Monday 30 December 2013 - Kalbarri WA
Today I launched myself out of bed when the Sienna alarm went off at 5:25, threw on the running gear and hit the road. I did 12km two days ago, so today I decided to go down one more dirt track cul-de-sac (making it a total of three) and extended the distance to 13km. While I took my usual scenic route I saw the same coffee van that caught my attention on Saturday, serving customers in the car park at one of the good surf breaks, Jake’s Beach. It gave me an idea. I also had another idea while running (this happens a lot – I don’t get a lot of time to think uninterrupted thoughts during the rest of the day) and it was a bit of a revelation/realisation... one that applies to both travelling as well as life in general. In actual fact it’s nothing new (Dad was the first person to teach me about it), but it’s a lesson that has born particular relevance to Glenn and I throughout the year. Anyway, to cut to the chase: Leave while you’re still having fun. So we’ve packed up and are hitting the road (again) tomorrow.
After I got back from my run, I told Glenn my other idea, which was to have brekkie and then head to Jake’s for a coffee/hot chocolate, watch the surfers for a bit and let the kids potter around on the rocks. I also wanted to go back to Pot Alley to explore a bit more (and get a few more piccies). After we managed to tear the children away from the playground, we carried out the plan fairly painlessly, although the hot chocolate became an iced one for Glenn and the girls. The couple running the coffee van were lovely too, so we had a nice chat to them (they’re Kalbarri locals but are planning to use the van as a travelling/fund the travelling tool).
Once we’d drunk our drinks and checked out the surf, Glenn was eager to get started on the packing up so he dropped the girls and I at Pot Alley for an hour. Both Sienna and Yasmin walked all the way down and up (about 10 minutes each way of rocky descent/ascent) and had a ball, crawling around the rock ledges and climbing to the top of the rocky cliffs. We also had to take care of several ‘bush’ ablutions. I went a bit nuts with the camera and by the time Glenn arrived back to bring us home, we were satisfied and comfortably weary. I’d kept the girls busy enough to prevent any fighting and active so that they were tired but not so much that they got ratty – win! Plus, we left while we were still having fun... ;)
The rest of the day passed fairly pleasantly and uneventfully. Glenn and I carried out our usual packing up routine and the girls got their final Kalbarri playground fix. Yasmin and I went out for a few errands (markets, post office, op shop drop – offloaded old toys to make room for the new Xmas pressies) and then both girls had a nice nap. Then it was back to the playground while Glenn and I continued with the tidying/packing/washing before we had a few drinks with Penny and Colin, who kindly brought lots of tasty nibblies to the table as well – we felt very spoilt! We capped the night off with a quick and easy (but still tasty and awesome) dinner of leftovers, consisting of stir fried veggies and marinated lamb forequarters. We eat so well. Speaking of, my lunch today was pretty special too – basic salad (spinach, cherry tomatoes, pickled red onion, goat’s cheese and olives) topped with blue swimmer crab, drizzled in olive oil and a little vinegar and topped with a dollop of honey chilli sauce. Absolutely divine! So goodbye Kalbarri, we’ve had some fun and now we’re moving on, ready to see what else this strange and beautiful state of WA has to offer us!
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| Yummy! |
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| Iced chocolate outside of Bean Drifting – coffee van |
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| Closely examining a shell |
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| See? |
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| Stop talking and smile, Yasmin |
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| Still talking! |
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| Exploring rock pools at Jake's Bay |
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| Busy bees |
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| Cool, seaweed |
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| Rocks, water |
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| Closeup of rocks - cool hey |
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| Catching the break |
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| More cool rock closeups |
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| I love the colours and textures |
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| Revisiting Pot Alley - one of my favourite places |
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| Beautiful |
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| Like I said, beautiful |
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| Look at that texture in the rock! |
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| Just in case you missed it the first time |
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| Looking up at a rock ledge |
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| And again |
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| Saying cheese (after a 'bush wee') |
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| More beautiful |
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And more
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| Cheesy rocks |
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| Trying to do a 'rock wee' |
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| It's really hard to get this girl to stop talking in order to smile for a photo |
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| Sisterly love |
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| Gorgeous cuddles |
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| Sienna looks very serious, Yasmin is such a poser! |
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| Groovy rock |
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| Same rock, different angle |
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| I am a tad obsessed... |
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| But you can understand why, hey? |
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| Wrong light to capture the contrasting colours, but you get the idea |
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| Check the colours behind the weird smile |
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| They're both talking here! |
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| Cuddles |
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| Cute! |
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| Gorgeous grins |
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| Where's Sienna? |
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| Here she is! |
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| "No, I don't want a cuddle!!" |
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| Sisters interacting |
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| Rock pile at the top of Pot Alley |
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| Rocks again |
