Week 24 Kalbarri to Mullewa

                    Week 24

bush pomegranate

           Kalbarri to Mullewa

Wow. What a week.

Sunday was moving day. We were awakened at 5am by a phone call to tell us Desiree, our daughter was in hospital, having the baby six weeks early. Consequently we spent an anxious day, moving, waiting for news. Meet Kyan Ross Hooker, our new grandson. Congratulations to Desiree and Thomas, thanks for the new family member. We can’t wait to get home to hold him, but of course we will have to – downfall of e- tickets.

Kyan Ross

The countryside we travel through is hilly and rolling, reminding us of the Atherton Tablelands at home. We stop for a look at Northhampton, a heritage village easy on the eye, but not exactly rocking on a Sunday.

Greenough River Caravan Park is our resting spot for the next few days. It is old, but reasonably priced and the facilities fair for the price.

thelymitra antenniflora

We found a dance studio for a Monday night dance. It was great to enjoy the dances and music we have missed so much over the last few months.

blue tinsel lily

The other normal thing we did here was a game of golf. All these months we have complained about sand greens, now we find the green ones are fast and uncompromising. Took a bit of adjustment, but fun.

calytrix cluster

Our time at Greenough, just south of Geraldton slipped by quickly. Haircuts, shopping for Argyle pinks and real shopping kept us busy. (Sorry all you romantics out there, the pinks are very, very small and very, very, very expensive. Not an option.

canola fields

The tourist drives around here are full of colour. The wind farm with 54 towers is surrounded by a countryside blazing with colour.

The downside for us are the cold nights, followed by cold days when the wind blows. We are over it, but I guess we will have to get used to it.

Friday found us moving once more to Mullewa, only about 100km from Geraldton. We cannot believe here how much warmer it is, basically because there is blue sky and no wind.

The caravan park is accessed through the local servo, but they keep selling sites, even when there are really none left. We solved the dilemma, piggybacking water and power. The facilities are great, worth the $17.50, less if you stay a week.

There is a flower show here that allows us to see what the wreath flowers are like, plus some local advice as to where to find them.

We also walked the town wildflower walk, enjoying the everlasting flowers on display. Nature’s painting.

Armed with advice and maps, we drove off the next day in search of wreath flowers and orchids.

schoenia filifolia

We stopped first at the Wilroy Reserve, a nature reserve. It was very pleasant tramping through bush to find nature’s gems, free to enjoy.

pink hakea

Just as our local advisor predicted , we found some mature examples of the wreath flower. They are always in disturbed soil, so often on the edge of dirt roads. Many plants are still five or six weeks from their best, but this has been the story of our trip. Still we are rewarded with another tick on the bucket list.

wreath leschenailtia

Canna was our next point of call. Here there is a local store, closed on the weekend, but there is a local mudmap to show us where to explore.

We are rewarded with more wreath flowers, but also some new varieties of orchids. Some, like the donkey orchid is new today.

rosy cheeked donkey orchid

Others like the cowslip is a familiar sight, but in abundance here.

The vanilla orchid or sun catcher was a delight.

lemon scented sun orchid

Spider orchids, once seen, delighted us at many turns.

For a change of colour the candy pinks reminded us to remember lunch, taken on an old concrete table near the store.

pin candy orchid

The dainty blue orchid was another find. We are looking forward to some more fun days of discovery.

We come back to Mullewa to visit their annual show, believing if the fireworks are at 7:30, that’s when the show will end. Silly us. By the time we got there , everything was being dismantled.

We did get a T-Bone and salad meal at a reasonable $15. Great steak, but a pity about those plastic knives and forks. It is the country.

blue fairy

So we found ourselves home by the fireworks time. We had been blessed with colour all day, and now for a quarter, the sky was ablaze with colour. It was a display that would have held its own in a major center. Well done Mullewa.

emu tree

Mullewa did do well, because the rain fell overnight. How’s that for good timing? The rain has fell most of the day, so a lazy Sunday it has been, keeping warm and out of the wet and wind. Brian has cabin fever so we are looking forward to some respite to start a new week.

Canna old camp

Still we are pinching ourselves about our new status in life- grandparents. It makes us feel old, but privileged. Guess we won’t actually be old until we act that way. We are already planning fun things to do with Kyan when he gets a bit bigger.

Bye for another week.

The numb nomads

Monkey Mia to Kalbarri

                                   Week 23

                     Monkey Mia to Kalbarri

Kalbarri cowslip orchids

We are blessed with picture post card days here in Denham.

