Kalbarri

 Next I went to Kalbarri National Park. Along the drive I passed by so many fields of amazing wildflowers. In shark bay the sounds were bright lemon yellow with flowers and as I continued down the road southward the colors alternated between fields and yellow, white, purple, and pink. The drive was incredibly gorgeous with so much color. The soils changed from a deep orangey red to a pale sand as I moved south, but up in elevation. The trees got larger with occasional canopy trees on the landscape and not just in riverbeds. 

I arrived at Kalbarri national park where I got a beautiful hike in. I saw a variety of orchids and flowers and enjoyed views of the river before heading to the town of Kalbarri and going for a walk along the coastal cliffs. The cliffs were an interesting mix of sandstone and silt stone which created interesting formations as silt stone erodes more quickly. Along the remaining sandstone in places you could see the deep trails of what used to be seaworm burrows and now look like stalactites hanging from the cliffs as they fossilized. 

I headed to a nice campground in the evening, where I got a shower and said hi to some goats and ducks and alpacas and set up my tent for a couple nights. 

I woke up the next morning early, an hour before sunrise in an attempt to get to this viewpoint called natures window for sunrise. I drove to the spot, packed up my stuff for the day, hiked very fast and made it to the window just past sunrise, but not disappointed. Turns out I wasn’t the only one with this ideas though. A photography tour group was there as well. I sat and made my coffee on my stove and chatted with the group for the next hour. It was pretty much all Aussies who were on short vacations and wanting to learn more about photography. The leader was a Swiss guy. They were very nice and gave me some cookies before they left. They were replaced by a large boisterous family. Really 4 families all with 3 little kids. It was chaos. I finished my drawing and headed out shortly for my hike. 

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon on my hike. It was stunning and peaceful. I went from the top of the plateau to the river canyons below. The rock walls seeped with beautiful waterfalls and the high cliffs were marbled white and red and orange. The dirt patches were chock which flowers of all colors and I enjoyed working my way along admiring everything. I stopped along waterfalls to draw and make lunch and lay and listen to the birds. It was lovely. After my hike I returned to camp where I worked into the evening. I had debating staying another night but inclement weather and the extremely boisterous 2 bus fulls of Christian boys school who pulled up to camp next to me led to decide it was time to move on. 

The next morning I packed up just in time to miss the big storm. I drove south, parking along the ocean to watch the storm over the sea and take a nap in my car being not so gently rocked by the gusting 50km/hour winds.