Kalbarri National Park
We kept exploring National Parks – next stop was the Kalbarri National Park with the river and coastal gorges. The river gorges were created by the Murchison River and some formations are fabulous. We stopped at the Nature’s Window – it definite looks like a window 
with views – just imagine to open the louvers and inhale the fresh and brisk air. We didn’t walk the 8km which followed the river looping around the rocks.
At the place called Z-Bend the river carved its bed in a Z. It was possible to see the complete Z from the lookout. And it was build directly at the edge of the cliff. Just look 150m down (nearly vertical) and you could see the ground.
The coastal gorge is the complete coastal region, nearly 13km long. There are several lookouts which offer different views of the cliff and the coast. We stopped at Red Bluff and Blue Holes. The little rock pools are called Blue Holes but it was low tide so not deep enough to go swimming or snorkelling.
We stopped a bit longer at the Island Rock/ Natural Bridge as the formation looked good and we found something in the ocean. 
The Natural Bridge is covering a gab of probably 10m and I guess that in several years (it might take 200) the bridge is not anymore but you find another Island Rock instead. Most likely you’ll find a new natural bridge some meters away. But now to the thing we found in the ocean. At the Eagle Gorge I noticed a wave which could not have been a wave – it just didn’t look like one. But I just saw it once until we reached the Natural Bridge. There the wave was demonstrating the natural beauty of a jumping whale. He was quite active, jumping and showing his tail. I don’t know why he was still so far north so I hope he made it safe back his summer grounds. We also saw some dolphins swimming around the cliff.
Before we reached Geraldton we stopped in Port Gregory to look at the Pink Lake. Believe me it’s not an illusion – the lake is pink. The brochure says that Beta Carotene is responsible for the colour – it should react with the water and it turns pink! And I always thought beta carotene would be orange. I’ve heard before that under certain circumstances salt-lakes look pink but I never knew what the reason was.
We decided to stay a little bit longer in Geraldton as the Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra is giving a concert in Perth and it will broadcasted in some regional theatres. We read about the concert in Broome but couldn’t work out which the other cities were but sometimes we get lucky. We arrived on time and they still had tickets available (they were for free) and we enjoyed for 2h nice music.
The memorial for the HMAS Sydney II, which was sunk by the German vessel Kormoran, is worth a visit. The wrecks of these vessel were found
in 2008 probably 150km west of Shark Bay. The most interesting part is that no crew-member (645) of the HMAS Sydney II survived but 3/4 of the German crew. Unfortunately the memorial is only for the HMAS Sydney crew, they don’t mention the German crew although it is not 100% certain which ship sank which. We also went into the art gallery 
which showed several pictures of isolated areas in Australia (we recognised some of them). The WA Maritime Museum was interesting it provided lots of information about the “ostindische-hollaendische Handeslgesellschaft” which sailed the coast of Geraldton in 1600. Several of the boats actually sank – this coastline has also a nickname “keep your eyes open!”
Bye, Bye
Tom and Anja
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