The next coastal destination, Kalbarri is popular with tourists so we expected that staying there would be expensive. A search for an alternative identified Murchison House Station, a working cattle station just 14 kms inland, that allows camping for a fee of only $11 per night. The station is substantial at 350,000 acres that breeds prime beef cattle and sells around 5000 wild goats that it musters each year.The property includes over 60 km of Indian Ocean coastline, over 30 km of Murchison River floodplains and borders the Kalbarri National Park. The Station was founded in 1858 by Charles von Bibra who began to build the original homestead "von Bibra's cottage" in that year with the help of convict labourers. Several of the early buildings still stand, including the original homestead, shearing shed and convict built shearers quarters ( circa 1880).
We stayed a couple of days in the quiet bush camping area beside the Murchison river in the company of the owner's pet Alpacas and goats that roamed freely.
A subsequent visit to Kalbarri, a typical tourist town, didn't really excite except for some impressive coastal cliffs nearby that rise high above the Indian Ocean.
(Click on a photo to enlarge)
The Coastline Near Kalbarri
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