Thurs. 20th Sept., 2012 - Kalbarri to Geraldton







The drive out of Kalbarri was beautiful - wattles were in bloom everywhere & the countryside was a sea of yellow against the blue sky.  The ocean ran parallel to us, injecting a deep turquoise into the picture.  What a magnificent sight - scenery like this would surely imprint itself on the mind's eye forever, to be recalled & enjoyed long after it had been left behind.  And, as if we hadn't already been treated to sufficient colour, "Pink Pool" suddenly appeared alongside us, its water actually glowing pink, for some chemical reason, maybe, or perhaps due to the colour of the soil beneath it.



Pink Pool



On leaving the coast, we moved into undulating green hills, some of which were used for sheep farming.  The verges continued to provide splashes of yellow & we found our route a most attractive one.  Some of the fields contained wheat & the area appeared to be fertile.  The only downside was ... flies!  Having been free of them for the whole of our trip, so far, we had now begun to encounter them - oh dear, would we have to buy nets, or maybe succumb to the dreaded hats with corks?

A couple of 'bobtail skinks' crossed the road infront of us - apparently, they get run over frequently because they move so slowly.

We passed through Northampton, which looked an interesting little town (wish we'd had more time to spare, but we couldn't do everything).  N'hampton had a lovely church, a museum & a lot of historic-looking buildings.  It appeared to be at the centre of an agricultural region & was surrounded by magnificent hilly scenery.  What a lovely area!

Geraldton was quite a surprise, being probably the biggest city we'd seen on our travels since Adelaide & Port Augusta.  In fact, it received the "thumbs up" from Bob when he learned that it had a "Bunnings", this being his particular shopping Mecca!  I was greatly impressed to see a "Spotlight", along with other familiar stores such as "Target", "Miller's", etc., & so our withdrawal symptoms abated for the time being, at least.

We settled in at our caravan park (which we might never have found, had we not had a SatNav), then called at the Visitor Centre, where we discovered that there was plenty to see.  We would have to make the most of our time, tomorrow.