Rizauddin Ibrahim takes Western australia’s coastal roads and finds many of nature’s remarkable creations are worth stopping for
IT IS 2am at Perth Airport, Australia.
We have just gone through the immigration check point and now we’re dealing with the customs, or Australian Border Force. Out of the blue, one of the officers throws a question at us:
“Do you have sambal ikan bilis (anchovies) with you?”
My wife and I look at each other and burst into laughter.
This is part of the biological safety procedures that the Australia government has implemented. Fortunately, we do not have to open our bags for the inspection, which
will definitely take time. We are running out of time to pick up our booked rented car at the car rental kiosk that will soon be closed.
An hour later, I’m driving a rented Hyundai SUV out of the airport compound to find our way to Indian Ocean Drive or State Road 60 for our ambitious road trip journey along Western Australia’s Coral Coast. Our final destination is Kalbarri, 570km away.
After two hours of driving, fatigue kicks in. We need to take a nap. By then we are somewhere in Cervantes, an area famous for its Pinnacles Desert at Nambung National Park.
I drive into the town area and find a spot to park. We put our seats into the recline position and doze off almost immediately.
DAY TWO, PART ONE
It’s already sunny when we wake up. We continue our journey and two hours later, we reach a place called Greenough, famous for the Leaning Trees. Actually they are wind swept trees that bend a full 90degrees. They are located just along the highway and there is a viewing area with a parking spot.
The trees are red river gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), commonly found growing along the watercourse and floodplains of southern Australia. This area is called Greenough Flats, where the strong winds that swept through bent the trees and gave them this distinctive leaning shape.
After that we reach Geraldton, a major city in the region. After a quick brunch at one of its cafes, we head to the town’s tourist I-Centre to buy Western Australia’s Park Pass and some maps and brochures of the region in Western Australia’s Coral Coast.
For the park, we buy a Holiday Pass valid for one vehicle and 12 persons (i.e the number of passenger for the vehicle). This pass can be used to enter all the national parks in Western Australia for a duration of four weeks. Next, we head to Woolworths Supermarket to shop for food and necessities.
Before leaving Geraldton, we visit its HMAS Sydney memorial at the town’s highest point of Mount Scott. The memorial is dedicated to the Australian warship, the HMAS Sydney, that sank, losing all of her 645 crew after a battle with German warship HSK Kormorant, off the Western Australia coast during World War 11 in November 1941.
We feel melancholic as we view this memorial, which consists of a semi-circle granite wall, The Wall of Remembrance with the names of all the crew, and The Steele which represents the ship’s prow.
At the centre of the memorial is The Dome of Souls, which represents the number of souls lost; 645 stainless steel seagull sculptures amalgamated with each other forming the dome shape. The most intriguing is The Waiting Woman, a bronze statue of a woman looking out to sea, waiting in vain for the ship to return with her loved one.
An hour after leaving Geraldton, at the small town of Northamton, we detour from the Indian Ocean Drive highway and follow the trunk road to Port Gregory. Located here is a pink-coloured lake, a rare nature phenomenon. It needs to be seen to be believed. Lo and behold! A flash of pink water catches our eye as soon as we arrive.
The lake is called Hutt Lagoon. It is a salt lake with a pinkish hue due to the presence of micro algae — the Dunaliella salina — which produces an organic pigmentation that gives off the pink or reddish colour. The Hutt Lagoon is in a different shade of pink at different times, depending on the weather or time of day. During our visit, it is varies from bubble gum pink to fuschia pink.
DAY TWO, PART TWO
By late afternoon we arrive at Kalbarri and check in to our booked accommodation unit.
Kalbarri is a small seafront holiday town on the mouth of Murchison River. It draws holidaymakers to its beach.
As soon as we settle in, we head out for an evening walk to Chinaman’s Beach, located just across the street in front of our accommodation unit. At a viewing deck on an elevated position of the beach’s sand dune, we get a view of Murchison River estuary which opens up to the Indian Ocean.
