Day 91 Exmouth, WA

It has been a very long day.  Our tour guide from Ningaloo Reef to Range Tours, Kevin, picked us up promptly at 9am and we didn't return from our 200km round trip until 5pm.  It was pretty much go go go all day but it was worth every bit of our time to explore this diverse region.  The tour took us through the World Heritage Listed Cape Range National Park that covers an area of 506 square kms on the Western side of the Exmouth Peninsular.  To the west of the National Park are the turquoise waters of Ningaloo Reef and to the east are the rugged gorges. 

Our first stop was Vlamingh Head Lighthouse that gave us a 360 degree view from the tip of Cape Range. The view really was spectacular even though the wind nearly blew us off our feet.  The Vlamingh Head Lighthouse was built after the sinking of the Mildura in 1907. The Mildura was carrying cattle from the Kimberleys when it hit the reef.  The ship was not in deep water and the crew were rescued.  Unfortunately the same thing could not be said of the cattle that were left to fend for themselves.

Pilgonoman Gorge was our next stop where we were looking for the rare Black Flanked Rock Wallaby.  Fortunately for us the Cape Range National Park has the highest population of these little wallabies in Western Australia. They weigh just 3-5kg and live high in the craggy rocks of the gorge. There is estimated to be around 250 of these little wallabies in the Cape Range National Park.  They are very difficult to see, but in the photo below there are five.  Can you spot them?

Next stop was the Milyering Discovery Centre where our tour guide set up a morning tea of banana bread and refreshments.  We wandered around inside the centre and looked at the Ningaloo Reef displays that were very informative, and outside there were activities set up for the kids during the school holidays.  We didn't stay here very long because it really was a busy place.

We continued our journey south and passed the sign pointing to Sal Salis that is a "Glamor Tent" resort.  It is a highly sort after destination for many people who pay $1000/night for the privilege of sleeping in a tent.

Our last stop heading south and also the end of the National Park is Yardie Creek Gorge.  Yardie Creek is the only fresh water creek in the Cape Range National Park and it is quite spectacular.  There are boat cruises that take you along the creek that winds through the gorges and our tour guide said that it is a very popular tour.  There are two walks along Yardie Creek Gorge and we decided on the longer walk that took us to the top of the Gorge for views along the length of the gorge.  The walk was over an uneven rocky surface but not the worse we have walked. There were people in kayaks, stand up paddle boards and canoes paddling along the still waters of Yardie Creek and at the mouth of the river vehicles were waiting for low tide to cross the river to head south.  If you followed the beach all the way along you would end up at Coral Bay, but it would be a tricky beach drive.

After the strenuous walk (not....) we had built up an appetite so it was back in the bus with the short drive to Osprey Bay for our picnic lunch.  We had gourmet salad rolls with a choice of ham, chicken or salami followed by a platter of fresh fruits.  Refreshments were from a choice of beer, wine, champagne or soft drink.  Beer for Philip, Soft for me.  It was the perfect lunch in the perfect setting.

Snorkelling at Turquoise Bay was the next adventure but when we reached the bay we decided against it.  All day we had been battling windy conditions and the waters in the bay looked cloudy and not great for snorkelling.  I can imagine Turquoise Bay on a less windy day would be absolutely beautiful.  

Our very last stop at Cape Range National Park was Oyster Stacks Bay.  Out of all the places we stopped I liked this one best of all.  It looked so very inviting and the coral is so close to the shore that you have to actually walk over it.  As it was still high tide the three large oyster stacks, that the bay is named after were submerged.  There were many people snorkelling here and in fact it was difficult to get a parking spot at any of the places we visited.  So many people!

Cape Range has many camping areas that require a permit and all camping spots are full for the duration of the school holidays.  It costs just $11/night to stay here and if we had realised just how easy it was to get there I would probably have tried to book into one of the camping areas.  But, you don't unfortunately know these things unless you are a local.  Our tour guide said that even if we tried we would probably not have got in as the majority of the sites are repeat bookings.  

The road through the National Park is dual lane bitumen with a speed limit of 80kmh but we were being continually overtaken so no-one takes much notice of that. Yardie Creek Caravan Park is also another option in this area and I did try to get us a site here but it was also fully booked.  Up until a few years ago there was a second caravan park just below the lighthouse but it has been purchased by Twiggy Forest and he has great plans for this area.  I have no doubt it will be amazing when it's completed.

Just outside Exmouth we passed the Harold E Holt Communications Base and it's towers.  There is also the remnants of a USA Naval Base that was set up at Exmouth in the 1960's to support the Harold E Holt Communications Base.  The base was used by the Americans to communicate with their submarines and because of the isolated area it was the perfect place. 

