Before we leave Kalbarri the motel owner tells us about Cyclone Seroja which had about five months ago. It had caused wide spread damage to the town, and to the motel as well. They’ve been using the motel mostly to accommodate the tradies who are helping to rebuild everything, and she’s telling us how nice it is to start seeing a little more tourist activity. We really hadn’t noticed the extent of the repair work in the town (we’d mostly be out and about anyway), but as we were leaving the Palm Resort sign is also showing signs of the storm.
Lots to see today – we’re heading about four hours south to Cervantes, but we’ll be detouring to chase more wild flowers. Our first stop is Pink Lake. Some kind of algae activity which makes the water pink, and it’s quite a stunning sight! There are a few good places to stop and get a good look. At one there are some tourists wading deep into the water, but it just seems slightly gross to be getting right into it. So we walk by the water’s edge finding good angles to photograph the lake.
We arrive in Geraldton for an early lunch, we’ve been reading that this part of the WA coast is good for seafood, so we splash out and order oysters and lobster at Skeetas. Even since eating oysters in San Francisco I have a new-found enjoyment for them. And these are great. From time to time the holiday feeling is more noticeable, and there’s something about an early lunch with few other guests on a sunny day that brings that feeling.
A little research over lunch tells us that wild flowers info can be found at the Mingenew Visitors Centre. We drive an hour and half to Mingenew to find the visitors centre closed and sparse info on wild flower locations. So we wander back in the direction of the highway keeping an eye out for any we can see. There are a few distant field with some flowers, but nothing very accessible. Then we come across a field of purple flowers so we stop for a few photos. As I walk back to the car a bee gets blown behind by glasses and in a panic stings me right below my eye. As my eye swells and waters, Anna is yelling to get off the road (in my pain I must have walked backwards). Anyway, Anna takes on the driving for a bit to let me regather my composure. I support bees should be predicted around flowers!
Another three hours down the road we stop at the Pinnacles Desert. The landscape here is truly unique. It’s reminiscent of some of the landscapes in Iceland, in the sense that it feels otherworldly and special.
The pinnacles are towers of limestone, some in clusters, others standing on their own. The towers are mostly human-sized, and so walking amongst them is like walking with sentient beings firmly rooted in place all around me. The towers have characters too, they might be leaning in towards each other like speaking in hushed tones; or standing proud and tall and alone; or some like a family with the smaller children playing nearby. At times the place feels much more like a graveyard, packed with headstones all around the place, then it begins to be like hallowed ground. Long shadows grow as we take our time walking in the sandy remnants of an ancient sea.
Eventually we leave and check into a motel in Cervantes.
