fangs on John's bald-chin grouper/blue-bone grouper.
This fish Lorraine caught - a beautiful specimen, but with sharp spikes - not keen to handle before it went back into the ocean.
We headed off the next morning with a fridge full of cryo-vacced fish and tummies full of baked grouper cheeks.  Yum yum!

"Z Bend" a part of a distinctive zig-zag of the Murchison River.
We hiked down the bottom of the Gorge to the Murchison River.  The shape of the river is formed by the fractures within the red Tumblagooda Sandstone - a very different type of rock to that which we've encountered anywhere else on our trip.

The hike was another grade 4 and with John's knee being a bit dicky again, it was certainly a challenge for him.  The tens machine has been doing a great job of keeping his knee in 'working order' but ...

John tackling the grade 4 hike into the Gorge.

A magnificent overhand of rock showing years of formation.
 The "path" down into the Gorge was signposted, like many, but it was basically clambering over boulders and rocks with two steel ladders to negotiate.

The "path" into the Gorge
Safely near the bottom of the Gorge.
We enjoyed a small break at the river and then started the ascent - John thankfully finds that part of the hike easier than the downward section.

We then made our way to, "Nature's Window" a beautiful rock formation that with a decent camera - would allow a proper photo showing the Gorge in the background!  Damn those thieves who stole my Canon EOS at Karijini :(

"Nature's Window".


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leaving Melbourne Bound for Lock 9 via Wedderburn

Image
Our plans for leaving early on Friday 24 th June were dashed when Lorraine receive a telephone call telling her that the rose garden at Inala Village in Blackburn South was going to be demolished.  The rose garden was established in 1942 in memory of the men of the Salvation Army who formed the band for the 2/22 nd battalion Lark Force in WWII.  Lorraine’s maternal grandfather was one of those men and his rose bush had to be dug up, bagged up and replanted in our rose garden at home.   So, it wasn’t until 10 pm that we arrived at Hard Hill Tourist Reserve, Wedderburn, having left home at 5.15 pm.  But with Q, we were set up and playing cards with a nice hot cuppa by 10.10 pm.  Bliss!   The township of Wedderburn really took off in the 1850’s with the discovery of gold in 1852 with the population fluctuating between 6000 and several hundred, but in the 1890’s gold ceased to be regarded as a major source of income for Wedderburn.  However, th...
Read more

Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek

Image
7 August - Windjana Gorge Windjana Gorge, Lillimooloora Police Station and Tunnel Creek on the map. The sign at the entrance to the Gorge tells us that, the "Lennard River has carved a 4 km Gorge through the limestone of the Napier Range which is part of an extensive fossilised barrier reef from the Devonian times, 360 million years ago."  The Devonian Reef is a distinctive feature of the Kimberley; the limestone range stands high above the surrounding plain of savannah woodlands and grasslands. It is truly majestic.   View from our campite. Windjana isn't a Gorge where you get to luxuriate in cool waters - it is the territory of crocodiles. "Freshies" as they are, there are still warning notices around telling us not to swim here - and there's also a photo of a mangled foot, courtesy of a croc, on a notice board. On our early morning walk we saw about two dozen crocs sunning themselves on the banks of the river however another camper told...
Read more

Monkey Mia - Hamelin Pool Station - Denham - Shell Beach - 18 September 2017

Image
Monkey Mia We had an early start for the drive to Monkey Mia.  Lorraine was keen to swim with the dolphins - we figure the dolphins don't know where the "imaginary exclusion line" is - but there weren't many dolphins at the early feeding session.  To protect the dolphins and ensure they retain their ability to search for their own food in the wild, only two people are offered one fish each to feed to the dolphins. Tourists patiently waiting like school children! It was a bit cool so we watched a couple of the "feeding sessions", enjoyed a caffeine fix and headed back to Hamelin Pool Station for a Devonshire Tea. Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station Hamelin Pool Devonshire Teahouse. Hamelin Pool Station   The shores of Hamelin Pool are dotted with  stromatolites , the world's largest and oldest living fossils, and they are among the most diverse in the world and show us what marine ecosystems would have looked like three billion years ago...
Read more