Kalbarri Adventure Tour & Escape from Leeman

Our last day in Kalbarri involved a four hour trip into Kalbarri National Park and then a quick four and a half hour drive to a place called Leeman.

We were picked up by a friendly Aussie chap going by the name of Dave and taken into the park along with another sixteen people on their travels. As soon as we entered the park, we were glad we'd not tried it with our van as the unsealed road was rock-solid and corrugated in some parts. This meant that part of the drive was like being sat on a jackhammer even in a 4WD.

Our first stop was the West Lookout, appropriately named as it is West of Nature's Window. At the top of the gorge we could see far down into the valley which was made up of oranges, reds and browns and dots of green where trees were growing. We could also see how the Murchison River that cuts through the park actually zigs and zags on its way to the sea. Due to the lack of the rain, the river consisted of patches of water every now and then but Dave said that after a very dry winter they were due some rain in the next week.

After standing at the West Lookout and fighting the wind, we headed over to Nature's Window and had our pictures taken like typical tourists. From Nature's Window we could see that on the East the river came towards us and then made a U turn and headed away. But then we looked to the West and saw the river coming from the North and heading in a partially straight line to the West.

After we made our way back to the car park, we sat down for Morning Tea! We were provided with some lovely homemade chocolate cake, of which Rich had an extra half a piece - I didn't want to seem too greedy, and a cup of coffee each (good old fashioned Nescafe sachets). We had a chat with two lovely couples from Lancashire who had moved to Perth about forty years ago but they still had broad accents.

Last but not least was the Z-Bend Lookout which, after a ten minute walk, opened up into another valley with birds tweeting and a lot more greenery than what we saw at West Lookout. After I spent a few minutes photographing every wildflower we headed back up for a picture of me wearing my Evolution Gym t-shirt in the car park - I forgot during the whole trip to take my hoodie off for some advertising for John's gym.

We then headed for Leeman and the unknown at about two o'clock after Dave dropped us off back at our van. I have to say that Dave was a great tour guide and provided some great information and humour and certainly made the tour worth the money.

The drive to Leeman was uneventful except for two suicidal kangaroos. Driving in Australia is usually ok but everyone you meet and in all the literature you read it states not to drive during dawn or dusk. However, we'd managed to do this twice already and on our way to Leeman I was keeping my eye out for any 'roo that decides to cross the road during the dusk eating time. After getting to the top of a crest we started going back down hill along a straight road when one roo' ran across the road so I slowed down and then I waited for another as I headed towards them. A second later and his mate turned up, stopped and looked at me in the middle of the road and then buggered off. That was our first and only experience with a live 'roo as all the others we've seen have already met the front-end of a vehicle.

To end this long and endless blog post, we arrived in Leeman Caravan Park and pulled up in a spot after spending ten minutes deciding where to park. We then kept ourselves safely in the van for the rest of night after taking a brief look at what seemed to be a less than inviting place with some locals giving us funny looks. There was probably nothing wrong with the place but we weren't keen to find that out and went to sleep pretty early in line for an early start and quick escape in the morning!