Going South - Coral Bay to Carnarvon

23rd June 2014

Carnarvon is a pleasant green oasis after seeing so much desert.  The source of all the water is the Gascoyne river, the 2nd longest in WA.  Despite this the river bed is dry but the water is only just under the surface, common in rivers in these parts.  Extensive irrigation has been set up in the region and an abundance of fruit and vegetables is grown to supply Perth.  One of the major crops is bananas which are quite different to the ones on the east coast;  they are small and sweet.

I had a great time stocking up on fresh produce from the farm gates, we have only seen really tired looking 'fresh' produce for many weeks.  I bought the most enormous avocados ever and a type of papaya I have not seen before along with citrus fruits, squash, tomatoes, beans and broccoli.  Plus some lovely fresh rocket.  We will be eating well for the next week or so.

Jetty from the water tower

In the afternoon we parked on the foreshore, which is actually the estuary of the Gascoyne river and all sand flats.  The edge of the ocean is about 3 kms away when at low tide as it was this afternoon.  In 1897 a mile long jetty was built from the edge of the outermost sand island in order to reach water deep enough to moor ships.  Livestock [and wool] from the Gascoyne area were kept in holding pens on the sand island then driven along the jetty onto ships to be taken to Perth.  The jetty was soon fitted with a tram track and the tram track extended a further 3 kms across the sand islands to the edge of the settlement.  At this point it was used not only to transport sheep and cattle, but also passengers and incoming goods from ships moored at the end of the jetty,

Sand island section of the walk with old tram stop in background

View toward shore from the end of the jetty

We walked the entire length of the system and back again. The tram tracks are in the process of being restored and a tourist train runs along the jetty.  We were quite shocked at the dilapidated condition of the jetty as many of the original jarrah timbers have not been replaced.  Not only were there broken planks and rotting piles, but also no fencing and no lifebuoys in the event of someone falling into the ocean.  I guess it is all down to insufficient funding to make a proper restoration.










Before we set off we parked our car [still covered in red dust] under some palm trees which seem to be a favourite spot for hundreds of corellas.  They used our car for target practice!

Corellas by the hundreds

Rainy day in Coral Bay

22nd June 2014

Lots of rain during the night and the rain continued in squalls all day until about 4:00pm when it started to clear.  This led to a little cabin fever on my part cooped up in the caravan all day.  John was happy as it gave him time to spend all day programming his software.

I went for a walk along the beach around dusk and the clarity in the very still shallow water at low tide was incredible.  I saw lots of rays, 2 different species in water about 20cm deep and only about 2 metres off the shore.

Coral Bay on the shortest day of the year

21st June 2014

We went on a snorkelling trip today on the lagoon.  Just a small group of 7 people on a sailing catamaran.  Lovely boat but not much wind so we didn't manage much under sail. This was good for the snorkelling though as the surface was very calm and good light penetration.

Relaxing after the snorkels

We had two really good swims and saw lots of corals, fish and turtles.

John relaxing back at the caravan [sleeping really]

In the late afternoon we had a lovely phone catch up with Simone, Rob and Amelie. Katherine [20 months] contributed quite a bit to the conversation but not much of it was in English.

Coral Bay

20th June 2014

Another lazy day, got up late and did nothing much all day!  We swam out over the coral from the beach, there is sandbank then a big drop off so getting to the coral is very easy.

Pink limestone cliffs at Coral Bay

Then to finish the day another beautiful sunset.

Sunset over Coral Bay

Clean up day - Coral Bay

19th June 2014

Coral Bay is a very laid back place, nothing to do except sit on the lovely beach, snorkel over the coral which is very close into shore and generally do nothing.  The water is quite warm and the daytime air temperature reaches 23 - 26 degrees.  There is virtually no wind here, which is good.

Laid back beach life

So now the car is fixed, the morning seemed like a good time to give the interior of the car a thorough clean as the red dust had been accumulating in every corner and over everything.  Driving hundreds of kilometres with no back windscreen only made it worse.  So we both got stuck in with buckets of water and the little battery operated vacuum cleaner John bought before we left, which I have to say has come in very handy, particularly when we were trying to lift the shards of glass straight after the breakage.  Cleaning the outside of the car is a different story; we should be able to do it when we reach Carnarvon.

Eliminating the red dust

In the afternoon we went to the beach for a swim followed by a swim in the pool, which is very warm as I think the caravan park uses the bore water to fill it.

Car fixed - Cape Range NP to Coral Bay

18th June 2014

Heavy rain occurred during our last night in the park but we managed to pack up and leave by 7:20am for the drive to Exmouth.  The panel beater wanted the car by 9:00 and promised to have it ready between 1:00 and 2:00pm.

Our first stop in Exmouth was at the visitor centre to fill up the water tanks.  We knew that Coral Bay is on artesian water which is hot and salty, not the kind of thing you want to run through the caravan plumbing.  Desalinated drinking water is available for drinking, but very expensive for general use.

