Geraldton was not on our original itinerary, but it gave me the opportunity to “dip my toe” into the actual Australian Outback.

I signed up for the Kalbarri Park quick tour. The ship was leaving by 4:00pm and the park was 1:45 away, so there was not much time for a leisurely pace. However, you know things are slightly different when your bus looks like it’s used to transport convicts.

In the prime tourist season our tour operators brings folks for overnight stays in various nature parks. We are a few months early and only here for a few hours, but they dumped a lot on information on us.

We began by visiting Hawk’s Head on the Murchison River Gorge – a little Grand Canyon.

Many times I thought the view was similar to Arizona.

We then moved to the Kalbarri Skywalk, which are two cantilevered viewing platforms.

A warning that the park does not expect you to see the local fauna is when you see metal statues along the path to the tourist attraction. Due to the climate, most animals are nocturnal. Please forgive the pictures, the sun was coming from behind them.

Animals or not, there were nice views.

We had a picnic lunch in the actual town of Kalbarri and then made our way to Castle Cove. The Kalbarri park stretches from the very hot outback to the Indian Ocean coast. It was a bit of a drive and an annoying walk. But it was worth it.

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So, a bit of a drive for some lovely scenery. Our guide frequently bemoaned not having us for a few more hours, but what can you do?

The temperature is definitely increasing as we get closer to the Equator. I expect the humidity will spike soon.