Kalbarri

Kalbarri is a lovely spot on the coast of Western Australia - about 375 kilometres south of Denham (Shark Bay) and 574 kilometres north of Perth. This town is located within Kalbarri National Park.

We were heading south from Denham on our caravan adenture and turned off the North West Coastal Highway onto Ajana-Kalbarri Road and headed to town through part of the National Park. We had been advised to stop as some lookouts on the way - Ross Graham and Hawks Head lookouts. There are plenty of parking spaces for caravans and buses with great facilities - toilets, shaded areas, and well maintained walking paths. The wildflowers were still beautiful so we took plenty of photos.

While in Kalbarri we stayed at Murchison Caravan Park on Grey Street in the middle of town - very welcoming and walking distance to shops, cafes, pubs and the Visitor Information Centre. Here are some of the things to see and do in town and surrounding areas:

• visit the Marina Centre and lunch at Gorges Cafe (Great Coffee, Gorgeous Food and Beautiful Giftware)  
• Kalbarri Anchorage Holiday Village - another caravan park in town, very large, overlooking the river
• Visitor Information Centre - helpful and full of interesting gifts
• rode our bikes along the waterfront to Blue Holes  - a fish Habitat Protection Area (FHPA) which is great for snorkelling
• Cycled back via the Kalbarri Tudor Holiday Park which is another caravan park in town.  Very large with great grassy, shaded spots with a very nice pool area.
• lookouts to the south of Kalbarri. Jakes Bay - saw surfers being towed into the break with a jet ski.  Amazing rock formations along the shore.  Red Bluff - is the highest elevated point in the area and it is great for whale watching
• Zuytdorp Cliffs are to the north 
• Eagle Gorge, Island Rock and Natural Bridge. These lookouts have plenty of space for caravan parking.  Island Rock and Natural Bridge have great facilities with an amazing sheltered seat area to look out over the ocean - eco toilets
• Rainbow Jungle - an Australian Parrot Breeding Centre. Aviaries with parrots and Macaws of every colour and a large number of finches. Well worth a visit.
• Fish and Chips for dinner from the Jetty Seafood Shack - this was absolutely lovely but very expensive ($47.40 for take away)
• Kalbarri National Park. The first 10ks of road are sealed and then it is gravel.  We had been told that it was very corrugated but we thought is was OK. First stop was the Z Bend which was a walk of about 1.2 ks to the lookout. Amazing rock formations and viewing platforms built on the top of the rocks. The faults have widened and direct the river flow in a Z shape (thus the name). This is part of the Murchison Riverhas a catchment area the size of Tasmania. The car park area was equipped with eco-toilets and covered picnic tables.  
• Natures Window car park is huge and has space for several buses and caravans as well as about 50 cars.  The shades built over the tables and chairs are quite unique and look great. There are also very good eco toilets. The walk to the window is fully sealed and quite easy after descending the stairs. Look out for the arrows located on the rock to work your way around to the window.  
• Loop Lookout was only about 200 metres from the carpark.  Once again great views and facilities - part sealed and part gravel path 

We are very pleased we stopped to spend some time in and around Kalbarri - you have to see some of the scenery to truly appreciate the beauty.