Aagh! It rained last night – we’re not used to this!! Today its dry but overcast and there is talk of thunderstorms later……! So its a good day to do some trail walking in the Kalbarri National Park. We set off with friends Nandor and Sarah and hit the park with lunch packed in rucksacks.
Kalbarri National Park covers the lower reaches of the Murchison River covering some 183,004 hectares. The river has cut some magnificent red and white banded sandstone gorges surrounded by vast rolling sand plains clothed in heathland and lots of wildflowers…again we have hit it at the right time as this is mid Spring in WA. We were in for a treat of a day surrounded by a wonderful wild landscape – great!
First stop along a yellow ochre sand track is the Ross Graham Lookout, followed by a walk along a 9km trail called the Nature’s Window loop and then onto the Z Bend….
The lookout caught a magnificent view over the Murchison River Gorge. It reminded us of what the Grand Canyon must have looked like in its early stages of river erosion but still dramatic in scale.
Posing on the rooftop of the Murchison River Gorge
Over the gorge from the lookout
At least someone is a professional photographer!
We set off on the walking trail to Nature’s Window on a narrow ridge which led us to a track along the escarpment above the river, then down to a route along the river edge. This went on for about 5km before looping back round to the climb back up to Nature’s Window after 9km which took us about 3 hours due to all the photo opportunities and a picnic lunch on the river ledge in between. Nature’s Window itself is a naturally formed hole in a rock right up on the ridge that you can see the river below. A spectacular walk with a mixture of experiences and scales. The National Park is vast ………bit of an understatement because Australia is so vast with so many National Parks its incredible.
Paul at the start of the trail
Rocky overhang
Mucking about in Nature's Window!
The view through Nature's Window
Paul leading the way along the ridge
Rocks and overhangs
Nature's Posy!
Moving along the ridge above the river
Tributary gorges
Eroded away sections reveal the striped colours on the cliffs
Scrambling along the ledges above the river on the trail
River cliffs
Hey you down there
Pretty wildflowers!
Carpets of yellow wildflowers
Its a long way down!
Ochre yellow sand track
More wildflowers!
After our walk we drove further into the park to see a feature called the Z Bend. This is basically the cut of the river gorge which is probably best seen from the air!
The Z Bend
Uh oh….thunderstorms approaching we’re in for a very stormy night!