The Americans built a whole town complete with bowling alleys, baseball fields, ten pin bowling alleys, hotels and restaurants.  The houses were also distinctive with large concrete pillars laying across the roof to make then cyclone proof.  US dollars were accepted in the town and vehicles were also driven on the left hand side.  It really was a little slice of America sitting in the Pilbara.  Eventually the base was closed in 1992 and handed back to the Australian Navy.  The communication towers are no longer in use - or so they say.......

It's not a great photo as we couldn't get close to the towers but our guide told us that the white building in the centre is four stories high and the centre tower is taller than the Empire State Building. Impressive.

Day 90 Exmouth, WA

The wind woke us this morning and Philip patted himself on the back that he didn't put out the awning for our one night on site 427 at the Ningaloo Caravan Park.  It wasn't very cold just a blustery wind so we decided to go for a walk to fill in our time until we could move to our next site that wouldn't be until after 10 am.  As we set off down the road we could see the pedestrian arch in the new quays area.  I commented that it would be a four kilometre walk to the arch but we would see how far our legs would carry us in the head wind. It ended up being 3.5km so it was a 7km loop walk that took us just over an hour.  The sun was warm on our backs but that jolly wind would not let up.  In fact it only stopped blowing at 5.00pm.  Hopefully tomorrow it will have dissipated completely.

We both wondered at how this catamaran got to be in this spot and how they were going to get it out.  Nowhere to turn around!

By the time we got back to the caravan park we had been allocated our new site that is actually a better site.  It's closer to amenities and our satellite dish has found a signal so we have television.  Last night we had too many trees in the way for the dish to find a signal.  I was disappointed because I was going to set the alarm to watch Nick Kyrgios play Stefan Tsitsipas at Wimbledon.  What a match up.  I ended up watching a shortened version of the full match this afternoon and am so pleased my boy is through to the fourth round. It looks like he might come up against Alex De Minaur in the quarters if they continue their winning streaks.  Now that will be a game to watch.

Tomorrow is our Reef to Range Tour.  It is a full day with a 200km round trip through Cape Range National Park.  The brochure says that we will have a gourmet lunch at Osprey Bay while spotting turtles with a cold beer and then snorkelling at the world famous Turquoise Bay.  Now, doesn't that sound like a perfect day.  Hopefully I will get plenty of photographs.

  

Day 89 Exmouth, WA

Here we are at Exmouth and after all the worry of where we were going to pull up camp for tonight, the lovely lady at the Ningaloo Holiday Resort reception was able to fit us in for the extra night.   Fortunately for us we walked in just as they had a cancellation.  Luck is certainly on our side.  We will only be on this site for tonight and will have to move to another site for the remaining six nights of our stay.  It's not a drama.

Our drive from Coral Bay to Exmouth was just 150km and the scenery was as we had expected, flat spinifixy, black spear grass country with the occasional beast feeding out in the passing paddocks. It's still very green after the abundant rainfall. Around thirty kilometres outside Exmouth we passed the Learmonth Air Force Base. We commented that Exmouth would be the home of all these service men and women so Exmouth must be a reasonable size town. (We later learned that Learmonth is a "bare base" that is designed to be activated from bare to operational with little or no notice.) As we drove in to Exmouth this is the scene that greeted us.  

Honestly you could be at Bluewater in Cairns or Noosa Quays.  It is just so lovely but not at all what you would expect at Exmouth.  It seems to us that  it is a fairly new area as a lot of the gardens are still being established, but what a fantastic place to live if you love the water.  

The Exmouth town centre is small and compact but has all the essentials.  It also has a fantastic Information Centre just across the road from our caravan park so we will go there tomorrow and gather what information we can about the area......what to see and what to do.  Exmouth as at the entrance to the Cape Range National Park and we have a full day tour booked on Monday to visit this diverse area.  Other than that we will finally be SWIMMING WITH THE WHALE SHARKS!!!  I think we booked this when we were in Kununurra about three months ago and everything has centred around this booking.

Today is the first day of the school holidays here in Western Australia and there are children everywhere in the caravan park, riding around on bikes and scooters and playing football in the middle of every road.  This afternoon as we were entering the park after our drive, we were creeping along the road at about walking pace and we could see this kid, probably four years old, on a bicycle coming towards us.  He was riding up the middle of the road looking everywhere except where he was heading.  I said to Philip that we better pull up because the kid had obviously not seen us. So we did, but the kid kept coming towards us still not looking where he was going.  I said to Philip to beep the horn because the kid was definitely going to ride straight into us.  The kid got such a fright (by this time he was just metres from the front of the car) and yelled at us quite indignantly "Why did you frighten me!"  Kids......

