Yeah Why Not !
No rest for the wicked. As you know we arrived home from Bali late Saturday. My plan for Sunday was to catch up on the Blog, relax & maybe enjoy a bit of a "Sunday Session" out the back while listening to music...
That plan was quickly blown out of the water, as Jenny, Jesper & Thomas were keen to go into Mandurah and see a movie. The only catch was they wanted to go by boat. After updating the blog & giving the idea some serious consideration, I thought it would be a good option. So I put some fuel in the boat while the other 3 loaded on the safety gear & esky full of drinks
It takes about 45 minutes to get into Mandurah in our little boat, along the way we stopped at Boundary Island for a swim, the temperature was about 35C. The movie was The Revenant, I didn't mind it. We were going to also have dinner in Mandurah but decided to just head home taking an alternative route through the Mandurah Canals. Once out in the Estuary there was a strong southerly wind to contend with, which meant we all got a little wet.
We stop for a quick swim at Boundary Island on our way into Mandurah.
The Dudes are keen for some camping, so come Monday morning we load up the Landcruiser with our gear & hit the road by 1pm. We only travel about 200kms to Gingin & stay the night at my Uncle & Aunties Orchard Farm.
The next day it's another short 300km drive up the Indian Ocean Drive to Cliffhead. Along the way we stop in at quite a few fishing towns & holiday shack settlements, like Grey, Jurien Bay & Sandy Bay. The temperature is hovering around the mid 30's & we hear on the radio that a Tropical Cyclone is starting to form up north.
Nearly ready to leave the Farm at Gingin.
We stop on the beach at the small Holiday Shack Settlement of Grey.
It is Australia Day and people are enjoying the beach at Jurien Bay. Someone looks paranoid about the sun.
Here comes Jenny, Jurien Bay Town Jetty.
Once at Cliffhead, a free camping spot on the beach, we find a nice place under some trees. Thomas isn't feeling too well, Jenny & I are guessing he is dehydrated or has picked up some virus over in Bali (or both). We try to get him to drink more water & he rests up in the tent, while the 3 of us relax.
Camped at Cliffhead.
It was a warm night but bearable, I slept well, Jenny got her usual 6 hours shut eye, but the "Dudes" said they hardly slept a wink. Since everyone said they still felt tired I decided that it would be best if I took care of the driving. We were on our way again by 8.30am, there was a quick stop over in Geraldton to purchase some supplies, then we headed for Horrocks, a beautiful little coastal town. From Horrocks we took the dirt back road towards Port Gregory, after about 20kms the dirt connects back up with the bitumen & we continue to Kalbarri. I didn't bother stopping at too many of the coastal sites as the Dudes were both fast asleep in the back. Though not far out of Kalbarri we did stop at Pot Alley.
Quick lunch break at Horrocks.
We check out Pot Alley, just south of Kalbarri.
Jenny & I have been to Kalbarri countless times as children & adults, we even holiday there with our own children when they were younger on several occasions. Thinking about the town you come to a realisation that you actually love the place. It has a lot going for it, fantastic scenery, beaches, fishing, great hiking, gorges & the town is a reasonable size of 1500 people. I think this was the reason for taking the Danish Dudes there, it is truly unique in Australia & we only had 5 days available for this trip. It is just under 700kms from our home so not too much pressure on driving ridiculous distances.
Wednesday we arrive into Kalbarri around 2pm, did a small 4WD trip up the Murchison River, then went and booked into the town caravan park. It costs $58 for the 4 of us. We quickly set up the tents, Thomas is still struggling with a fever, it's hot & humid so we walk down to the nearby Pub for some coldies, air conditioning, game of pool & later on dinner.
Caravan Park at Kalbarri.
Jenny lines up to pot her next ball.
Danish Dudes 3, def. Team wiljen 2.
Dinner time at the Kalbarri Hotel.
Once back at the Caravan Park, Thomas crashes out in the tent while, Jesper, Jenny & I play a dice game called 10 Thousand. It ends up being a very hot & humid night, the temp didn't get below 28C. The Cyclone up north is still building & now we also hear there is a massive bush fire south of us near Grey (which we stopped at 2 days earlier) that has closed Indian Ocean Drive.
Come Thursday morning we have a dilemma. It was a very hot night, Jen & I even pulled our famous old trick of having a cold shower & not drying off in the very early hours of the morning. The heat was starting to take its toll on the "Dudes". Thomas was still feeling quite sick, he had a vomit earlier & was still running a high temperature. So with a touch of sadness we decided to head for home a day early, departing at 9am.
We did call into the Kalbarri National Park on the way out of town to check out the Loop & do a short walk to Natures Window. Z Bend was going to be too taxing with a sick Thomas & forecast 38C temperature, so Jen & I will check it out another time.
At the lookout "The Loop", Kalbarri NP.
Looks a bit crowded at "Natures Window".
It's a very hot humid day at the Kalbarri NP.
An unusual looking rest stop during the 1km walk to Natures Window.
Near Badgingarra we skirt around the big bush fire that had closed Indian Ocean Drive. Smoke in front.
Next it was get onto the Brand Highway (so we could skirt around the still out of control bush fire) & head for home. We shared the driving between Jesper, Jen & myself, while Thomas did his best to rest up. There was only 3 quick stops during the 700km journey home, Northhampton for lunch out of the car fridge, S Bend for fuel & ice creams, Regan's Ford for 99.9cpl diesel & stretch the legs. We pulled into our driveway just before 7pm after a quick 1460km tour.
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