Skywalking: Kalbarri National Park

You may have seen images of this previously:

There are actually two of these cantilevered structures hanging over the edge of the cliff high above the Murchison River in the Kalbarri National Park.

While I appreciate the excellent architectural design of the skywalk, its kiosk and the intrepretation panels and bronze statues of some of the wildlife, it is a bit gimmicky, but it certainly attracts the crowds to the national park.

This is the nearby Nature's Window.

I had to wait quite a while to get that shot with no people in it.

The views from the skywalk and Nature's Window were pretty good.

I also did short walks to view three other locations along the Gorge that where not quite as busy. Earlier in the day, I stopped to photograph some flowering shrubs and up popped some locals to say 'g'day' or maybe it was more like 'What are you doing here, disturbing our breakfast?'

There were a lot of wildflowers!

Kalbarri National Park has two sections, the inland gorge and the ocean cliffs. In between these areas is the small town of Kalbarri which still bears a lot of obvious damage from the cyclone that struck in April 2021.

The cliffs were dramatic and windy.

My campsite for the night was situated further up the Murchison River.

Dolphins and flowers

The last few days have not been as exciting as my whaleshark swimming day. Pleasant enough but not as awe inspiring. First stop after Exmouth was Coral Bay, a bit further south, still inside Ningaloo Reef. I spent a relaxing and very pleasant day in this very pretty bay.

I walked along the white sandy beach, hung out at a busy cafe while waiting to wade out to this glass bottomed boat for a coral viewing tour.

I do have some photos but the view does not really compare with snorkelling over the coral. We did see lots of fish. Some fish pellets were thrown over the side at one point which created a bit of fishy excitement. Then I went for another longer walk along the almost deserted beach. Most of the people staying in the packed caravan parks seemed to be staying close to their vans. I did not stay in Coral Bay which seems to consist of fully booked parks, a couple of apartment complexes and not much more. I stayed out near the main road in another free camp.

Then I drove to Monkey Mia, stopping at Carnavon on the way. I walked along the oddly tropical-looking palm-lined Gascoyne River at the centre of town where there is a memorial for the hundreds of men who died on the HMAS Sydney which was sunk off shore after a battle with a German ship in WII.

I also visited the old lighthouse keepers cottage at the One Mile Jetty which was Carnavon's connection with the world until the 1980s when the highway was built. I had an interesting conversation with the guide who was born and grew up in the cottage as her father was the lighthouse keeper. Mangroves have taken over the waters around the jetty which they are hoping to restore when they raise enough money.

The afternoon involved another long boring drive, listening to music, punctuated by wildflower stops.

I tried to see the Hamelin Pool stromatolites, living fossil lifeforms, not sure if they are plant or animal, 3.5 billion years old and very rare, but the board walk had been damaged by a cyclone and is closed until repairs are done next year. The stromatolites are the dark rounded rock-like things in the water.

I stayed for one night in a packed but neat and pleasant caravan park in the small seaside town of Denham. In the morning I drove for 30 minutes to see the famous Monkey Mia dolphin feeding where there is now a flash RAC caravan park, and the feeding is strictly managed by the national park rangers. Pre-covid, people where invited to feed the dolphins, but now only staff do that because dolphins are mammals and none knows if they can catch covid. Also the amount of feeding is strictly limited to ensure these female dolphins continue to suckle their calves and teach them to find their own food. In the early days of the feedings, there was a 95% mortality rate among calves as the mothers spent too much time waiting to be fed. Eight beautiful girls where cruising in and out of the feeding area during the morning, so I watched them twice.

Then I went to the Ocean Park Aquarium to see the many different fish, sharks and rays and a sea snake, that also live in Shark Bay, and had a lazy lunch on their deck.

Back on the road again to another free camp.

Ningaloo Reef: Full of awe!

Exmouth, Ningaloo Reef and Cape Range National Park are all about lazing on the beach and going fishing (which I don't do) and watching wildlife.

The beach above is 20 minute drive from the town. The town beach is more exposed, a bit ordinary, and next to a new marina development of large houses each with its own private jetty. The town itself is small with a beach-surfing vibe and it is full of tourists and the military. I arrived with nothing booked. The lovely lady at the info centre told me to be back there at 2pm to book into the overflow area as all the caravan parks are full. She also booked me onto a snorkelling and whaleshark tour. More about that later. My first day in Exmouth was spent at the laundromat, shops, cafes, and lining up for my campsite for 2 nights. Exmouth, it turns out is quite a new town, established as a US base in the early sixties. They created a mini-America with diners, a bowling alley, baseball diamond, US cars and currency. Not much of that is visible now apart from the street layout and these radio towers which are still used to communicate with submarines. There is now an RAAF base at the airport.

I spent my first full day exploring Cape Range National Park. On my way there, I drove up to a lighthouse built after the SS Mildura cattle-carrying steam ship ran aground on the reef in 1907. I could see humpback whales spouting and cruising out in the water.

The Cape, where Exmouth is also located, is almost treeless, with hills containing gorges and hundreds of caves. It is possible to walk into only 4 of the gorges, not as deep or dramatic as Karajini. The best thing about Mandu Mandu were the iridescent green and blue parrots on the cliffs.

Yardie Creek Gorge was also a short walk made interesting by the wildlife. I saw fruit bats and rock wallabies. I spent a long time sitting on the cliff top watching corellas, a sea eagle and a nesting osprey on the cliffs opposite.

On my way back to town, I checked out several of the beaches, all pretty white or golden sand, acqua blue water, sheltered by the reef, quite a lot of people.

My awesome second day - perfect weather conditions for an awesome all-day boat trip out through the reef with 3 Islands Whale Shark Dive tour. They picked up 20 people in their bus, drove us out to a jetty and boat ramp, ferried us in a small rigid rubber-ducky type boat to the larger tour boat. I was a little nervous about snorkelling, wearing a wetsuit, swimming in deep ocean water, all of which I have never done, but the all girl crew were fabulous, gave very clear instructions and there were pool noodles to take into the water. These are great flotation devices. First we pulled on wetsuits, learned how to fit our masks and breathe through the snorkel and then it was into the water for our first swim over the shallow inner reef. All of the photos below were taken by one of the guides.

They we had coffee and cake while they took the boat through a gap in the reef which fringes the coast for 260 kms. We saw a large hammerhead shark swimming near the surface and a humpback whale with her calf. There were 2 small planes looking for whale sharks. We were split into 2 groups of 10, and when it was our turn we had to stay in a line and follow the guide. We had to stay above and behind the shark. These are the world's largest fish, beautiful graceful creatures that filter-feed on krill and other tiny creatures. This is the view I had for about 10 minutes or so - twice!

This is me next to the guide.

This whale shark was about 6m in length. They can grow up to 15m. And the water was 40m deep!

We were privileged to have 2 swims with the whale shark. Then we had one last swim to look at the outer edge of the reef where it drops off into the deep water.

We were given a very nice lunch of salads and cold meats while the boat made its way back to the jetty. We saw more humpback whales, one in particular was splashing around and then decided to swim a full circle around our boat and breech right in front of us!

This really was a very special experience. Did I say it was an awesome day!. It will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of this wander through WA.