KALBARRI - POPULATION: 1,336

TUESDAY 5.11.2013: Kalbarri National Park is one of the most spectacular parks in Western Australia. Covering more than 180,000 hectares, the park is located on the lower reaches of the Murchison River. Over the past 400 million years the river has cut magnificent deep red and white banded gorges 80 kilometres long on its way to the sea. The plan was to visit the National Park, but alas every gate was patrolled and of course – dogs were not only barred from entry, but not allowed to stay home alone in the motorhome. SO, best we did was to drive through the National Park to Kalbarri and enjoy the last of the native flowers and shrubs in bloom.




  


The local Aboriginal people inhabited the area for thousands of years and have a dreaming story about the Rainbow Serpent forming the Murchison River as she came from inland to the coast. The first European people to visit the area were the crew of the trading ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, who put two mutinous crew members ashore near Bluff Point just south of the town. The cliffs near the river mouth were named after another trading ship, the Zuytdorp, that was wrecked there in 1712. The area became a popular fishing and tourist spot in the 1940s and by 1948 the state government declared a townsite. Lots were soon surveyed and the town was gazetted in 1951. Kalbarri was named after an Aboriginal man from the Murchison tribe and is also the name of an edible seed.
Spent the evening at Murchison Caravan Park.