#24 & # 25 Kalbarri - to Monkey Mia

It was a very uneventful day's drive — we had lunch in Geraldton and skipped the museum.

(I think it should have been the other way round!).

It gets windy out there!

The uneventfulness was broken only by a kangaroo that almost jumped in front of us (no photo because he jumped behind us!) just as we reached Kalbarri National Park... well that and the pretty amazing coast line, that has, according to Joe, "nice layers"! We oohed and aaahed and took the requisite photos.

Kalbarri National Park - THE BRIDGE

In town we spotted the site that we wanted in the caravan park — it looked across to the very nice beach where they feed the pelicans first thing in the morning. They wanted us to take the (only) other site but Joseph stood firm — we wanted the breeze, the scenery and quick access to the pelicans! (It's the same here at all of the caravan parks — just a few sites left because it's school holidays here in W.A. and for the people from Perth the drive up this whole coast line is very popular.

Well the breeze changed direction, the rain meant our back doors were closed so there was no view and the pelican feeding was cancelled due to rain! On the drive out of the park our theory about kangaroo behaviour was proved correct — they do come out when it rains — and there was another one drinking the water on the side of the road!

He was drinking from the side of the road— by the time we got the camera he was just looking at us.

So it was a slower drive for a while and the grey sky, while great for driving, didn't make for a great photo of the tree full of galahs.

but after about 300kms the sun came out just in time for Hamlin Pool.

Over the years, in case you weren't listening to Joseph when he told you (for the 100th time) about this trip, the thing he was most excited about seeing, for the whole six-week long trip, was the stromatolites at Hamlin Pool.

He was pretty excited!!

It is a World Heritage Site

This is what the fuss was all about!

He said they were the only living stromatolites in the world. Then, just a week ago, we found out they occur in a few other places in the world!! Over all those years and with all of that research how could he get it so wrong (I think to myself)? We we are here now and if you are a geologist it is a pretty amazing site and ... well ... yes ... I think it's amazing as well and with the sun shining the flies are out and well... they are ... annoying.

Flies on me

and in front I am waving my hands up and down to stop them going up my nose and in my mouth!

The aptly-named shell beach...

At shell beach they are down-right impossible!!

The story of shell beach.

So what you need to know about Australia is that when the sun is out so are the flies and what you need to know is that the flies in Australia are unlike flies anywhere else in the world. They land on your back, your head, your face, your eyes and your mouth!!

They are incessant and as we venture further and further into the northern parts and into the "bush" the flies will be mentioned a lot more I suspect and in future photos I will be wearing my head net.