Kalbarri is a beautiful little coastal town 600km from Perth where the Murchinson River meets the Indian Ocean. With a large nature playground right along the beach and Pelican feeding every morning we knew when we arrived that this would be a place the kids would love. One of the things that really stood out to us about Kalbarri was the unique and different landscapes we saw in one place.One end you have stunning River Gorges with the iconic Natures Window and the other end you have the Coastal Cliffs, with the large waves crashing and white sandy beaches create an impressive landscape.
The relaxed vibe of Kalbarri really captures you and instantly makes you relax, we stayed at the Murchinson River Caravan Park, a basic caravan park but the location was spot on with kids. Making it a fun and easy morning only being a short walk to the playground, river and the Pelican feeding. We enjoyed some great coffee at a pop up coffee van with views over the coast and lunch at a cafe with a large comfy couch overlooking the beach, two places that really stood out on our stay.
What we did with our kids in Kalbarri
Hired a Boat
We hired a boat from Kalbarri Boat Hire, 2 hours allowed us to have fun exploring the Murchinson River, we found our own secluded beach to have a picnic on and enjoyed cruising around the river in our own little tin boat. It was the perfect way to start our day, although we did manage to get ourselves stuck a few times, but we learnt along the way and had a lot of laughs trying to navigate our way out. There is a route you can follow with spots to stop at and a walk to a lookout, but we always find it easier with kids to go at our own pace and explore as we see.
Natures Window and Z-Bend River Walk
We could not miss taking the iconic photo at Natures Window an easy 1km return walk, we then drove the 6km to complete the Z-Bend Gorge River Trail. A 2.6km return class 4 walk that involves ladders and rocks to climb over, we loved this walk although the kids were not feeling it that day, we still made it and love looking back on our videos. There were kids abseiling in the Gorge which we thought was a fun idea and has now been put on our list of things to go back to.
Coastal Cliffs
The wind, waves and salt spray has carved out the rocky landscape of these cliffs. We saw Mushroom Rock, Rainbow Valley, Pot Ally and Natural Bridge all beautiful in their own way. Pot Ally was our favourite the rock formations and walking down through the cliff to the sandy beach, not recommended for swimming, but a sight that blew us away. You can take a scenic walk from Mushroom Rock through the Rainbow Valley Gorge or hike down from Pedric lookout to Red Bluff Beach for a swim, you could easily spend a couple of days exploring and taking in these beautiful sights as there is plenty to see.
Pink Lake, Hutt Lagoon, Port Gregory
Less than an hours drive away is Lake Hutt a Pink Lake known as Hutt Lagoon, although not recommended to swim in we couldn’t resist getting Ellas gumboots on for a little splash in pink water. Hutt Lagoon gets its colour from the presence of carotenoid-producing algae Dunaliella salina, a source of ß-carotene, a food-colouring agent and source of vitamin A. Depending on the time of day, the season and the amount of cloud coverage, the lake changes colours from red to pink to a lilac purple. As you can see from the photos it change in colour can be quite dramatic and can change depending on the angle it is taken from.
Rainbow Jungle
One of Australia’s most beautiful parrots habitat and it really lives up to its name. The owners have put a lot of effort into doing their own design, with paved bricked pathways, water features, landscape gardens and Australia’s largest free flight area. You can feel the effort they have put into their space and it is a really well thought out layout with tables and chairs placed throughout the place to sit and enjoy the surroundings. They also have a maze which is an optional extra and an amazing outdoor cinema which runs throughout school holidays. Adults $16, kids $8, 3 and under free – It is extra if you want to add on the maze.
Pelican Feeding
Every morning at 8:45am along the foreshore volunteers come out with a bucket of fish and give it to the crowd to feed the Pelicans. There is plenty of fish in the buckets, you are bound to get the experience of throwing one to feed them Ella did it twice! The nature playground is a short walk from here, which is where we headed after this for a morning play.
Pier Fishing
We have not done much fishing in our time, but we do like to get out and take Ella down to have a fish using a simple hand reel, more for the experience. This was her first time and she was lucky and caught a little fish which we then let go back into the ocean.
There is alot to do in Kalbarri and we could have easily spent longer but we felt like we saw a lot of what the town is about and would love to bring the kids back here on a holiday down the track.
Read more on their blog here! And, happy #wildbumming!
