48. Our road trip north

Ben took me north along the coast for a few days..... Exploring..... 

First we went to Lancelin where he had been before. We walked along the beach

Then settled down to have a barbie and watch the sunset...

We had parked in the beach car park and we decided to stay overnight. You're not meant to but we were on our way well before the rangers arrived. 

The sand dunes in the background of the photo above were our next stop... Inland dunes used for four wheel drive off-road adventures. We didn't have a four wheel drive tho....

Ben got his Go-Pro camera out with his aerial drone to fly above the dunes, using a towel for takeoff so the sand didn't fly everywhere with the down draught!

Unfortunately as we left the dunes the camper got stuck in the sand..... And we weren't even off the track of the road! Luckily some well-equipped Aussies were nearby and they towed us out.... They only towed us about 3 feet but it had been enough for us to get stuck up to the axle in sand..... Phew! Made it.... So easily done...

Driving north from Lancelin we headed to the Pinnacles, a fabulous limestone stalagmite landscape and national park

And then on to Jurien Bay, a beautiful spot famous for its sky diving.... We went to a campsite and checked in, then explored the beautiful coastline

The next day we continued north along the coast to Kalbarri.... By this time we were about 7 hours drive north of Perth..... But a mere dot on the whole map of Australia. It's a big place! By now the landscape was changing from the beautiful sand dune coastlines to a more rugged and red sandstone scenery

Kalbarri itself is sheltered from the westerly swell and surf by an isthmus of land creating a beautiful lagoon

You can see how rough it is outside the protected lagoon

And inside.... Tranquility 

We met some of the locals

We stayed two nights here it was so beautiful. The second day we headed inland into the national park. There are still a lot of dirt track roads in WA once you get out of the city (city not cities as there is only one city in WA...!)

The scenery was what I imagine the Grand Canyon to be like.... Only smaller. This is Nature's Window.....

It was so hot..... And the flies..... Well I can see why Crocodile Dundee had a hat with corks hanging from it! We only had a scarf each, and on all the photos of us we just took them off for the photo very quickly then put them straight back on again..... Nightmare! 

And with the head scarf!

Then we finally got off the dirt roads and back onto Tarmac again...

And back to the coast where we snorkelled and enjoyed the escape from the flies and the heat. But the snorkelling was quite surreal as we were in a lagoon protected from the huge surf pounding just a few feet away..... 

That's me in the water....

The next morning we drove back to Perth.... Had a lovely few days away and there is so much more to explore. Next time....