Kalbarri is a tiny little place located at the mouth of the Murchison River. I was amazed to read in one of the tourist brochures that the population here is 2,000 – most of those people must be living in far-flung farming properties in the region – certainly there doesn’t seem to be any thing like that number of people in town.The weather here is less extreme than further north. We are officially south of the North West of WA and I guess this would be accurately described as being the northern most reaches of the mid-west coast. A good number of Perth folk spend their winters here, even though it doesn’t get anywhere as warm and toasty as ‘further up’. The winter temps here range from the low to mid 20s. My idea of paradise I think! I have never been one for the extreme hot and this trip has confirmed my love of slightly cooler climates. Rain-fall here is quite poor, as displayed by the fairly barren sandy coastal flats that surround the town. The Rainbow Jungle is out along the road heading out of Kalbarri town. This scenic drive takes you down to all the coastal gorges and some outstanding coastline. Massive multicoloured and layered sandstone and limestone cliffs tower over the sparkling turquoise ocean and enormous waves hurl themselves against the forbidding cliffs and rocks. Amongst all the gorges are some wonderful surfing beaches. Yesterday, there were whales breaching wherever we looked. A ‘must-do’ is to sit and watch the boats attempt the break from the river into the ocean. Worse bar than Ballina.

I know I will never do justice to the beauty here, but I will try with some of my pictures.

Kalbarri reminds us so much of Lennox Head 20 to 25 years ago. Although Lennox is still beautiful, we think it has been spoilt by far too many people in a small town. Kalbarri has a beautiful peaceful charm about it.

Fresh snapper for our BBQ tonight and tomorrow we are splurging on a couple of local lobsters….think lobster mornay !!!! Yumm….