After filling up the tanks in the rain we parked the caravan outside the local shopping centre and unhitched.  John took the car in whilst I tackled the mountain of washing in the launderette.  Rainy days in Exmouth must be washing day for campers as the place became quite crowded after a while.  Next chore was grocery shopping to stock up for the next week or so, Coral Bay is a tiny place.  Then John and I tackled the rather grubby interior of the van and had it all spick and span in no time.  By this stage the rain was starting to clear and we treated ourselves to lunch in a cafe.

The car was ready at 1:00 so John went and picked it up [Exmouth is a very small place so easy walking distance] and we were soon on the way for the relatively short drive to Coral Bay arriving at about 3:45.  Here the weather was warm and sunny.  We set up the van and enjoyed the novelty of a powered site; no more watching how the batteries are faring and hoping there is enough sun on the solar panel to top them up!  We enjoyed a quick catch up on the phone with Nicole, David and a very taciturn Nathan.

Look, we have a  rear window!

Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo Reef - 7 nights

11th - 17th June 2014

We had 7 great days in the National Park.  Due to the crazy booking system we spent the first 3 nights at Kurrajong campsite in the south of the park, followed by 4 nights at Mesa campsite in the north.

Kurrajong was immediately behind the sand dunes opening onto a beautiful stretch of beach.  The camp sites in this area are very widely spaced so there is a great sense of privacy.  As the park is very arid there are no trees so it was windswept, especially the first night.  Although the rain had cleared by the time we entered the park the winds kept up for several more days.  The awning over the slide out on the van was flapping alarmingly at 3:00 in the morning the first night so we came up with an anti-flap fix for the subsequent nights.

Anti flap device improvised from brooms and rope

Whilst at Kurrajong we enjoyed some wonderful sunsets over the lagoon and as it was a full moon on the 13th we had a lovely moonlit night, so bright there was a moon shadow.  Next morning I got up at 5:00 and walked to the beach to see the full moon hanging over the ocean.  Beautiful.

Sunset at Kurrajong Beach

Full moon at Kurrajong Beach

We went for long beach walks, but it was a bit cool for swimming in the early part of the week, though John went for a quick swim.

Kurrajong Beach

Kurrajong Beach, reef is close here

Gorge visits
There are two gorges on the western side of the range and both are inhabited by the rare black footed rock wallaby.  They are beautiful animals with long bushy tails.  The wallabies live in the limestone cliffs of the gorge, which are full of caves and crevices, and they eat the sparse vegetation growing on the cliffs.  The wallabies are very agile and able to leap up to 3 metres, even though they are only the size of a small dog.

Black footed rock wallaby

One of the gorges, Mandu Mandu had a dry bed which we walked along.  The torrents of water which destroyed so much of the park during the recent cyclone tore down this creek bed ripping out river red gums.  However, those that had manged to keep a few roots in the stones were already regenerating with new growth from the fallen trunks.

Mandu Mandu gorge with now dry creek bed

Yardie gorge is flooded with sea water and not often open to the sea, however the cyclone has opened the sand bar for the first time in 3 years which alters the ecology, a natural event though.  On Yardie we went on an informative boat trip run by the Dept of Conservation.  There are osprey nests on the high cliffs, but unfortunately the birds were out fishing when we were there.

Yardie gorge

Mesa campsite was quite different.  The campsite is smaller and the sites are close together.  There are conifer trees around the camping area from the days when oil exploration was going on in the area; they must have been planted for wind breaks and to provide shade.  Now there is contention within the Dept of Conservation on whether they should be removed or not.  The campers like them but they are not native to the area or even to Australia.

Mesa camp

Mixed flocks of corellas and galahs

Our camp here was on a creek inlet, though no fresh water is present.  Once again the beaches were glorious.

Beach at Mesa

The wind improved enough to produce a day towards the end of the week when it was warm enough to go snorkelling.  This we did at Turquoise bay which is very pretty.  The coral is within 40 metres of the shore at low tide but is not that spectacular.

Sunset on last evening at Mesa

Two days before we left we did the whale shark swim.  This was the big highlight and the main reason to go to Ningaloo.  It was a full day trip and due to the temperature in the lagoon, which was only 20 degrees, the educational snorkel took place outside the reef where the water was 26 degrees.

Ready for the whale sharks!

The company uses spotter planes to find the sharks and soon we were in an area with lots.  The participants are divided into 2 teams and we each got 4 dives into the water with individual sharks.  The largest I saw was about 8 metres in length and really close!  This was a wonderful experience.  During the trip we also saw turtles, indo-pacific dolphins, dugongs, huge manta rays, reef sharks and a very playful humpback whale,  He wanted to interact and dived under the boat a couple of times and came up right alongside.

Magnificent whaleshark

Tour group after the fantastic day on the reef

After the boat trip on Monday we drove out of the park and up to the lighthouse, which is the nearest place a telstra signal can be obtained.  John called the panel beater and found the rear windscreen had arrived that day so we booked in for the repair on Wednesday.