Kalbarri.

Well Kalbarri delivered on every count...it was a great time with old and new friends

And thanks to Mr October we ate the most amazing cray fish.. as a spread, pickled, and BBQ'd... 

But first we were made very welcome by Mrs October (by default) and it was lovely to finally meet up with our friends from Castlemaine.

There are a lot of rocks at Kalbarri... we went for a wander on the cliff side by mushroom rock and round the bay - the rock here is a beautiful deep red colour and just gleams in the sun.  

There were a few daring exploits involving a sticky out bit of rock that was lots safer than it looked.. and this picture doesnt really do it justice to how high it was or how gloriously blue the sea and sky were. 

and then some climbing on the (recently named) wedding rock - a large piece of granite that had fallen off shortly after our friends had been married under it!!!

Fred played at being crushed by the rock... its strange how meeting up with some people brings out the complete childish behavior all round 😂😂...

In the evening we all walked down to the foreshore and sat drinking and eating crisps watching yet another glorious sunset and the pelicans floating and flying about.... 

The next day the Castlemaine crew and Dr Fred headed to the gorge in the national park and walked climbed and scrambled to the Natures Window.

  there had been a heavy downpour and the river was very high but it just made the whole outing more adventurous and spectacular. 

That evening we played pool - well not real pool but some game that needed less skill and some luck - it meant that even complete novices like me could have a go - I wont be going professional - but Dr Fred did win one round (defo luck rather skill)

Then as it was fully dark, beer and flashlights in hand we headed out through the neighboring campsite to the town oval where there were dozens of Kangaroos grazing. It was a bit intimidating being in among so many of these large creatures but Mr and Mrs O didn't think it was a problem either for the roos of for us so we kept quiet and walked slowly.  We were lucky because someone had parked their car on the other side of the field with the headlights on so lighting up the area - the animals were easy to see and also it made a beautiful shadow on the fence - although that was a bit disconcerting as it looked like the animals were much closer than the actually were, especially when they were jumping.   We were treated to the gantastic spectacle of two huge male bucks having a wee spar - kangaroo boxing - another magical wildlife moment.

For Dr Freds birthday the Castlemaine kid and him went coast-steering up on the cliffs around Eagles bluff.   

Mr October the crayfish whisperer had caught fresh that morning, six fantastic crayfish which he prepped for a BBQ later that night.... I was going to write a whole spoof blog about how we went diving and foraging for crayfish and produced the beauties pictured but I knew no one would believe me ...

however we were really treated and spoiled to enjoy this marvelous feast caught - prepped and eaten all within 12 hours and they were delicious....

We had a fab BBQ party with a campfire... a different but very enjoyable yuris night.

Then of course its time to move on... still a way to go to get to our eclipse destination.