Kalbarri - Geraldton

Have just spent a couple of lovely days in Kalbarri.  Beautiful beaches, and stunning views from the cliff tops.  In spite of being in the Overflow C/Park at the town's oval, it was a friendly bunch, some just spending a night, and some like us, waiting to move into another park when a site became vacant.

Whilst waiting, we took a trip on another rather corrugated National Park road, to see a couple of gorges.  They are entirely different from other gorges we've seen up north, but nonetheless spectacular rock formations, with the variations in colour in the obvious layer upon layer of ancient sediment.

Yesterday we had a picnic lunch on a beach, watching some surfers taking on some huge sets of waves, and then from atop a rugged cliff top were treated to a great view of a couple of humpback whales making their way south.  Later we visited the Australian Parrot Breeding Centre, called Rainbow Jungle.  Could not believe the numbers of different breeds of parrots on display, and the name "rainbow" was certainly indicative of the miriad of colours in every conceivable configuration displayed in the feathers of the birds. Every different cage was a WOW moment !! I have never seen such brilliant blues, greens, blues, reds, pinks, purples, yellows - you name it, we saw it.

This guy having a bad hair day, but so cute

Was it something I said ?

Is this my best side?

Now we have moved on to Geraldton, and this afternoon had a lovely coffee on the waterfront - almost back into civilisation again.  There is a magnificent memorial to HMAS Sydney on the hill overlooking the town, which was so amazing to see after watching the celebrations on Sydney Harbour the other night.

This magnificent memorial honours the 645 Australian sailors who were lost off the Western Australian coast during a World War II battle with a German raider in November 1941.RAN cruiser HMAS Sydney II and her men disappeared after a battle with German raider HSK Kormoran. 

The beautifully designed memorial features five elements : a silver dome of 645 seagulls to represent each of the lost Sydney sailors. The wall of remembrance shows photographs of the ship and the names of the Sydney crew. To the north, a bronze statue of a woman gazes desperately out to sea as she awaits news of the ill-fated Sydney. Nearby is a dramatic shape representing the bow of the ship.

The 5th element is the pool of remembrance 'Closing the Circle'. 644 Seagulls are lining the base of the pool, the 645th, standing 2 metres tall above the pool, its wing indicating the spot where the wreck lies together with longitude and latitude coordinates. The combination of these five elements results in an extremely moving memorial.

Heading inland tomorrow for a while - taking in some old gold mining country, Mount Magnet, then on to Leonora & Kalgoorlie.  Should be interesting - a bit of history too.  Hoping we might see some wildflowers too.  Have seen some on our travels - always such a delightful surprise to see pretty colours in amongst the scrub & dry red dirt.

More soon.  Ciao x