Kalbarri via The Pinnacles

The weather front (that would be a great name for a band) chased me up the coast today. I managed to stay ahead of it until Cervantes then it absolutely walloped me in Gerladton and again just out of Kalbarri. Despite all that I am sitting in an ocean side restaurant called The Grass Tree sipping red wine in a pair of shorts and a polo shirt. What's the weather like with you right now?

However it was with no great sadness that I checked out of the Parmelia Hilton in Perth today. Much and all as I like my travels to be fully catered and climate controlled those big city hotels with their bland décor and recycled air conditioning suck the marrow from your soul after a while. I mean the staff were fabulous, the service was excellent the room was terrific but it was just all so clinical and sterile. I mean I've met sullen teenagers with more personality. 

I hit the road early and the weather seemed to be reeking havoc with the GPS. I was about ten minutes out of Perth and it couldn't find the route until after I arrived in Geraldton some 430 kilometres away. I assumed it must be raining in space. A quick reboot and Martha was back to her normal assertive self. There was bumper to bumper traffic coming out of Perth, with the highway backed up all the way to Joondalup some 27 kilometres out of town. It felt like a proper Sydney traffic jam. Perth has really come of age. 

Well the Pinnacles were a treat. They will be the last place I revisit on this trip, from now on everything will be virgin territory. You will have to forgive me for the sexual innuendo at this point but as the photos will no doubt prove and as my unchosen tour companions bore out, you can't help doing penis jokes when you see The Pinnacles. They are these enormous limestone phallic symbols that jut out of the sand dunes close to the coast near Cervantes. Dutch explorers who saw them thought they were the ruins of an ancient city. When I arrived there was a bus load of private school girls visiting, you could tell by their sniggers and the jokes shared behind their hand covered mouths that dicks were on their mind. This was further exacerbated by the tour group of young Japanese couples. The men were looking envious and the girls kept crossing their legs. I'm sure I even saw their eyes watering.

Once the tour groups had left I pretty well had them to myself and I spent a contented hour wandering amongst them. Just as I jumped in the car the weather front hit (lucky escape - this time). 

I motored into Geraldton with only 30 kilometres of fuel left in the tank. I had last filled up at Margaret River and done just over 700 k's since then so the car is still being quite economical. As there wont be much cheap fuel for a while I thought I'd best take advantage of it. It was only another 90 minutes on to Kalbarri where I am staying for the night. I got drenched in Geraldton when I'd bought a coffee and absolutely soaked on the cliffs just outside of Kalbarri but the prediction for tomorrow looks OK. Let's hope the weather bureau has the blinds up and in using the building that is above ground for their predictions. 

Kalbarri National Park is what I was hoping to do tomorrow. It has been shut due to the inclement weather for the last 4 days so I am not holding out much hope to get in. If not I have a fall back plan. The Hutt River Province is about 30 kilometres away so I will head there, send myself some mail, maybe pick up a PHD or two along with a royal title, all good fun. Then I'm of to Monkey Mia, I don't think the dolphins will care about the weather.