Day 88 Coral Bay, WA

First of July.  The start of a new financial year.  It seemed to come around very fast this year and perhaps it's because we are away from home.  I spent this morning playing phone tag with our new accountant and was finally able to talk to him on his lunch break.  He seems like a nice chap so I'm sure we will get along.

Today was one of those lazy days that was a case of eat, swim, eat some more.  We stretched out with a yoga practice while we waited for the day to warm up and then I caught up with a little end of financial year bookwork while Philip took a stroll around the sand dunes surrounding Coral Bay, taking a few photos while he was there.  By the time he arrived back it was time to have an early lunch before heading down to the beach for one last swim and snorkel in these turquoise blue waters. 

The wind played havoc with our snorkelling by making little waves across the water that made it difficult to float.  We didn't stay in the water long.  It was cold.  I didn't feel it as much as Philip who is still insisting that he doesn't need a wetsuit.  They certainly keep you reasonably comfortable in cold water and I'm pleased I bought mine.  We watched a large group of people gather in knee deep water just in front of us and Philip went over to see what the action was.  It was fish feeding time.  This is the first time we have seen the feeding since we have been here but apparently they do this regularly throughout the school holidays.

Philip left the beach around three o'clock but I stayed for another hour.  I dozed for a little while under the shade of the beach umbrella and was surprised when my watch said that it was four o'clock.  Actually what woke me was the sound of a tractor, of all things. It was towing one of the glass bottom boats back to the water and passed very close to me.

This evening we played a couple of games of Sequence but not before shutting up the caravan.  It is not freezing but for us North Queenslanders 18 degrees at 6.00pm is cold.  It got down to 9 degrees last night and I have not doubt it will be the same tomorrow morning.  We have been talking to friends back on the east coast who are copping a bit of a drenching. We have been on the road now for 88 days and have only experienced three slightly showery days. Tomorrow we head to Exmouth.  Where we will be pulling up camp tomorrow evening is anyones guess but hey, no matter where we end up we still have a bed to sleep in.......

Day 87 Coral Bay, WA

We woke to a windy day, as predicted, so we donned our jackets and went for a long walk around the headlands of Coral Bay to Snapper Headland that took us past the brand new Coral Bay Jetty.  The walk was mostly through sand but not enough to get in our shoes as it was a well worn path.  There were some rocky outcrops but they were easy enough to navigate.  Although it was windy the day was magnificent.  There were many boats bobbing about in the water and I love the differing blues of the ocean leading out to where the waves are breaking over the outer reef.  Coral Bay is such a beautiful place.

On our return walk we went via the village to pick up a few grocery items at the local supermarket.  It is a very well stocked shop and we were quite surprised at how cheap everything was, including the fruit and vegetable.  We think that most of the fresh fruit and vegetable is coming out of Carnarvon that produces eighty percent of Western Australia's produce. I can't wait to get there and explore the area.

We didn't get back to our camp until almost ten o'clock so we had a light breakfast and after we cleaned up we got in the car to check out our next stop - Bruboodjoo Campsite, that is around twenty kilometres from Coral Bay.  As I mentioned in an earlier post we couldn't get accomodation for the 2nd July as that is the first day of the school holidays here in Western Australia, so we have to find somewhere to free camp.

The drive into Bruboodjoo is a sandy track and only just the width of a single vehicle.  If you met another vehicle coming towards you.......well.....I don't know what you would do.  Admittedly, there are a couple of places where you might pull over but you would have to be lucky to be in the right spot at the right time.  We continued the nine kilometre journey into the campsite and when we drove over the last sand dune and looked down on the campsite we were totally gobsmacked.  There were dozens and dozens of caravans parked from one end of the campsite to the other!  I totally forgot to get a photo but the camping area is large and sits on a headland overlooking the ocean.  It really is quite lovely but the wind was blowing strongly and we could see the annexes really struggling to cope in the wind.  By unanimous decision we decided that this was not the place for us.  Ummmm.  What is our other option? We are going to have to wing it at Exmouth.  There is a Council run "overflow" at Exmouth so maybe we will fit in there.  We will have to wait and see.

By the time we got back to Coral Bay after our drive, it was almost two o'clock so for lunch I whipped up a very quick Puttenesca Pasta.  For a very fast meal it was actually very tasty. Spicy, but not too spicy.

