Anyway, onward bound, due North, first stop Kalbarri. Small drive, only an hour and a half (150km) up the road. The drive was less than scenic with dry barren land with hilly roads and occasional seaside views. Girls had their heads stuck in their Nintendo's which Marty just got working again, so a bit of a novelty. Boo even took it upon herself to do some Distance Ed work in the car, bloody little legend. As we drove into Kalbarri we were greeted with red cliffs overlooking a blue ocean, just magical. We all cheered at what was before us and couldn't wait to enjoy it. We made our way into town to Kalbarri Tudor Caravan Park were we were booked into for the next three nights. Little bit pricey at $55 p.n but that's the going rate for this neck of the woods. The caravan park itself looked nice, tall lush gum trees with well spread out sites. Girls noticed the jumping pillow and playground first, squealing excitedly, which was strange seeing they've had one in Gero for the last 12 months and not used it!!!
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| The view from the car on the drive....loving the clouds |
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| The view of the ocean coming into Kalbarri... |
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| First new camp in a while.... |
We pulled in, with Woodies on the other side, and set up camp. Still feeling like we were just on a weekend away, not indefinite travelling. The girls were straight out and off to the pillow, with Charlotte and Jake in tow. After a little while they returned complaining of extreme hunger, so we all had lunch then hit the info centre in town to get the inside gos of whats to do in Kalbarri. Inside the info centre the kids went crazy like caged animals that have just been released, very hard to hear the lady explaining the significant landmarks to explore. So we got in and got out very quickly before we got told off for having uncontrollable children! We decided to head out to Blues Hole, a little rock pool beach. Was lovely just strolling along the beach, listening to the ocean and watching Marty explore the little rock pools looking for sea creatures. Kids had a ball, walking off in their straight line together, like the awesome foursome. Love seeing Boo and Meg having such good mate-ships formed on this trip, think they will friends for life. We collected a few shells and also marvelled at the 'pink' sand that was filtered thru the beach. All the girls brought a sample back to the car after our walk which we put into an empty beer bottle. Think its a start to our sand collections around WA, should look fantastic by the end of the state...
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| Stunning....and the clouds are perfection! |
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| Notice the pink layer of sand.....Meg was in heaven with her favourite color lining the beach |
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| Waves were fierce... |
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| Kids having a ball exploring the small rock pools |
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| Boo improvising.... |
Was getting late in the arvo, and l was feeling less than enthusiastic, was in a quite tiresome and filthy mood really. Thought it was just due to being tired from work and stuff, but then the heavy body and sore throat made itself known by the end of the day, which then turned my mood even worse due to being irritated with myself. I mean, we've worked for the last 12 months and now were back on the trip, and what happens, l get sick just when we start?! Major pissed off, and worst still, everyone knew about it..... We got back to the van, sat around for some drinks, which l couldn't bring myself to do seeing l felt like crap, but then the wind started up and got cold quick, so everyone took to their vans for the night......hopefully l would feel better tomorrow for everyone's sake!
Next day we all woke, not feeling the need to get going quickly, which was a good feeling in itself. I, on the other hand, also felt like death warmed up, stuff it! Decided to get started on Distance Ed with the girls, so Marty and l alternated between the two. Both were really good and enthusiastic which was great, bet it wont last though, novelty will wear off soon l reckon. The morning was filled with school and laundry and after lunch we all decided to go check out the National Park and do a short walk. First off, Marty and l had to go and purchase another Annual Parks Pass which was $88. Not bad price, but hope to utilise more than the last one we brought which felt like we donated to the national parks seeing we didn't visit many.
We decided on a few little walks, first checking out the Ross Graham Lookout which gave us a great look at the Murchison River and surrounding red cliffs lining the river. Apparently Ross Graham, who died at aged 31, was the bloke who made the national park accessible to the public to view, without him it might have remained private property. So to him, l give thanks, because from what I've seen already, its amazing!! The kids looked in awe as we took to the short river walk, only 700m down the track, where they had a blast climbing over big rocks, finding a small 'cavelike' place. Quite funny incident which l nearly crapped my dacks over though. Marty being Marty sustained a cut from one of the rocks, which he proceeded on telling the kids that a croc bit him. This ended up being the joke of the day. We were standing at this awesome red, orange and white coloured cliff face with a small ledge when l heard a big splash and jumped, everyone thinking it was hilarious that l thought it was a croc jumping out at me!! After the laughs dried up, we headed back to the car and stopped off at Hawks Head Lookout. A spectacular view of the gorges overlooking the Murchison River. Unfortunately, even though l enjoyed the day, my mood was still reflecting how crap l was feeling. When we got back to the park, the boys decided to go for a fish, something both had been keen to do since we rolled into town. Sadly, when they returned at dusk, no fish were caught :( Another early night, tomorrow we planned on going for an 8km hike out at the national park, so l better wake up feeling refreshed!
