Kalbarri is a holiday seaside town about 70 km west of the Coastal Highway. It is wonderfully positioned at the mouth of the Murchison River; a rocky reef and sandstone cliffs protect the town beach and harbour from the huge waves come that roll in from the Indian Ocean. The spray from these giant waves can be seen rising behind the reef as they collide over the treacherous entrance, making for a dramatic backdrop to this otherwise unassuming little town.
Kilbarri is on the edge of the Kalbarri National Park and we spend a couple of hours in the park on our way into town. The Murchison River and its tributaries cut unseen gashes through the gently undulating sand plain creating majestic striated gorges in pink, orange and crimson hues. From the highway it is only a few kilometres detour to the main is climbing down into Ross Graham lookout and a pathway takes a gentle route down into Murchison River Gorge. At this time of the year the river is quite low and slow gently gurgling over the stony river bed. Debris in the surrounding bushes and trees tells of a water level several metres higher in the rainy season. Back at the lookout and with the aid of binos, black swans can be seen in the distance gliding across the water down stream.
Today is the start of a bank holiday weekend – Founder’s Day – so we are expecting the caravan parks to be busy with people travelling up from Perth. But we have no problems booking into a site just off the beach front. We spend the afternoon exploring the cliffs at Red Bluff and Mushroom Rock just outside town. The lookout at Red Bluff gives splendid view of Kilbarri, the mouth of the Murchison River and the harbour beyond. The coastal cliffs with sandy beaches and rock shelves at their base, are fringed with white surf and huge waves meet over the submerged rocks at the harbour entrance crashing together to send spray high up into the air leaving swathes of white surf in their wake.
The loop walk at Mushroom Rock climbs down from the cliff top and along the rock shelf where large waves crash over rok pools leaving carpets of white foam. Here is the eponymous rock eroded into an uncanny likeness of a convex mushroom cap balancing on a delicate stem.
Back at the car park we start chatting with an elderly Australian and his grandson up from Kalgoorlie for the fishing. We are soon joined by a Glaswegian and his English wife who have been living in Australia for 25 years or more. This ‘short’ chat develops into a long conversation swapping travel stories and before we know it we’ve been standing the the car park for about an hour! It seems to be the Australian way, to stop for a leisurely chat with complete strangers.