31 October - Bigurda Trail, Kalbarri National Park; Pink Lake; Lynton Station Convict Ruins and Northampton

31 October 2016 – 193 596

Bigurda Trail, Kalbarri National Park; Pink Lake; Lynton Station Convict Ruins and Northampton

After packing down, we walked the Bigurda Trail (18.4km 4.5 hours) along the top of the coastal cliffs in Kalbarri National Park. https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/kalbarri https://trailswa.com.au/trails/bigurda-trail-kalbarri-national-park1 

This commenced at Eagle Gorge and continued south to Natural Bridge, passing Island Rock along the way.

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/eagle-gorge https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/island-rock

I truly enjoyed this walk as I could see the ocean all the time as well as wildflowers and gorgeous rock formations in the cliffs.  Due to the high winds and amazing quantities of flies, we ate our lunch while walking.  

Our next stop was Hutt Lagoon (also known as Pink Lake), which was quite amazing, it truly is bright pink.

https://www.australiascoralcoast.com/destination/pink-lake-port-gregory 

https://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Attraction/Hutt_Lagoon/59cb40e112f8967834c0e22f 

Lynton Station has most of the original convict depot station ruins still present, including some largely intact buildings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynton,_Western_Australia https://sappers-minerswa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Port-Gregory-Gibbs-No.19.pdf  

In Northampton we looked at Our Lady in Ara Coeli Church, designed by Monsignor Hawes and built in the 1930’s – the stone used in this building is beautiful red stone that glows in the sunlight. https://www.churchesaustralia.org/list-of-churches/denominations/catholic/directory/1545-our-lady-in-ara-coeli-catholic-church

We then drove on to Geraldton, where we are staying at Belair Gardens Caravan Park for the next few nights. https://summerstar.com.au/caravan-parks/belair-gardens-geraldton