Sunset yesterday was a fail.  Neither of us had the energy to walk the distance to watch the sunset, let alone go for sundowners at the local pub. As our days here at Coral Bay are drawing to a close it had to be now or never for sunset so we packed our esky, grabbed our chairs, donned jackets and headed to the beach.  Once we had found the perfect spot we poured ourselves a drink and waited for the sun to go down.  I was lucky, from a photographers point of view, that just in front of us there were some kids practicing to skim across the water on their skim boards.  It was fun to watch them as the sun slowly set in the west.  

Tomorrow should be a much nicer day weather wise so we are going to spend it snorkelling and soaking up the sun.  Sadly, it is also our last day at Coral Bay so we will find a nice place to have a seafood banquet that I see advertised at one of the local restaurants.  

Day 86 Coral Bay, WA

Is there anything more relaxing than being near water?  If there is I would love to know about it.  Yesterday we decided to launch the kayak today but the wind was so strong at nine o'clock that we almost decided against it but by ten o'clock the wind had dropped to a more pleasurable pace.  We walked down to the waters edge just to make sure that we were doing the right thing as there is nothing worse than trying to paddle in strong wind and currents.  The water looked pretty good so back to the van to pull the kayak out of storage and inflate it.  Philip did all the hard work while I was inside prepping lunch.  I knew we would be ravenous by the time we arrived home.  Vegetarian meal for us today.  Homemade Curried Tomato Soup and a Pumpkin & Feta Pastry.

Once we had loaded the inflated kayak on to the back of the Toyota it was just a short drive to where we could launch it.  We found the perfect spot just metres from the beach and as it was high tide we could launch the kayak in shallow water.  The kayak is not really heavy to carry, just awkward. 

There were lots of people with the same idea as us and there is a kayak hire place at Coral Bay that seems to do a roaring trade.  Most people were content to stay in the bay vicinity as were we, although we decided to paddle to the southern most point of the bay that was probably four or five kilometres from our starting point.  We paddled leisurely as we wanted to explore what was in the water below us.  We paddled through the Shark Nursery area but didn't see any of the reef sharks that frequent this area.  Crocodile's are certainly behind us now, thank goodness. Coral Bay is situated just below the Tropic of Capricorn. 

 We didn't quite make it to the very end point of the bay and had to turn back around 100 metres from it because the current, as it surged around the point, was very strong and neither of us felt like the struggle.  Once we had turned around the current pushed us quite rapidly back the way we had come.  It was leisurely for a short while before the wind (that was at our back heading south) was now a head wind as we paddled north.  We kept as close to the shoreline as possible where the sand dunes gave us a small degree of protection from the wind.

It was a terrific paddle and I'm so pleased we decided to push ahead with it this morning.  I'm writing this blog a little earlier today because this evening we want to head down to the beach for sunset and then maybe check out the tavern after the sun sets.  Tomorrows weather forecast has a warning for strong winds so we are going to go for a drive to check out what is in the vicinity and maybe head to the bush camp area that we intend staying at on Saturday.

This is a very short GoPro video of our morning on the water.

Day 85 Coral Bay, WA

Coral Bay continues to give.  Today it was a trip to the outer coral reef aboard the Nhunya-Ku, our glass bottom boat.  Our lady skipper and her off-sider got us seated on the boat just after 9am for our three hour tour.  The tide was almost at peak height so our captain decided that it would be best to head to the "Canyon" and "Bommie" coral beds for snorkelling before heading to the turtle feeding grounds and in between the two snorkelling area we would be able to have a hot drink and biscuits.  Perfect.

This is the first time I have ever snorkelled in open ocean and I was apprehensive but I was also seeing this as a pre-cursor to when we swim with the whale sharks next week.  I had to overcome my fear of the deep water.  I was grateful to see that there were pool noodles available and also a long "mermaid line" attached to the boat so that I could hold that while I snorkelled.  So, I donned my wetsuit and was very grateful for it as the weather has turned windy and cooler.  But once I put my feet in the water I was very surprised because the water was actually a lot warmer than it was in the bay.  We were given a half hour to snorkel the "Canyon" but I think I only stayed in the water fifteen minutes.  The water was a bit choppy and it was making me feel a little queasy.  Once I was back on board the boat though I wished I was back in the water.  The wind had picked up and started gusting across the boat so it was making it very cold. Everyone was trying to sit on the sunny side of the boat to keep warm.  However, the hot drinks (I chose milo) we were served went down an absolute treat and it really did warm us up.  

