Galah is both a quintessentially Australian word and animal, and never has a truer word been used, with perhaps the exception of the Sloth.  This playful lot were impressing the tourists at the head of the Loop Trail into the Murchison Gorge.

Because of the very nature of the river, carving its way down through the host rock, there tends to be a lot of material depositied in the river bed.  Running strongly for only a few months of the year, the Murchison river takes on almost a channel like appearance as it snakes its way along the valley floor.

The first stage of the Loop walk trail within Kalbarri National Park can be seen trailing off with markers to the horizon along the main ridge.

Murchison River, Kalbarri National Park.

A broad cross section of Tumblagooda Sandstone can be seen in this image of part of a wall of the Murchison gorge.  The river, responsible for carving the gorge, can be seen in the very bottom of the image.  Over 500 million years old, the sandstone is thought to contain some of the earliest fossilised tracks of terrestrial creatures in the world.

Layers of sandstone form the walls of the Murchison gorge.

The floodplain within the Murchison Gorge stretches out before the eye revealing a broad spectrum of ground colours and cover.

The Murchison River flows for some 650 kilometres before plunging through layers of deposited sandstone to form the Murchison Gorge, part of the Kalbarri National Park.  I’ve just spent the weekend there for the first time and I have to say it’s one of the most impresive natural parts of this country I’ve seen.  I’ll be posting quite a few photos from this region over the next few weeks and intend to return there in a month or two to explore again, in the midst of the wildflower season.

Hovea Creek hurtles across smooth polished rocks that just two months ago were stagnant pools.

John Forrest National Park

A portion of South Perth as spied from regular Perth.