I left Cervantes at a reasonable time and got on the Indian Ocean drive again heading north towards Geraldton. The route wasn't that exciting to be honest, the scenery became very samey once you couldn't see the sea on the left anymore but at least it was more interesting than a motorway.

I was making good time so I stopped in Geraldton for lunch in a little place down on the water front. Only had a small snack and then moved on. Glad I didn't decide to spend a whole day here, something tells me I would have gotten bored.

The route to Kalbarri was a bit better, once you took the option to take the scenic route from Northampton that is. I thought I should stop and see some of the random tourist things marked with brown signs so I did. A ruin of a place which was called convicts for hire? Sounds very random indeed lol. Apparently some place was built to house convicts and they could be hired out to companies to assist in the gold mining but by the time the gold mining got under way the place was closed down due to really bad treatment and standard of living of the prisoners! Very very random but it meant I stretched my legs lol.

Arriving in Kalbarri I checked into the hostel who thought I was coming yesterday...never mind. My first evening here was spent driving round the free lookouts such as Mushroom Rock, the Natural Bridge (one in Albany is better) and I caught the sunset at Pot Alley. It was nice, bit too dangerous since I walked down the cliff edge as the sea was coming in but ho hum when have I ever followed signs telling me not to do something?

Today I chose to go and visit Kalbarri National Park and go and see the Z bend and Natures Window. I thought I had left reasonably early but apparently not. I got to Natures Window and it was slightly overcast with clouds so in my wisdom I thought I would attempt the loop. The loop is an 8km walk round the cliffs of the gorge and many people do not attempt it because it's really strenuous. I thought ppft! I can do this, so I set off. I was absolutely fine till I got down into the gorge and the sun came out. They say it's about 10 degrees hotter in the gorge than up on land and they're not kidding! I was walking like a zombie towards the end just praying for a sight of Natures Window so I knew the end was round the corner. Bad signposting, rock climbing, blistering heat and zombie mood set into motion I finally got round in about 2 hours. Very quick time since its a walk of 3-4 hours...at whose pace?

I just had to sit down for a bit before attempting to go and see the Z bend. So some food and water later I was on my way. However, already shattered I just chose to go to the lookout and not down into the bend as that was at least another 4km hike up some cliff face. Smart move. Instead I went back to the hostel and just chilled out a bit.

Looking back at today, I can easily see how people get into trouble in National Parks in the summertime, well actually anytime. If you don't get dehydrated or hurt yourself your car is sure to take a beating on the bumpy road into the park. I seriously battered that car driving down that road, if it didn't make enough random noises before...it does now!

Tomorrow sees me going sand boarding, something random which I can do in this part of the country. Everything else I thought about doing can be done somewhere else! Watch this space for how it goes!

The picture is of me at Natures window.