With a few miles to cover between us and our next stop in Kalbarri we were glad to be on the road nice and early on the morning of our departure from Denham. The constant nagging and ever present wind was once again in attendance as we covered the pretty boring but none the less necessary 120km back out to the main highway. Having seen off the bulk of the school holiday travellers the road was a lot quieter and we made our way south with little hassle.

We soon began to notice the obvious change in the landscape as the more barren and desert style landscape gave way to the northern tip of WA's massive wheat belt. Huge paddocks of all sorts of grain crops and other obvious farming activity begin to dominate the country side. Turning off the main highway we wound our way past some more farms and the coastal scrub of the national parks on the outskirts before arriving in Kalbarri, located at the mouth of the Murchison River.

Setting up at the Murchison Caravan Park right in the middle of town was a breeze having been given only our second drive through van site of our short and possibly by now infamous caravanning career. The girls were gone before we knew it with the playground only a stone's throw from our door it could have been the last we saw of them for the few days we were there if we had let them have it their way. They made a few new friends and even caught up with a couple of kids from along the road, "the ones with the broken gnome" we were reliably informed?! They don't miss or forget much kids, do they?

While in the process of wondering if the almost years worth of crap and lack of love had anything to do with why both our pushbikes had more creaks and groans than a nursing home aerobics session we met our new neighbours and their three children who are also enjoying and extended tour of Oz. After a short yarn not only did we find out that Phil and Tia knew and had travelled with our touring friends Col and Liz, but Phil was also a gun pushie fitter and I soon had him wrangled into a bit of a quick tune up for us. If you are or you ever read this, thanks mate they have never run any better.

With the bikes running at peak performance level (shame about the condition of the peddlers though!?) we loaded the girls on board and hit the bike track along the coast road for a trip to the Rainbow Jungle Parrot centre. The park has massive walk through aviaries and an almost complete collection of Aussie parrots and birds as well as a fair few exotic looking fellas as well. The walk to the top of their whale watching tower also gave us a good view of the locals surfing what looked like some pretty heavy waves with a jet ski being used to get the brave and obviously mad board riders onto the waves.

Having seen many pictures of the Kalbarri national parks on our travels Kylz had us all loaded up and off on a tour that took us to the very well photographed Natures Window and the Z bend. Both are located only a short drive from town along a reasonable dirt road. Spending the morning walking, posing for photos and fending off flies, in what turned out to be a fairly warm day, the girls were had it by lunch time and we were also glad to get back to the van that day.

We also once again ran into another travelling couple from Brisbane. Luke and Megan along with their daughters Kristy and Laura have been enjoying life on the road and we had first met them in Carnarvon. Cracking a few frosties as the girls all enjoyed watching a movie we had some funny stories to share from our travels. It sounds a bit of a cliché to say but sharing the tales of travel has been nearly as much fun alot of the time as actually being there. (sometimes better, you know what they say about the truth and a good story!?) We do think ourselves pretty lucky this year to have met so many different people and characters and listening to the way the girls remember them all in their own way is pretty funny as well.

Spending a couple of pretty wet and very windy days in Kalbarri our thoughts turned to our next stop in Geraldton. With the days still windy but the sun shining bright we were on our way to Geraldton for a look at WA's 4th biggest city. Our only break along the road was to stop off for a couple of photos of the Pink Lake. Located near Port Gregory it is hard to miss it as you drive past. The abundance of the bacteria in the lake that gives it an unmistakeable and unique pink glow is harvested and used in making Beta-Carotene vitamin supplements? (that's the useless information portion of this week's yarn out of the way!?)

Easily finding our base in Geraldton we made our way back into the town for a look around. The foreshore walk has been made a feature with a huge kid's area including water park and playground that was getting a real workout at the time we arrived! The kids also enjoyed some very sunny weather and warm days which saw us spending time at Pages beach right opposite our van park. Hanging out with the girls and helping them catch knee high waves on their boogie boards that rolled off the northern end of a rock wall was a real highlight. Watching Charli riding a wave like a pro beside a local 15yr old boy had both Kylz and I in stitches. If that's as close as she gets to 15yr old boys for a while I'll be pretty happy too! Like a lot of good times though with Kylz and I both in the water we never got any pictures of this as much as we would have loved to.

While in Geraldton we made a stop at the HMAS Sydney memorial and were very impressed with the effort that has been put into the area. Geraldton also has a couple of big caravan parts outlets and a few other shops we had been looking forward to seeing while travelling down the west coast. Stocking up on a few caravanning essentials in a large industrial area we realised we were definitely getting down into the more populated corner of WA.

Being the largest state in terms of land really means little when you get to see how little of it is actually populated. Moving across the top and down the west coast there is plenty of bitumen between each small town and roadhouse. With only one more stop between us and the big smoke we will soon be there to see for ourselves. Fancy, after making our way round OZ for nearly a year, we still manage to land in Perth the same weekend as the Queen. Wonder if she bought the Corgis!?