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| Murchison River lookout.... |
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| Loving these textures and colors on the rock formations... |
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| Kids happy with their first small walk done.... |
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| Tree stump that looked like a croc!!! Quite funny we saw his after Marty's joke on me! |
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| Girls had a ball "Kooweeing"... |
Thankfully my wish came true and l woke excited to get out and check out Natures Window at Kalbarri NP. We packed our snacks and filled our camel backs and headed off early. When we arrived at the rangers station we were flagged over by the NP host. He was very irritated at this tour operator who had continually kept parking his trailer in a non parking zone instead of 100m up the road where he was asked to put it. The host asked Marty if he could hook it up and park it down there. Of course we said yes, anything to help someone out and piss someone else off!! Sometimes l wish we weren't good doers because just as l warned Marty to watch his back, he pulled on the draw bar to lift it up and strained his back. I called out to Mark to give us a hand, after getting the trailer on and towing it down the 100m to park it, we loaded Marty up with pain killers, hoping this would kick in enough to continue on the day. Thankfully, even though he was walking crooked, Marty braved it and we set off towards the infamous 'Natures Window'.
The girls looked liked professional hikers with their camel backs on, quite cute. As we headed off on the short walk, the color of the surrounding cliffs were so striking with dark shades of reds and browns. When we arrived, it was just as the pictures in the glossy magazines show. Such a natural wonder. The view of the gorge in the horizon thru the Natures Window was glorious. We all took turns doing our tourist shots of the kids and both families up at the 'window', luckily no one was there to hurry us up. We even set Amanda's tripod up for a group shot, will definitely be a keep sake of our trip with the Woods.
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| Natures Window with the Murchison River below..... |
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| Kids pic..... |
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| Boo and Meg.... |
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| The family pic... |
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| Natures Window overlooking Murchison River.... |
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| The Group Pic.... |
After what seemed like eternity, and after about 100 photos taken, we headed off with me in the lead to do the 8km round trip hike down the cliff to the gorge and along the river, returning up to Natures Window. Should have got someone else to lead, because being the awesome navigator l am, l took everyone in the wrong direction and was headed back towards the car park. As always, Amanda was right, so we turned around and followed her towards and down the right path. The walk was great, a little challenging which was great and kept the kids enthused. The first half of the walk was spent scaling rocks and small cliffs above the shallow river, a little hairy in some places with some tight squeezes. Eventually we got to the bottom of the gorge where we sat under a tree for some snacks and lollies to refuel. The colour's of the cliffs following the river were so striking against the clear water, with the red reflecting onto the river and the deep blue from the sky making the red cliffs stand out.
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| All kids suited up with their camel backs and ready to go.... |
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Last thing l thought l would see....black swans
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| Striking colors of the cliffs... |
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| Everyone glad to dose up on lollies....and fruit of course! |
After refuelling, we were on good time and about half way thru our walk and no kids were whinging, yet! The river bank walk was a little boring, once you appreciated the scenery, there was no real change in what we saw. There was also no challenges, which lead to the kids starting to whinge about "when are we going to be back at the car" and "l want lunch".....the fun had run out and so had the lollies!!!! What seemed like forever, we eventually got to the start of our climb back up to the top. Marty had down well but was showing continual signs of his back pain worsening and was not only walking crooked, but now he also had a limp. Thankfully, we started the short steep climb up the cliff on the marked track, the kids not enjoying the steps or climbs over the boulders as they had at the start of the walk. When we got to the asphalt path, l turned to see Marty with bare feet carrying his hiking boots and socks. He looked so dishevelled the poor thing. When we got up the stairs and got to the resting spot near the car park l saw why his shoes were off. Not only did his bad luck start with pulling his back out, but he also had huge blisters that were down to raw tissue the size of 50 cents pieces to both heals..... I couldn't help but piss myself laughing, they were so bloody huge, l cant believe he stood the pain for so long. Me, well everyone would have heard about it!!!!
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| Bit hairy for a bit with the kids...... |
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| The "mountain" goats..... |
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| Sisters giving each other a helping hand.... |
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Close up of the amazing colors....
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| Thirsty job walking 8km!!! |
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| Shoes are off.....he made it! |
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| So proud of these lot! |
After everyone had had a chuckle at the poor guys expense, we celebrated with chocolate Freddo frogs to win the kids affections back after completing an 8km hike in such good time. We arrived back at 2pm, leaving at 10am....awesome job l reckon!!! Once we flopped back into the car, we took the short drive back into town to cook some snags up on the BBQ in the park overlooking the beach. Seemed the Beeson bad luck would continue when Boo was walking past the table and chairs in the BBQ area and stumped her toe peeling off layers where blood was gushing out. On walking over to comfort her and question her on how she managed to do it, l too did exactly the same thing in exactly the same place!!! Needless to say, everyone pissed themselves at my expense. The only one unscathed by our days events was good old Meg. After patching ourselves up with more band aids, we scoffed down our snags and headed back to the caravan park for the arvo to chill out. The kids enjoyed a swim in the cool waters at the pool and we decided to book in for another couple of days feeling we needed more time to check things out.
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| Stunning beach in Kalbarri... |
Woke drained from the day prior with overcast weather and a bit chilly. Decided to do a run with Amanda, had been a while since had done one and l was so determined to let Amanda see that she could run 5km without stopping. She had done such a fantastic job in Geraldton with her fitness but she still needed confidence and a gentle push to show her how able she is to achieve what she wants. I was a little fearful of running since leaving the gym, had been a while since l had run on the open road and not on a treadmill. After the run, my fear had gone and Amanda had achieved her first continuous 5km run and in good time too!!!
