6 March 2000
Reluctantly left Kalbarri this morning. Went out to Murchison River gorges. Disappointing. Was hoping to drive into and through them as we were able to do at Shothole Canyon near Exmouth. But could only drive to designated viewing areas at top of gorges. From there could walk to other viewing areas, or even down into gorges, but too strenuous (i.e. we too lazy). We had far better views from different viewing areas the day we first drove into Kalbarri. Much better was the visit to Rainbow Jungle and Tropical Bird Park. This is a privately run parrot and cockatoo conservation and breeding enterprise. It is very well set up, with rainforest canopies etc., and has an extensive range of birds. The larger ones are in big aviaries, but a lot of the smaller ones roam free and you have to be careful not to walk on them sometimes. Lorraine's favourite was "Cocky" the pet long-billed corella. He talked and sang and stuck his head inside a tin can while making a sound like a siren and generally acted the goat - much to her amusement.
From there we headed down the back way via the Hutt River Province and Port Gregory to Geraldton. Although we found the Hutt River Province without much difficulty we decided not to intrude on the serenity (and privacy) of Prince Leonard and Princess Shirl, contenting ourselves with taking a couple of photographs of the name at the entranceway to show we had been there.
Port Gregory is a tiny little fishing village waiting for a developer (unfortunately) to discover it. It is the only town we have been in that has no pub (that's how small it is) - but there is a bottle shop. Quiet, slow, tranquil.
We rejoined the highway at a lovely old ex-mining town called Northampton and cruised the remaining 50 kms into Geraldton. Will see more tomorrow, but Geraldton appears to be quite a large regional centre. It has plenty of history, and boasts an art gallery, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Coles, K-Mart, Woolworths, Big W and all the other modern icons that western mankind is convinced it can no longer live without.
May stay here for a day or two.