Tuesday, August 26, 2008

DAY 304: Day 4 off in Kalbarri










Sat 23rd August 2008
Cloudy, sunny later, 25 deg C
Elevation of /destination 5m
Distance to date 18687 km (11679 miles)

I decided to stay here another day as I’m enjoying the relaxing, low-season atmosphere both in the town and in the YHA backpackers. It’s nice to be able to dip in and out of socialising at will and also wander around on the beach right on the doorstep. Not to mention availability of a good bakery. And being able to watch the Olympics (usually).
I uploaded again this morning in between watching the games, and in the afternoon rode over to the Wildflower Centre to have a look around. This is a few acres of bush with a wide variety of wild flowers, most labelled with the for identification. I was consequently then able to name some flowers and plants that I’ve been wondering about, such as the Smoke Bush, which is very common around here. It’s a large shrub with white ends to the branches that look like smoke from a distance. It was a warm sunny afternoon so it was very pleasant strolling around the 1.6km of paths. Even more pleasant to afterwards quoff the best Devonshire tea I’ve had in Australia - big and light home-made scones; proper whipped cream, none of yer spray-on stuff, and large portions of cream and jam too. Mmmmm......
By evening the backpackers was full of women - passengers on the Easyrider bus tour service who were staying here overnight - there are very few men that use this service for some reason, it’s usually 90% or so female. They’re good company, but get so loud together, and I had difficulty hearing the Olympics; in fact I gave up in the end and went to bed (alone of course!). I had another surprise on entering the (8-bed) dormitory when I saw that there was a woman making her bed up in there. Apparently there are so many females staying here tonight the only bed available was in this mens dorm. Her husband was also in here though to keep an eye on her.......
The lower flower is Kangaroo Paw, floral emblem of WA; upper is an Everlasting Daisy (Peper Daisy).

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