The main reason we stay in Kalbarri is to visit Kalbarri National Park. The next day we go out to discover the Park. But first, we visit Rainbow Jungle, an attraction that has Australian parrots in a walk-through aviary, but you have to pay for this. Inside the aviary, we wander through a tropical garden landscape with a man-made waterfall, fountain and lily pond where the parrots can be seen.
We can see them all in close detail. The species range from the biggest cockatoo to the smallest lorikeet. They are in all colours of the rainbow.
After an encounter with the colourful avians, we head to Kalbarri National Park.
Unfortunately, we’re told the coastal section of the park is closed. The section has
a spectacular coastal cliff, more than 100m high. But fortunately, we don’t have to go far to see these amazing formations as they are located less than 15km from the town.
We head to the furthest formation located at Castle Cove. There are two formations — Natural Bridge and Island Rock- to look out for. Both of them feature the sedimentary layers of sandstone cliffthat has been eroded by winds and waves.
The Natural Bridge is the precarious rock formation that forms like an arched bridge. The arch was formed by waves that constantly pound the headland cliff. About 800m away is Island Rock, which is a sea stack that resiliently stands in the sea, away from the coastal headland.
Next, we go to take in the breathtaking sights of Eagle Gorge and Pot Alley. These two are the sea gorges where the reddish cliffs of the Australian landmass meet the Indian Ocean. Apart from the viewing point, both sites have paths to access the beach.
But our exploring of these two sites is cut short by an awful nuisance — swarms of Australian bush flies. They buzz around and land on our eyes, noses and mouths.
These flies appear during warmer weather in Australia’s tropic and sub-tropic regions.
Though not harmful, they are very annoying. Before that unpleasant experience, we thought it amusing to see people, visitors and locals alike, wearing nets over their
heads. It is called the fly-net hat and it’s not a fashion faux pas here.
So when we return to the town, we get ourselves a pair of fly-net hats from a shop selling fishing and camping gears.
DAY THREE
On our third day, we go further to discover Kalbarri National Park. This time to the inland section which is the rugged Australian Outback with its arid landscape of scrub. Thankfully, driving is easy as the road is paved, even though the scenery along the way is quite monotonous. There are occasionally banksia plants with blooming flowers along the road to add some colour to the arid landscape.
We just follow the main road until we find a junction to the firsttwo sites — Nature’s Window and Z Bend. We go to Nature’s Window first. To get to it, we have to hike.
We follow the paved trail through low scrub before scrambling over reddish rock at the cliff of Murch is on River’s gorge. The reddish rock is sandstone that has been eroded by winds and formed in to layers. In some part of the trail it resembles stairs.
We reach Nature’s Window after a 500m hike. It is a rock arch formation that appears to be made by humans but was actually formed by wind erosion on sandstone layers. It is an iconic sight in Coral Coast. At certain angles, it frames the view of the Murchison River’s gorge below.
We continue our drive and hike exploration to the next site at Z Bend. From the parking area, we hike 700m to the view point. Here is where the Murchison River River takes a sharp bend as it flows through the and stone gorge. We get a spectacular view from the view point at an overhang cliff.
Back to our car, we drive back to the main road and go further until we find a junction to the next two lookouts —Hawk’s Head Lookout and Ross Graham Lookout.
At Hawk’s Head Lookout, we get an expansive view of the Murchison River gorge. There is an overhang rock surface that resembles the head of the hawk, visible from the viewing deck. Ross Graham Lookout offers the same view. But it is good to know that it’s named after Mr Ross Graham, the first school teacher in Kalbarri and devoted conservationist who aided the exploration of Murchison River.
With all the four sites visited, we are done exploring Kalbarri. The next day, we leave Kalbarri and drive further north of Western Australia’s Coral Coast.
Pictures by Pictures by Rizauddin Ibrahim
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