Blowholes at Point Quobba

24th June 2014

We travelled back up the coast to visit Point Quobba, a remote outpost where the ocean pounds through sea caves to produce spectacular sprays of water.  The coast here is treacherous, despite being inside the Ningaloo reef and many people have lost their lives to sudden king waves and surges.

Blowholes at Point Quobba

Treacherous seas at Point Quobba

By contrast just to the south of this is a delightful natural aquarium with calm water, coral and tropical fish.  The pool is bounded by a rocky island and a small reef making it a safe and tranquil place to swim.

Sheltered mini lagoon at Point Quobba

Behind the beach the sand dunes are windswept and desolate, we walked across the dunes to the light house which is set a good kilometre inland.

Point Quobba lighthouse

Along the back of the beach an odd little campground exists - I think people arrive here with vans and camp for months at a time.  Some people have erected more permanent tin structures so there seems to be quite a community.

Informal beach shack community

Back in Carnarvon we treated ourselves to lovely fresh fish and chips at a little cafe on the fishing harbour. The cafe overlooks the fascine channel and we watched the sunset over the sand island.




Good news today, the insurance company via our broker Ken Tame & Associates has re-imbursed the cost of the windscreen replacement less the $100 excess which we were expecting to pay.  This was excellent service and we are so pleased we insured with Ken via our CMCA [Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia] membership.

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!