Coronation Beach

Map South of Kalbarri

A bit of rain this morning, enough to moisten the ground. A fairly warm night too, so this morning I have another hot shower and shampoo before driving out. I follow the coast road south, retracing some of the scenery I had a look at along the coast. On my right, a huge salt lake with pink coloured salt brine, stretching for seemingly endless kilometres. The brochure tells me, the colour is caused by bacteria in the salt crystals. They are also a rich source of Betacarotene, which is harvested in small pools around the lake. Too bad that there is no vantage point to take picture from but when I finally am past that lake, I get to a T-junction, so, instead of turning left to take me further south, I turn right to take me into Port Gregory, 5km away, in the hope to get a better view of the pink lake, from a somewhat more elevated position. I find that spot just before I enter the township ('town' is a bit of an exaggeration though, just a few houses, a General Store come Liquore store and a Marina with a few boats tied up.)

The Pink Lake near Port Gregory

Its probably a great place if fishing is your passion. There is a reef beyond the Marina with heavy waves breaking over it, about 100m from shore, beautiful turquoise waters and very windy. I take my photos and continue back to the highway.

The road passes through the southern part of Kalbarri National Park, as soon as I leave the park, the land on both sides has been cultivated for farming. This is part of the 'Wheatbelt', a new crop already growing, also lots of straw bales with their plastic wrappers everywhere and driving out from Northampton, huge grain silos on my left.

The Main drag at Northampton

Its also Show Day at Northampton, which probably accounts for all the traffic I am experiencing this morning. I visit a couple of shops, just for a look-see and continue on my way towards Coronation Bay, a camp spot that has been recommended to me. Its about 8km away from the highway with a beautiful new sealed road. The Ranger points me to a wind protected site which turns out really nice.

Fields of flowers near Northampton

In the background I can hear the waves thundering over the reef but otherwise its really peaceful. I think I will vegetate here for a couple of days. No phone, no internet, just time to have a snooze, write my blog and relax.