Ok there was another Fred episode when we leaving Geraldton, as for one he didn't know what time the bus was, which wasn't really a surprise, but then he was talking to us and kept looking at us, saying 'I really recognise your faces, I've definitely seen you somewhere before' - Oh dear, this was going to be painful! Our fingers and toes were crossed that we weren't staying in the same hostel as him in Kalbarri . . . .

When the shuttle bus that we had switched onto pulled into Kalbarri town / bay there was a sign with the names of the only two hostels there and Fred shouted out the name of the one that he was staying in and there was probably a quiet sigh of relief from the pair of us. We said our goodbyes and jumped out of the bus to check in, but low and behold we heard the creak of the door when we were chatting to the lady at reception and in walks Fred! You guessed it, he'd got it wrong again and in fact he was at our hostel!! We were here for two nights and it's a smallish place with not many people around, so this was our opportunity to really get to know Fred. Karl and Morris, we wish you were here - we could have had a ball with this guy!!

Anyway, we're slipping away from the reason we're here - Kalbarri is beautiful! As soon as we drove in it was a huge relief after Geraldton. We got there pretty late, so dumped our stuff and walked to the nearest fish and chip shop - however this place was the most health conscious fish and chip shop we'd ever been too and you could pick whether you wanted your fish grilled, breadcrumbed or fried. I had a fantastic peice of grilled Snapper, caught fresh that day, with a carton of greek salad - fantastic, even though it didn't really fill me up. However, James' ever-diminishing appetite paid off for me and after his BLT roll (in a wholemeal roll I must add!) he couldn't quite manage all of his chips so I helped him out and we both went back with full bellys!

We had almost two full days in Kalbarri, so plenty of time to explore. Unfortunately there was nowhere to hire surf boards and the second day we saw some of the best surf we'd seen during the whole trip! Maybe the waves would have been too big for us though and it did seem to take some very experienced surfers to avoid the rocks, which we would have more than likely smashed into. We met a guy in his late 50's who introduced himself as the 'Crazy Surfer' and told us to get our camera's ready! He did some pretty cool stuff, laying on his board kicking his legs in the air whilst riding a huge wave was just one of them.

This was at Jacques Point, our first stop on a trip with a German girl (Christina) that we met at the hostel. She had a car so invited James and I (not Fred!) to join her to check out the coastline and Gorges etc. We had a great day and saw some amazing scenery and wildlife! We went on a 2km treck to see 'Mushroom Rock' and Rainbow Forest and whilst clambering down the rocks, I spied what I thought might be an owl. Actually it turned out to be two kangaroo's - come on give me a break, they were pretty far away! They stayed really still, as we got closer and I managed to get some good piccies. This was the first of three pairs of kangaroos we saw that day, all close up. In addition to this, when we were on the beach and at Eagle Gorge lookout we also saw dolphins! This was such a cool feeling and we were really excited!! On this trip we also saw a ghek and hundreds of weird crabs in the rocks.

The evenings were much busier in this hostel as loads of tours turned up late with their beers and the guide cooking them big BBQ's, so one night we bought a box of wine (lucky you weren't there Jacqui!! Or Nina and Ben actually - lots of bad wine times!!) and sat with Christina and Fred, who bought his mug everywhere with him, after we offered him some wine. We actually had quite a good night and although James spent alot of time taking the wet out of him he did speak some sense and we're pretty sure he recognises us now!!

So that was Kalbarri, beautiful place and we definitely recommend a stop here, although maybe another time of year would be better as we have never seen so many flies and it did put a dampner on the walking and sight seeing!