Road trip North with the boys DAY2

Once the sun popped up, we noticed it was a lovely little bit of a beach spot; it was Coronation Beach campground. Fair dinkum, I reckon we got the last little spot, and it was a warm night with a touch of wind, but all in all, it was an okay spot. Once I got inside the tent, I remembered why I hate camping! Crikey, the ground was hard, very hard! Bloody hard.... About as hard as Chinese arithmetic! I think I've become accustomed to all the creature comforts we get used to, and trust me, a rock-hard bed isn't one of them.

Well yes it was a bit overcast but being up north has its benefits as it was a beautiful warm 24, so with a nice morning breeze we dug into our brekkie which as you can see was up there with the best. Well, that's what 2136 flies told me.

Our first stop for the day was at Hutt lagoon which is better known as The Pink Lake, and way down there is Oscar showing off the Pink lake.

Also, Bazza jumped out and went for a gander at Pink Lake, he was happy to get out of Eddy and stretch out legs leg bones.

Back in Jacko's truck we drove onwards to Kalbarri cliffs, and this area is known as Island rock lookout which you can noticed it in the background.

Bazza and Eric showing us the sea just off the cliffs fairdinkum I think Bazza was in his elements.

And in time at all we had reached our first big township on our second day, and Kalbarri is without doubt a real stunner of a place right next to the ocean.

Our first drinking hole was The Kalbarri Hotel, the local pub enjoys a prime position in the centre of town, with views over the Murchison River to the Indian Ocean.

Yeah, to be true the Pub has seen better days but what it lacks in new look it replaces it with a real practical feel, it is wide and long, and you have lots of room to move inside here.

And where most have one or maybe two pool tables as you can see it has three, now how could you go wrong with three pool tables. The air-con chips the edge of the heat outside without being to cold, and pub itself has a real nice fishing village feel to it. Which comes in handy as we are right next the river inlet.

Then we left the car where we left it and crossed the quiet Porter Street and stepped into our next rest stop, the nice and new Gilgai Tavern. And this place had its air-con on and it was working a bit too hard, but really did cool us down.

Whereas the Kalbarri hotel was on the oldish side (which I loved) this place was all new and very up to date, we ordered some chips and settled into drinking our beers.

Now isn't that a nice view.... The beer that is not bloody rough as guts Oscar in the background, yes, I can call him that as I have to sit next to him and he hasn't had a wash in two days. And then the boys hit the pool table as I was able to hit the chips, and yes you can see why three pool tables are better than one. But we got a couple of games done before we headed to our next tourist attraction.

Now I have been waiting a few years to see this place as I found it on the internet and it didn't let me down, the very different Finlays.

I was waiting a few days to wrap my laughing gear around a beer paddle which if you're ever going to try different types of beer then you can't go wrong with a paddle.

This quirky brewery and restaurant has a fantastic seaside boaty atmosphere the food was excellent, and they offer a wide selection of beers and ginger beer. Unlike many boutique breweries, they brew a Kalbarri lager that tastes like a bloody traditional lager without the added perfumes and scents! The staff were friendly and efficient, and it's also dog-friendly which was good as we could bring in Jacko!

And as for that paddle well not long after it came to my table it suddenly disappeared and trust me it went to a good home.

Yep, we made it to Natures Window, which was the biggest reason for coming up north, it's located inside the Kalbarri National Park and is really worth coming up here to have a gander.

Bazza got his own photo at Natures window as about thirty Chinese tourists had to wait in line, we got a lot of laughs from them, and Bazza turned out to be a favourite as when we took our photo, I could hear all the cameras clicking away. Bazza is now immortalized in heaps in Chinese households with properly a funny story to tell.

Around about now I received a phone call from Tania asking if we were being save and not doing anything stupid, I told her not to worry as Bazza was looking after us and at the back of my mind I was wondering wear Oscar was.

Bazza was in his element!

At Hawkes head lookout wear there is the Sky deck and if I could recommend anything please send the time and go and have a gander, this place is just unbelievable with views across the driest Murchison River.

looking down from the sky deck at the ground below

You know the old chestnut saying 'The photo just doesn't do it justice' well fairdinkum this photo is just that, you have no idea how this place just captivates your imagination. Just sitting here, you have a view that just wraps around your whole eyesight, the view is everywhere you look is amazing and if you have the chance then come for a drive up and just experience it. I know I will be back and next time I want to camp out in the National Park, maybe after a few coldies back in town but then just come out here and breath in the views. It must be amazing to be here at sunset as the cliffs would just turn every shade or orange and reds.... A must to do thing.

Now yes, I could have stayed here for most of the day, but we were on a tight schedule, and we had one more thing to do before heading back home and we were about to do that tomorrow. And as you can see, we still had 309 kilometres to go to get to Shark Bay, so we headed off up the Northwestcoast highway towards or rest stop for the night.

We hit The Overlander roadhouse just on dark so it would be dark before we hit our stop for the night, so we better have some roadhouse tucker for our dinner before we set up camp. Don't we all love a roadie chicken schnitzel and three chicken wing-dings washed down with a cold coke from the car fridge, not what the doctor would have wanted me to sink into but luckily, he was over eight hundred kilometres away, so I didn't hear him complain.

As you can see, we indeed reached our resting place, which was Hamelin Station where yours truly was able to have a nice long hot shower before setting up the beach chair. Sitting back drinking a nice cold beer or two from the car fridge, while looking up at the milky way for the second night in a row. Fairdinkum this place was just so quiet and relaxing just sitting back enjoying the nice warm breeze at nine at night, and yes, I did fall asleep and then woke up later and finished my beer than settled into my tent which was actually on grass! So yes, it was softer but about as soft as it gets laying on fucking hard ground.... with grass! Day two gone.....