We drove out to Kalbarri Gorge for a look. We had to leave the vans and trailer at the gate of the park as the road in is about 27 km of corrugated red and yellow dirt! Mum and Dad jumped into Fred with me and we followed Uncle John and Nic into the park. The plant-life was fantastic - magnificent orange bottle brushes, red and pink grevillias and a heap of other plants I couldn't name. We turned off at the first lookout for our first glimpse of the gorge - utterly brilliant! It was hot (over 34 degrees) and the flies were EVERYWHERE - but the view was worth it. We felt lucky to have our fly-nets on (they look daggy but do the job). Nic wins the award for the most photos taken - she finished off a 2 gigabyte memory card in her camera today.
We finally drove on to the Z Bend for a look. The walk was 1.2 km and we weren't going to do it as we were running out of time. We thought we would just go in a little way - but of course, then met a man walking out who told us it was well worth the effort... so on we went. He was right! The view was brilliant!
The colours in the cliffs, caves and rock features are truly magnificent. There was so much to see... and this is probably the first gorge of many we will see on this trip.
We finally left the gorge, well after 1.00 o'clock and went on our way. After a late and short stop for lunch, we drove on until we found an overnight camp spot about 40 km south of Billabong. We pulled off the road and set up camp - battling the bloody flies the whole time! It was dark before the flies finally packed it in for the day. Mum has become quite the expert at eating and drinking under her fly veil!
This morning we woke to a misty, foggy morning with our swags and pillows quite damp! Yewww! We packed up quickly as the flies had woken early and started to annoy us. We drove on through deepening and rather ominous clouds - knowing we were going to hit rain (mum's aching knees told her so!). The cloud over the desert was pretty spectacular!
We finally hit a bit of rain coming into Denham - but it didn't dampen the view of this lovely seaside town on Shark Bay. We had just pulled into the caravan park when the rain came down - we really just had to wait until it finished before setting up camp. The ground was certainly awash with water!
We set up camp (Nic and I decided on tents because of the weather) and then went for a look at the World Heritage Centre - very interesting and I will write more about it later.
Tonight we had just started cooking tea when the real storm hit. The winds were wild and the rain torrential. All we could do is stand out in the soaking rain, trying to hold down the awning of the caravan so it didn't get ripped away. I don't think I have ever been so wet. As I write this, it is still pouring rain and storming outside. I haven't checked my tent - I assume it's still standing but I think my bedding is probably floating by this stage! Ah well, nothing a few red wines won't fix.
Hello to Danni at home in Bello - so great to hear from you Dan... I hope we can catch up soon! Hi also to Neil and Barb in Victoria - great to hear from you and great to know you are following our travels!
1 comment:
oh Nerrida,
how i envy you, just travelling around relaxing while i still have to go to the worst school in the world and pretend im learning, but im happy you getting a break though i thought that all the chrysalis guys could come and travel with you and it could be our lesson like "how to survive in the wilderness" or something along those lines.
to entertain mine and dannis small minds we thought we would bring a camera to school and make a mocumentary about Bello high, we would bring the camera into some of the class and film the wierd goings on as well as film mr Wilsons daily ritual of seeking out the children who had waged the day befor and to tie it all up we thought we would go up on stage at an assemble and give out awards to "the best teacher" or "the hottest group" (the chrysalis group).
well good bye i wish you well.
all my love phoebe.
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