A ghostly handprint on the wall - Karla took the photos but it wouldn't email to me properly - Ghostly interference maybe - wooooooooooooo!!!
Well we arrived in Kalbarri and stayed in a lovely friendly caravan park called The Tudor. Kalbarri is a beautiful little place which is located on the Murchison River where it meets the ocean. There is also the Kalbarri National Park, home to the spectacular Murchison River Gorge, Natures Window and Z bend to name just a few. The Murchison River Gorge has been formed over millions of years. The beauty of this National Park is that all the walks to the gorges are very accessible and easy so no tramping for lots of kilometres, or rock hopping which suited me just fine!! We were lucky enough to be here while there were still some wildflowers about and it must be spectacular at the height of the wildflower season.
The coastal cliffs of Kalbarri have witnessed many shipwrecks over the years and looking at the ocean waves pounding on the shoreline, you can easily see why. There are scenic sites all along the coastal road which extensive views overlooking colourful coastal limestone and sandstone ledges. It is a haven for surfers with some mad ones (in my opinion anyway) strutting their stuff at Red Bluff.
We just relaxed here (there's that word again) and Charlie bought himself a new fishing rod and tried his luck again but didn't get anything worth keeping. We met up with some other people we met on the road, Lee and Bev and Mike and Zelma so we had a few happy hours of course.
We did a day trip to the Principality of Hutt River. We had heard about this place and even seen something on the television some time ago so were eager to see it for ourselves. Its what is called a "micronation". The place is very run down. Apparently a legal loophole allowed a farmer called Leonard and his wife to set up a separate "country" and it broke away from Western Australia in 1970. Captain Stirling never proclaimed Western Australia part of British Territory so after lots of legal wrangling The Principality of Hutt River was established and gained itself Prince Leonard and Princess Shirley. On speaking to Prince Leonard he told me that he had approximately 13,000 citizens world wide with about 30 living there on the farming land. He has his own stamps, money, flag, a Rolls Royce with the royal flag and insignia on the side of it, special Principality number plates.
When entering we had to have a visa with an entry date stamped on it and an exit date!!! I even saw Princess Shirley stamping the actual passports of some Japanese girls but I wouldn't have been game enough to do that - I'll just stick with the visa and put it in my passport. I must say I found it very difficult to take it all seriously but looking at all the regalia around the place, it is all "fair dinkum" to use a great Aussie expression. There were newsletters showing them dressed in all their regal robes doing a "Royal Tour" with lots of Heads of States of various countries!!
We left Kalbarri and we called in to Port Gregory to view the Pink Lake. This is an awesome sight and the colour is due to bacteria which is trapped in the salt granules. After having coffee and cake (thanks Karla yet again) we plucked up courage and headed towards Oakabella Homestead at Northampton which is reputed to be the most haunted house in Australia. We camped there for the night in the paddock with Karla, Anthony, Maddie and Jayden. We loved the sign as we went in about the complimentary ghosts but as Karla and Maddie weren't too sure about this and would far rather have stayed at the Animal Farm camping ground, Charlie went back armed with his vacuum cleaner and became their very own "Ghost Buster".
It was very windy there and of course there were lots of jokes made about the ghosts not happy with us camping there!! We went on a ghost tour at night but didn't see anything (or at least we thought we didn't see anything). Karla and Maddie stayed at the gate and took some photos of the rest of us brave (or stupid) souls trekking around and got a photo of the 4 of us but the photo shows a handprint on the wall which is does not come from any of us - she tried to email it to me but it wouldn't email properly but I've included it in the photos - wooooooooooooo!!! My daughter in law Sandy said when I told her what we were doing "Have you guys lost your marbles since you've been travelling?!!!!" Mmmmmmmmm I think we may have but its all good fun.
After a very windy night there with the wind (or upset ghosts) howling around the caravan, we left and headed into Geraldton where we had to organise to get the springs fixed on the caravan as they had flattened - YES ITS OFFICIAL - ONE TOO MANY HAPPY HOURS - I'VE BROKEN THE SPRINGS ON THE CARAVAN!!!
That's all for now so its Adieu from The Wandering 2s.
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love the fire tree and the pink lake! The last photo weirds me out, that it didnt load properly, and you claim there's a hand print on the wall.....eeek!
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