Sunday afternoon found us exploring Ocean Park, doing a guided tour including shark feeding. They weren’t very interested and Brian was not impressed.

Monday found us, despite having seen the course, treating ourselves to a $5 game of golf. Well, they do say you get what you pay for – sand play in this case.

There were some resident green-keepers there to check we obeyed the rules.

The afternoon found us exploring Little Lagoon. Originally a dried up salt lake between dunes, it is now connected to Shark Bay by a small estuary. Again we are blessed with the sight of a very busy Dad. Last count was seven chicks.

Tuesday and Wednesday were “moving days”. The weather turned on its worst for us. Rain and wind blew us east and south. We spent a chilly night at a free camp, Neven Neven, near the Murchison River.

We are being blessed with more wildflowers. Coloured pockets can be seen everywhere. At one time we had blue sky before and aft, with a bridge of clouds overhead, raining on our private parade. There is a more of a tableland feel to the country. It is becoming greener as it is getting colder.

The nights are around 5 degrees, OK if you stay rugged up inside, but not conducive to Happy Hour sessions outside. Better for the waistline I guess.

Kalbarri ,the town, is nestled in a pretty coastal area surrounded by the national park. To the north are river gorges and to the south, coastal cliffs. The end result is a diversity of experience in a small area.

Sun shing brightly, we head for Kalbarri river gorges. Here we tackle an 8km walk. Chris and Margaret join us. The walk is not too hard, but long. Perhaps we are not as conditioned as we were before. We see plenty of wildflowers,a lone roo and several birds. There were few people who went beyond Natures Window, so it was easy to image we were wilderness pioneers.

Just to dash our feelings of achievement, a group of students, backpacks laden for a bivouac set down into the gorge for their overnight stay. A bit cool for us for an overnight stay.

marno

After this long walk at Natures window, we ventured to Z bend. We finished the day with an easier, but pleasant walk overlooking this unusually shaped gorge. We all slept well that night.

Friday found us exploring the coastal cliffs. As well as magnificent views, there are walks too along the coastal cliffs. We see whales traversing the coastline, not frolicking as we had seen further north at the Quabba Blowholes, but still, the excitement of seeing these magnificent creatures in the wild is exhilarating.

Rejecting a 16km walk along the cliffs, we journed down to Port Gregory. This is another little seaside village, less developed than Kalbarri, but still delightful for a restful sojourn. The ‘piece de resistance’ here is the pink lake. It is amazing. Carrots in the water, the beta caratodine is mined, as it is near Quabba.

We also explore a colonial home being restored and some convict ruins where the convicts were processed for working for landholders. The time frame is short for the settlements, but it is very reminiscent of Tasmania (especially the winds). Some trees are bent at the base and there is no doubt as to the direction of the prevailing winds.

Saturday finds us cheering that the election day is finally here and we don’t have to put up with any more electioneering. The voting is easy and uncrowded, so thumbs up for the candidates we voted for. Hope you are all happy with the end result.

We tried to go to the wildflower park, but it was closed. Instead we went to a bird park as a second choice. They had a delightful area where the birds fly free around you, or sit in the cloistered safety of bushes and thickets. There are others , natives and exotics in cages. Overall, it was an interesting time.

We followed up this touristy activity with another walk in the park, this time in the coastal gorges. We choose far shorter walks than before, so we find we are energized, but we are not going to be asleep on our feet before dinner.

So we find Sunday looming. This will be another moving day for us as we head to Greenough, south of Geraldton. Finally we are getting closer to the wildflower areas we have dreamt about, but we will be reaching for our warm gear. Brian is threatening to get me some ug boots, but I think I would still prefer that Argyle diamond. What would you pick? We are glad our caravan has a shower, because it is so nice to have a hot shower and then jump into bed, warm and cosy. Walking two blocks from the shower block to a warm bed as we would have had with the Millard Mini would not be pleasant. Aren’t we so lucky?

Have a good week. Don’t work too hard. Take a moment to send us an email, or join the followers, its easy. Thanks to princess for leading the crowd. We always love to hear from you.

Cheers for another week.

firewood banksia

The shivering nomads.

Newsflash – The new addition has arrived. A boy, Kian Ross Hooker. More details next blog. He is 6 weeks early, so all the best laid plans have gone astray. So he will be six weeks old by the time he meets this set of grandparents. The jury is still out on what we want to be called.