Leaving for 3 weeks up north

On the way from Dongara we dropped in at Geraldton to do some shopping and to fill up with fuel. Below is a picture of the lovely Catholic Church in Geraldton.

When we arrived in Horrocks it was past 3 PM so we decided to stay here rather than push on to Kalbarri. We still had about 90 minutes to get to Kalbarri and we like to be setting up around 4pm.Horrocks is a fishing and holidaying spot about 70km north of Geraldton. It is a very pretty and quiet place. It is also the base for a number of crayfishing boats. There is not much to do here if you don’t like fishing but the place is pleasant and peaceful. There are lots of fishing shacks. We sat on the beach with a glass in hand viewing a lovely sunset on the both the nights we were here. The coast here is also a path for migrating whales. From the beach we could see the splashes of a whale frolicking around jumping out of the water. Unfortunately it was a long way out so we could not see much except the splashing. A guy was doing some net fishing down near the jetty and he pulled in about 20 good sized whitings and a few herrings.

On Tuesday we took a trip up to Kalbarri via Port Gregory. Port Gregory is another small fishing settlement about 40kms north of Horrocks. Port Gregory is also the site for an unusual industry. The area has very salty lakes where a microscopic algae grows. The algae turns the lakes orangey-pink which you can see a bit of in the picture. The algae are harvested and the orangey-pink colour which is beta-carotene is extracted. This is used in vitamins and food colourings. Amazing.

Kalbarri is located on the mouth of the Murchison River. The approach to Kalbarri is along a set of high cliffs. These are very spectacular as you can see in the pictures. While on the cliffs one of the other tourists noticed a whale splashing about. It was quite a way from shore, but this time we could actually see the shape of the whale out of the water. Even though they were still a bit far away it was still quite exciting. We were amazed to see how Kalbarri has grown since we were last here about 7 years ago. There are houses being built everywhere with a huge sub-division being built down past Red Bluff. We had lunch in Kalbarri, did a bit of shopping and then headed back to Horrocks. It was a great day and even though we have been to this area quite a few times we saw a lot of things we have not seen before.


Tomorrow Wednesday we pack up and head off to Carnarvon. We have booked ourselves into Coral Bay for at least 4 nights starting on July 29.