When we returned, it was time to get back into reality and do some schoolwork. OMG, it started with total frustration. Boo had to do an on line test so the teacher could gauge were she was at, some of the questions l didn't even understand. Afterwards l felt so upset about the test and for Boo, who got really upset with tears because she didn't know the answer, that l made a call to Tonia. So glad l did because she told me the test gets harder after every question right. Felt a little more assured but decided to call the teacher later on to see what she thought.
After lunch the weather hadn't improved, still overcast and chilly, so we decided to head down to the jetty for a fish. Marty ended up being a bit irritated as l caught 2 whiting (even though they were undersized and thrown back) straight away and Boo even caught one fish with the hook thru the belly!!! Must have swam into it? While Marty, well he caught none. He was so determined to catch one that we had given up for the last hour we were there and still he had no luck. Was great to spend a relaxing arvo down at the beach, the girls love fishing and being on the beach. Thankfully the Woods didn't have much luck either, so no-one got bragging rights!!
Our last day in Kalbarri was again a little cloudy, but at least the sun came out to shine in the arvo. We continued with the routine of getting school done in the morning, today being a bit better than yesterday. Marty and l have decided to split the girls up so he is control of Megs schooling and l'm with Boo. Were going to try this to see if it works, think it will help with us knowing what each is up to and what we need to do extra work on. Later in the morning l received a call from Vicki, Boo's Distance Ed teacher who reassured me with news that she had assessed Boo's results from the previous days tests and she was graded to be in a year 6-7 level for English and literacy and at a grade 4-5 year level in Maths. My stress was relieved and l think Boo also happy, knowing that she hadn't failed but had actually excelled at the test. It did nothing but boost her confidence which was exactly what she needed. That morning Marty and l also did the washing and shopping to prepare for the next leg at Monkey Mia. Forgot how expensive these small towns can be with one bloody apple costing us $1!!! Anyway, we needed restocking so we had to suck it up.
After lunch the Woods and us headed out for the coastal cliff scenic drive. The cliffs were amazing, all so striking with reds and brown colours off setting the blue from the ocean. The water was also showing its veracity, crashing big into the cliffs, sending sprays of water up in the air. Just gob smacked at the beauty, and its only the beginning, reckon the sights will only get better. A few times poor Jake had to be called to walk with Amanda, he gets a bit flighty and unaware of his surroundings that Amanda was freaked out a little that he might topple over the edge. See most of the cliffs had no railings or safety barriers, so l can sort of see her point. It only took a few hours to have our last look around and to be honest, the kids had had enough and all they wanted to do was play at the caravan park.
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| Should l jump!!!! |
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| Loving the clouds again in this pic.... |
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| Always chatting.... |
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| Kids stiking a pose.....Meg, Charlotte, Jake and Boo |
So we headed home, l took off for another run, this time completing 5km in which case l nearly felt like spewing! I pushed myself hard, running up the PCYC hill nearly having met my match. I got back to the caravan park absolutely knackered and with not too much time to rest before having to get ready to go out for a treat for dinner. We decided to mark tonight as a celebration in starting our travels and went to the local pub for a meal. It was bloody cold outside so headed in to eat. The food was ok, nothing to rave home about but the kids had an absolute ball playing on the whizzy dizzy outside, l was freaking that they would spew!! Was a good night to end our time in Kalbarri.
Our first stop on continuing our trip after leaving Geraldton had been what l would describe as weird. I was constantly wondering why my mood was low and not feeling excited with travelling again. There was definite tension between the Woods and us in the background. Something was not right between us but l couldn't put my finger on it. We had all been excited earlier on at the thought of travelling together, but now that it was happening, it didn't feel as good as l thought it would. Don't get me wrong, we were having fun, but something wasn't right. The kids were unaware and were happy as anything, finally getting to spend all their days together having fun. I was feeling cranky for reasons l had no understanding why. Maybe l was still trying to unwind from work, still feeling washed out, whilst everyone else had had time to de-stress before embarking on the trip. We just couldn't get into holiday mode, we were fighting or anything, but their definitely was little signs of love showing. Just hope our friendship lasts and whatever is going on improve. As for Kalbarri, well l really liked this little seaside town. I could have stayed for longer as l feel we didn't have the chance to just 'be'. We were constantly busy sight seeing and don't feel that we got to really relax and enjoy Kalbarri for what it is. Having said that, the weather was a little cool and crap to spend our days relaxing by the beach... Kalbarri l feel has the best of both worlds, with spectacular inland country full of amazing gorges to the other spectrum of glorious beaches and inlets. Really think l would come back here one day to enjoy at a slower pace, cool little town.Pack up day tomorrow- first big drive for the Tomorrow was time for our first big drive in a long time, expecting 5 hours to make it to Monkey Mia. We were all excited to be heading there, hopefully the forecasted rain and crappy weather will hold off so we can enjoy it!!!
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