We arrived during a wicked thunderstorm; driving headlong into clouds the colour of the bitumen road. Then, torrential rain and the wipers banging madly left to right. The unsettled weather lasted three days. The rainfall meant dirt roads to the Murchison River gorge walks were closed. So, we began our explorations of this national park along the coast.
We had stumbled into Kalbarri National Park, following a tip-off from a friend who rated this park as their favourite in the entire state of Western Australia. A vast state, in our vast continent, with this astoundingly unsung pocket of country. The coast walks showed us shifts of colour, brilliantly combined. Then we finally got access to the Murchison River gorge and the dramatic, swirling cliffs and flooded Murchison River took this park to a whole new level of scenic. The impressive beauty was deeply surprising and the sense of discovery hugely satisfying.
In the March/April 2019 issue of Wild Magazine we had a story covering Kalbarri National Park. It was an Adventure Destination piece, summarising all the important information on Kalbarri such as when to go, accommodation, water, climate etc etc. as well as touching on all hiking, paddling and rock climbing options within the park. The story lacked, however, any personal touch. Also, the space for photos in magazines is limited. Hence, we decided to share Kalbarri on the blog. Here's what we felt and saw; the sounds and surfaces. The landscape that was so surprising and satisfying.
Lets start with the coastal walks
The coast is not a bad place to start. There is one track, Bigurda Trail, an 8km (one way) walk above low sea cliffs. There are viewing platforms at Island Rock and Grandstand lookouts. What we saw - dolphins offshore; whales breaching in spectacular splashes of Indian Ocean blue. The eroding, crumbling coastline - a colourful collection of geology; from deep purple and ochre ledges at Eagle Gorge nearest Kalbarri through to the white, limestone features of Natural Bridge at the southernmost point.
And flowers! The diversity, peculiarity, colour and ubiquity of flowers here is distracting, in the best possible way. At Natural Bridge the coastal heath was in profuse flower with the endemic Murchison Rose (Diplolaena grandiflora) (third picture, below), the spectacular Scarlet Featherflower (Verticordia grandis), Sandhill Grevillea (Grevillea commutata), clumps of white tipped Smokebush (Conospermum stoechadis) and the delicately pretty Large-Flowered Guichenotia (Guichenotia macrantha) with its shy flowers always looking at the ground until you lift the pretty pink/purple petals to look into their dark eyed centre.
South, beyond the Bigurda Trail, there is nothing marked on any tourist map or National Parks map. But, if you look at the WA Landgate website with its satellite imagery and boundary information you can find all kinds of fun exploration options for longer day walks or even short overnight trips. Using old 4WD tracks and management trails it is easy to follow the sea cliffs as far south as Bluff Point (and beyond?). We particularly loved this distant part of coast - there were more bizarre limestone formations to find and huge views of a vast, uninhabited coastline.
After the coast, we headed to Kalbarri Gorge!
Arriving at Z Bend lookout, and seeing the deep, red cliffs of the Kalbarri Gorge, took us to a whole new level. Following days of rain, the mighty Murchison River was in good flood. Beautiful grade 3 rapids swept the chocolate river towards the sea; made us wish our whitewater raft was not 4000km away.
We were so excited by the view - the gorge stretched out below us - that we returned to the car, stuffed our backpacks with gear and set off for an overnight walk, simply exploring upstream for a couple of hours.
It was tricky walking in the high water but the cliffs of Kalbarri are stepped, terraced; like architecture. We followed the river's edge, then found a perfect flat ledge to sleep on. There was time for an afternoon cuppa. And hours of imagination. As we sat there, a young Nepalese man appeared from upstream. He had walked from Hawks Head Cleft having hitched there from Kalbarri. His plan was to follow the river all the way to its mouth. But, the flood waters, he said, were making it slow, tough going. He had to divert high up above the cliffs for most of the walk and was days behind schedule.
We had in fact come to Kalbarri with plans for a similar walk - there is an unmarked, but well-known, four-day river hike, which covers a 38km route from Ross Graham Lookout to The Loop walking track. In low water, it is an easy ramble along the sandy river bed, the odd river crossing is necessary, maybe you'll get your feet wet in the narrower parts of the gorge. But, in high water, such as we encountered, river crossings were impossible.
We shared our sleeping ledge with the young man and had him tell us of his adventures so far. How he had been forced to push through thick scrub up high on the plateau. That night, the rock I laid my head on (Tumblagooda Sandstone) buzzed like a swarm of bees.
When we woke the next morning, it was immediately apparent that although the rain had stopped days ago the river was still rising, not falling. As we all set off downstream, there was one tricky negotiation of a back water, wading through the discoloured water, feeling ahead with bare feet, hoping the rock platform did not end. It had been above my knees on the way upstream, it was now up to my thighs on the way back.
To compensate for missing out on this through walk, we chose instead to do a series of overnight walks from the various river access tracks. This is also an excellent option for walkers without car shuttle options.
The high water still made walking along the Murchison River challenging at times as we sought out shelves and ledges, backtracked to skirt around cliffs and drop offs. There were some broken, tumbled-down sections of rock to negotiate and flooded pockets of riverbank with huge, gnarly river red gums. Higher on the cliffs were snappy gums and honey myrtle in full bloom of purple flowers.
For our second night, we restocked at the car park at Z Bend lookout and took the Four Ways Trail (Idinggada Yina) back down to the river, this time below the main gorge. This marked trail winds along the plateau before following a side gully towards the Murchison River. It felt like more of a bushwalk than many of the other trails, as we saw no other people and the trail wound through thicker scrubland and past a baffling array of new wildflowers. On this walk we encountered acorn banksia, white feather flowers and beautiful pink flowered honey-myrtle.
The Four Ways trail hits the Murchison River opposite another side creek. We walked upstream, again using wide, flat ledges of rock that stretched past a couple of good quality rapids and beneath stunning striped and weathered cliff lines.
Then came the Loop Trail. This walk is the gateway to Kalbarri's most famous landmark – Natural Window. At times, there are queue's of people seeking that Instagrammable or Nature Photographer of the Year award-winning shot of this natural sandstone arch that frames a stunning view of the Murchison River. Since we visited, they've built a monstrous metal skywalk here. It opened earlier this year. See what you think - Skywalk. No doubt it's a remarkable piece of architecture and engineering, but then, so is nature.
Natural Window's fame overshadows the scenic quality of the rest of the Loop Trail. And the options for exploring (in low water) are nearly endless. There are narrow side creeks that must hide more than just loneliness. There are walls of pinstriped rock and a beauty that lies beyond my understanding of how earth's cumbersome geology can make such delicate beauty. There are grassy and sandy riverside flats. There are hills of red and green. You could walk upstream, exploring off-track, as far as you have time for.
The surfaces in Kalbarri; the rock, the rough but powdering sandstone under my fingers and its buzz in my ears each night as we lay down to sleep on an anonymous ledge somewhere there. That is my feel for Kalbarri. The flowers in bold flurries of colour. If you want to know where the campgrounds are (there are none) or whether you can drink the water (not that brown stuff), that's in the Wild magazine article.
Here, it has been fun celebrating the astoundingly unsung actuality of Kalbarri. Worth stumbling upon. Deeply surprising. Hugely satisfying.
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