Day 79: A Day in Kalbarri National Park

The strong winds have abated and the rain has gone, so it is a good day to spend outdoors. It is still a bit on the cold side, but at least it is fine. We are going to explore the inland attractions today which largely revolve around the Murchison River Gorges and the Kalbarri National Park.

 

On the way out of town is the Meanarra Hill Lookout, so it is our first stop. We are a bit overwhelmed at the money that has been spent on this lookout, and it all looks quite new. It really is first class, and provides a great view of the township and the mouth of the Murchison River.

The woke contribution to this wonderful lookout is a virtual "Welcome to Country" (you crank the handle and a voice delivers the message !)

The only surprising thing is there are no handrails, the viewing platforms go right to the edge of the drop off with nothing to stop you going over if you tripped or fell.

There is a large covered viewing area with seats

There are several Viewing platforms 

Looking towards the town and river mouth ( the breaking waves are a reef near the entrance channel)

Looking further North of the estuary

Now we have a drive of around 20 km into the National Park to see some of the key attractions of the Murchison gorges. Our first stop is at "Natures Window", an amazing rock formation that frames a view of the gorge and must be worn out on instagram.

The pathway down to Natures Window

Natures Window

It is located in a bit of a precarious spot which requires a walk on good pathways to the lookout, and a bit of scrambling over rocks, once again with no safety barriers, to get to the final rock formation.

This photo was taken from the Skywalk which we visited later, it is the final part of the walk along a rocky ridge with substantial drops over the edges

There we some great views of the gorge from the platform that Nature's Window is on.

We could also see the Skywalk overlooking the gorge , which will visit next.

Kalbarri National Park is also renowned for it's variety of wildflowers, many of which are currently in bloom. Here are a few we spotted on the trail to Nature's Window.

It is a short drive to the Kalbarri Skywalk, clearly the feature of the park these days. Two massive steel walkways are cantilevered out from the gorge rock wall giving an amazing vista of the gorge. Completed in 2020, it is a masterful piece of engineering.

By the time we got to the Skywalk it was close to lunch time. First we had a coffee, but after spending some time admiring the view from the Skywalk we came back and bought a toastie for lunch.

A cafe and souvenir store is part of the complex

One of the Skywalk Platforms

There are 2 cantilevered viewing platforms

Great view looking down on the river gorge from the Skywalk

It's a long way down

There is another viewpoint in this area, a bit further up river known as Z Bend, so to complete our investigation of this gorge area , we head there next.

The Lookout

Another area of the park where there are views of more upper levels of the river is about a 45 km drive from here. As we have come all this way, we head off to see it. There are 2 lookouts, Hawks Head Lookout and Ross Graham Lookout, named after the first headmaster of Kalbarri Primary School who was a keen conservationist.

First we go to Hawks Head Lookout.

There are 2 black swans on the river

It is so calm you can see the slip stream behind a duck swimming on the river

I thinks this rock is the Hawks Head

There were a few more interesting wildflowers.

Ross Graham's Lookout was a little less spectacular, but you can walk a short distance down to the river from there.

View from the lookout

The river bed

By the time we got back to Kalbarri, it was late afternoon, so we decided to go to the pub for dinner. It is just across the road from the river entrance and a short walk from the caravan park. A nice spot to see the sunset from.

Tomorrow we have an early start to go out on a lobster boat. We have to be at the pier at 6.15 am.