We did a tourist drive around Mt Magnet. The drive went through an active mining area to this the last remaining stone miners cottage. (Photo by Ann)

Ready for a motor home conversion?  (Photo by Ann)

There are quite a few wildflowers when you pause to look.

The drive ended in an area called " The Granites". This quite a scenic area with white sandstone erosion undercutting the red sandstone on top. Quite a few wildflowers. We spent a bit of time trying to find the aboriginal art sites that are here. No luck. I can't believe that I don't have photos 🙂

Lots of wild flowers now. Here is "Clifford" tip toeing through the daisies at our camp spot for the night.

These flowers are pretty special. They naturally grow in a circle and bloom on the circumference just like a wreath.

Looks like the secret is out and a few other people have found the wreath flowers.

Ann was pretty excited to find these small spider orchids. I was pretty excited to get a decent shot of them in the windy conditions.

The trip into Geraldton was wet, and the view on the beach is pretty miserable.

It looks as if removing the window blinds for cleaning  at home has created a water leak around one of them. 🙁

On the plus side I managed to get the car serviced. On the down side I managed to get a parking fine while doing the grocery shopping. I have lodged an appeal as in the 2 minutes the car was unattended while I was getting change, the officer had issued a ticket. He was still there when I came running back but said he had issued the ticket and there was nothing he could do.

Geraldton was established as a port to service the rural and mining industries. It looks as if this is still the main industry in town.

This is the Hutt Lagoon and it is indeed pink. It is on the way to the Hutt River Provence. We didn't go in and say Gidday to Prince Leonard even though we did see the sign. Our destination was Kalbarri.

Just before you get to Kalbarri you come across the southern section of Kalbarri National Park and these spectacular sea cliffs.

Kalbarri is a seaside village on the mouth of the Murchison River. To the East is more of the Kalbarri National Park encompassing the Murchison River Gorge.

This is us at Nature's Window. We did the camera shuffle with another couple.

There are still wild flowers everywhere.

On the way to Shark Bay we had a look at this chimney. It is really only the base left the top 3 tiers of brick work are missing. It was for a lead smelter that was built around the base of this hill to treat ore from a mine 5 km away.

Note there are still lots of flowers

In Denham we checked in at the Parks and Wildlife Service office. There are quite a few campsites in the Francois Peron National Park but I was concerned about soft sand and access. We left assured that access to "Big Lagoon" would not be a problem.

Shot is of Big Lagoon.

Not a bad campsite for a couple of days.

The camp, has a camp-host who is right onto checking that everyone pays their camp fees.

We got up early enough to get to the first morning interaction with the Dolphins at Monkey Mia. Can you find Ann?

Checking out all the tourists.

Finally I get a fish.

I'm not sure what I expected, but these stromatolites don't look alive at all. No bubbles or anything. Without the signage I would have thought they were unusually shaped rocks.

This white beach isn't formed from sand but millions of small cockle shells. In this section of the bay the tidal flows are restricted by large "sand banks" and the water becomes hyper saline. This small shell fish thrives in this water, and the shells have formed this beach.