Luke would love this Skywalk

George Lucas originally planned to name his lead character Luke Starkiller. He did go on to kill the Death Star. But George renamed him Skywalker because he thought Starkiller sounded a little too ‘Charles Manson’.

 

Just last Friday Kalbarri National Park opened its new soon-to-be-smash-hit attraction…The Skywalk. Part science fiction, part engineering marvel, part spaceship, this new Skywalk is astounding. Made up of two V-shaped walking decks, which propel visitors 25 metres and 17 metres respectively, out from the cliff, into the sky, above the extra-terrestrial rocky gorge of the Murchison River 100 metres below. This is eco-tourism twenty-first century style. The view reminds you of a galaxy far far away. It is staggering. It is the sort of wild, rocky, dramatic river gorge that normally only two-way radio using, 4WD fanatics get to see. This, however ,is accessible to everyone and is just a 30-minute drive west from Kalbarri on a well maintained tarred road.

Kalbarri National Park is 1830 square kilometres of the lower reaches of the Murchison River. The river has cut an 80km gorge through red and white sandstone creating stunning rock formations. A gentle walk takes us to the famed Nature’s Window- a natural window in the rock, now a treasured location for selfies. We are enthralled as a young Frenchman flies his drone through the gap in the rock at rapid speed. Another Star Wars moment.

Later we traverse the Z-Bend Track which winds down from a 100-metre viewing platform to the gentle river below. We follow the track down a dry waterfall where water has cut a deep swathe through the sandstone. The descent is steep and at times tricky with a number of ladders. The river rewards us for our effort as it flows gracefully through the deep sandstone gorge. We are relieved that the upward journey is much quicker and easier on the knees.

Our timing for the Skywalk is perfect, but alas we are a few weeks too early for the wildflowers. The odd flush of fluffy wattle is a hint that this one metre-high scrubby bushland, completely devoid of larger trees, is about to explode into colour and beauty.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is known to have said ‘In my experience there is no such thing as luck.’ So today we count ourselves blessed to be able to visit Kalbarri National Park and doubly blessed to be amongst the first visitors to experience the Skywalk.

Forget the bucket list

Instead of a having a ‘bucket list’ we believe in taking travel opportunities as and when they arise. Sure, it’s good to plan but instead of spending a lifetime writing a list of where we might want to go, we like to be ready for any travel opportunity that presents itself. Because the WA government wisely imposed first interstate and then intrastate travel restrictions, we wondered what our next adventure would be. Early in the Covid crisis we watched an ABC 7.30 report about regional towns that were doing it tough. The story featured a town 600 kms north of Perth, Kalbarri. It looked amazing so we decided that a soon as the intrastate restrictions were lifted we would head north.

We foolishly began to announce to WA friends that we were planning a trip to Kal- bar-i only to be rebuked rather sternly as the town is pronounced Kal-barry. With the Lonely Planet as our guide we plan a two-week trip north up the WA coast with our second stop at Kalbarri, 4000kms due west of the Gold Coast.

Kalbarri is a town that many sandgropers (Western Australians) used to have their summer holidays in, until Bali became more hip. Now with that option closed Kalbarri may well be poised for a comeback.

If you want coastal scenery, a pounding surf, fishing and an old-fashioned beach holiday Kalbarri seems picture perfect. We score an iconic, river front, powered site and set off for an afternoon stroll to the river mouth and beach. We watch a tourist boat cruise head out across one of the trickiest river mouth bar crossings imaginable. The boat proceeds west out the river mouth and then turns 90 degrees to starboard to avoid a rock shelf which lies directly ahead. It then steams north for a few minutes catching the large swell side on. Finally it turns to port and heads west towards the sunset, directly into the swell. Epic!

From the headland we watch a surfer ride a board with a keel that lifts him out of the water. He was being towed out to sea by his mate on a jet ski and then let off on huge rolling waves. Winter seems to have fled with brilliant sunshine, no wind and 23 degrees.

The nearby national park offers bushwalks, the coast deserves more exploration and a blog follower (Russ) suggests that we check out the Skywalk.

Stay tuned as we explore Kalbarri – we hope you said that correctly!

All you need is a 4WD and a torch.

‘All you need is a 4WD and a torch.’ Lonely Planet.

Fortunately, we have a 4WD. Unfortunately, we forgot the torch.

We follow a rough and very sandy 4WD track about 20 km east of Green Head and eventually arrive at a dry riverbed. In the company of four young Frenchmen on working holidays, we follow the signs that point towards the creek bed. Albert Namatjira would love to have painted this beautiful scene graced by ancient white flood gums. Warning signs alert us to dangerous bees that have built huge hives high on the cliff walls. The dry creek disappears into a crevice in the cliff and we follow it into the most extraordinary cave. Stockyard Gully Cave. This is no crawl on your belly caving experience, but a cave so wide and so high that previous generations used it as a stockyard. The cave meanders like the creek and after 100 metres we are in total darkness (thankfully illuminated by our iphones). Another 200 metres and a hint of light grows into a sun-drenched cavern. As the light increases, we see the exit which perfectly frames a leafy oasis on the other side. No crowds, no cost, no tourist infrastructure just natural beauty that could easily rival Uluru.

Earlier in the day we had spent the morning walking around a beautiful coast track which links three bays. Dynamite Bay according to the 2017 Tourist Association Beach Ambassadors (whoever they are) is ranked number nineteen in Australia’s Best 101 Beaches. Apart from the piles of seaweed it is a very pretty little beach which should perhaps adopt its local indigenous name ‘Cuencandjaa’ meaning ‘a mouthful of sand’. The walker friendly concrete paths which join the three bays are designed to encourage exploration while limiting damage to sandhills green with spectacular low native vegetation.

In WA we have fallen in love with the local sea birds, Oyster Catchers. With their long, straight, bright orange beaks and matching legs they are particularly striking.Today we see a mum, dad and five chicks exploring a smelly stack of seaweed, which to them is a nutritious compost pile no doubt full of small edible critters. Finally, dad is fed up with this supermarket feast and leads the family airborne at great speed. The family respond immediately and the chicks amazingly keep up as they speed away.

Green Head is a rewarding entrée to our trip north towards the Coral Coast.

On the road again.

With overseas travel a future dream and interstate travel forbidden, it’s time to hit the road again. It’s winter so that means – go north. Our destination is the Coral Coast/Exmouth. The road begins with the Indian Ocean Drive. Accommodation is our A-van (called Morrie) and the goal is quite simply to explore a part of Australia we know nothing about. The locals tell us that this part of the Western Australian coast is full of unexpected surprises, stunning coastal scenery, awesome wildlife and the odd early wildflower.

Our first surprise is the massive sand dunes near Jurien Bay. They are almost pure white and absolutely devoid of vegetation. These dunes are formed by the sand blowing across the landscape from the coast until they form incredibly picturesque, but slightly unnerving, barren sand dunes. On one section of the road, signs warn of sand blowing across the road ahead. Sure, enough to the east of those signs are more massive sand hills.

Our first overnight stop is the tiny fishing village of Green Head reportedly where Dutch sailors were marooned in 1658, while searching in a small boat for survivors from the shipwreck Vergulde Draeck . Tonight we enjoy a beautiful western sunset, a local hamburger and chips, a hot cup of tea and homemade Anzac biscuits.

Land locked in the Covid West is not exactly a hardship posting!