The Bommie coral was our next snorkelling stop.  Bommies are corals that just keep growing on top of each other and can be many metres across.  Sometimes they even grow to such an extent that they can be exposed at low tide.  I didn't snorkel here but the footage that Philip brought back on the GoPro makes me wish I had braved the water.  There was just so many schools of fish and I shouldn't be surprised as there are over 500 species of fish in the Ningaloo Reef.  Of the 80 species of Parrot Fish worldwide, Coral Bay has 64 of them.  Amazing. We spent another half hour in this section of the reef before moving on to the Turtle feeding ground.  While we were anchored here the crewman went underneath the glass bottom boat to clean the glass!  We marvelled at how long he could hold his breath. Now that's real dedication to the job.

The Turtles were harder to find than you might imagine, or rather, it was harder for the captain to manoeuvre the glass bottom boat so that we could see them when we did spot them.  All up we saw half a dozen of the green turtles and one in particular was huge.  No swimming with these beautiful creatures as they are very much a protected species.

Three three hours on board our little boat went very fast and I would have to say it was another one of our top tours.  Tomorrow it is a leisurely day of kayaking.  High tide is not until 10am so we can relax in the morning before heading out.  We are just hoping that it is not too windy.

Day 84 Coral Bay, WA

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I could do what I did today and that was to snorkel through coral reef and see the most beautifully coloured fish imaginable, but I did it!  The reason I could do it is because the coral reef here at Coral Bay is just meters from the shoreline at low tide.   

Low tide at the moment is around 4.30 pm but we ate an early lunch and were down at the waters edge by 2.00pm.  The sun still had enough heat in it to make the water bearable but I donned my new wetsuit and was very comfortable gliding through the water.  I really like the full face snorkel mask but I had to ditch the fins and opted to use the pool noodle.  I've never swum with fins and I just could not get the hang of them and I think it was because I was content to stay in almost one spot and just let the fish swim around me.  The fish were all different sizes ranging from tiny little fish about as long as my little finger to fish around arms length long and all sporting every colour in the rainbow with spots, stripes and plain vibrant colours.  There was an electric blue fish around two inches long that I was particularly enthralled with.  They swam in schools of around thirty to forty. The coral has very little colour but what it lacks in colour it makes up for in size.  The coral here at Coral Bay are every shape and size. 

Tomorrow we are booked on a Turtle Spotting tour and it is something else I am excited about.  Turtles are one of my very favourite things and I hope we get to snorkel with them.  The tour is only three hours so we will get back in plenty of time to have another snorkel in the bay tomorrow afternoon.  We also intend to kayak these calm waters of Coral Bay at high tide on another day. I can see how our time here is going to pass all too quickly.

The bread maker still gets a good workout on this trip and I made an apple bun loaf for a bit of a sweet treat.  The bun loaf itself is not too sweet so the addition of the icing was the perfect topping.

Day 83 Coral Bay, WA

 ANNDDD.......we have struck gold again......

This is Coral Bay.  Our friends Lynn and Graham gave us the "heads up" to visit this beautiful seaside village at the bottom of Exmouth Peninsular and we were ever so lucky to be able to get a caravan site at this very popular place.  It is well named because just where the water changes colour in the photo above, is where the coral begins.  As far as we could see there were people snorkelling, kayaking, paddle boarding and just floating in the turquoise blue water.  We dipped our toes in the water and it is rather chilly, but I can't give up the opportunity of snorkelling in this lovely area.

We walked downtown that is literally just one street.  You enter on this street and you exit this same street.  There are a few houses scattered around the township and we will go for a walk tomorrow morning to explore the area a little more.  I think there may even be a tourist walk but I will have to ask. Our first stop was the supermarket and in a big basket at the front door were beach umbrellas for sale at $29.99 so we grabbed one of them.  I love lying on the beach but only if I can have some shade, so this is perfect.  Right next door to the supermarket was a surf clothing shop that I just had to snoop around.  You never know what you might find 😉.  As it turns out it was providence that made me enter this shop because there was a rack of wetsuits for sale and one that had my name all over it! Sold!  I will now be able to swim in these chilly waters just that little more comfortably.

The drive today from our overnight free camp to Coral Bay was just under 200km.  We didn't leave our camping spot until after 10am and arrived at Coral Bay around 1pm so it was another easy drive.  Along the way we checked out what was available as a free camp for one night on the 2nd July when we don't have anything booked.  We found a spot about 20km north from Coral Bay that will be perfect as it is on our way to Exmouth, our next stop. It is called Bruboodjoo Point.  I kid you not.  If you can pronounce that you are way better than me 😂😂.  It's State of Origin tonight so we will be watching. We somehow missed the first one with the two hour time difference, but we are more organised tonight.

The scenery for much of todays drive.  Flat, flat, flat.