June 29 ... Exmouth

After a lovely morning on the beach at Coral Bay, we had bacon and egg burgers for lunch and headed off to Exmouth. It was only 150 kms so we arrived around 3pm and went into town and restocked. Exmouth has had a few surprises for us, the first of which was our site. Initially we thought "Wacko, right near the amenities, clothes lines and barbeques" ... how handy!... but the convenience of being right outside the Gents quickly wore off. ALL through the night I got to learn a lot about the toiletry habits of men, enough to have me up at the park office early the next morning asking about an alternative site!!! So we decamped and are now happily settled a short distance away, and I am pleased to say that last night was very quiet, and this morning I heard bird calls instead of flushing toilets.
Our second surprise will have just as big an impact. When booking 12 days here, I recalled amazing beaches a short drive out of town, perhaps 10 kms or so. In fact, these particular beaches are 1) in the National Park with a fee to pay each time you go in, and 2) more than 70 kms from town. So, the "beach" I envisage lolling about on is an hour by car and about 150 kms round trip, at a cost of $11 ($5 with Garry's Seniors Card) What a funny thing memory is!
Anyway, Tuesday was bright and sunny so we set off on a "reccy". We decided just to drive as far as we could and check out all the beaches and sights to refamiliarize ourselves with the area. Last time we were here the area was flooding but we are surprised how green things are looking now.

General Landscape at Exmouth

Our first stop was the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse. It is really the only lookout near the coast and we were lucky enough to spot some humpback whales travelling north. There is a caravan park there but at 20 kms out of town we felt it was just too far from services. The views were excellent though and we plan to spend more time enjoying them in future days.

The Coastline from the lighthouse

Vlamingh  Head Lighthouse

From here we drove on to T-Bone Bay ... what an unimaginative name, but the bay was beautiful and gave us our first glimpse of the amazing colours of the waters of this area.

T-Bone Bay

Ningaloo Reef

Our next stop was the Milyering Visitors Centre and beach. This centre is excellent for information on the area and Ningaloo Reef. It has been updated since our last visit and I watched a documentary explaining why the unique whale shark could soon be endangered. Incredibly, over 100 million sharks are taken from the oceans each year and I can't see how any species can survive that carnage for long. We also drove down to the beach here and it was very pretty.

Milyering Beach

By now it was lunchtime so we stopped in at Trealla Beach for a sandwich. This is one of the advantages of always having your "home" with you. There are over 35 of these small bays and beaches that can be easily accessed by car. Some have campgrounds of 3 - 7 sites which are very popular and hard to get, others just have toilets, and some have nothing, but all have a fantastic setting in the dunes behind the ocean.

What incredible colour!

Lunch at Trealla Beach

Having "refuelled" we were off to Turquoise Bay. By this time a massive black cloud had come over but it only cast a shadow rather than brought rain. Turquoise Bay was as popular as ever, mostly with snorkelers. This is where there is a snorkel drift. You get in the water at one point and the current takes you slowly north until you need to get out when the current  flows quickly out to sea. There is also a nice bay to swim in and the beach has fairly white sand.

Turquoise Bay

So inviting

The Reef

Snorkelers Drift

 We also called in at the Oyster Stacks. More beautiful water views and some aquatic entertainment. The reef lagoon here is approx 230 ms wide and is very shallow. The name is due to the many oyster shells that are on the rocks.

The Oyster Stacks

The reef lagoon

We then decided to drive down to Yardie Creek, the end of the road, and do the gorge walk. Running the whole length of the peninsula is an ancient range. It is not too dramatic but it is very rugged and colourful. Yardie Creek is the only fresh water creek on the Cape and the gorge it creates is quite impressive. It was a pretty easy walk which was lucky because it was quite hot, and the views were great. We also saw some rock wallabies on the cliffs and together with the emus, kangaroos and whales we had seen earlier, I was happy with my animal spotting.

The Cape Range

More Range

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek Gorge

The Gorge looking toward the mouth of the creek

The Gorge Cliffs

Black footed Wallaby

We did not get home until 5pm, pretty hot, a little tired and well pleased with our day... then tea, a shower, a movie and a good night's sleep.




 This morning we woke to rain showers and cloudy skies. We have spent the day catching up with things and we walked into town to do some shopping. It is nice to have a "rest" day occasionally and if we have another dull day tomorrow I will  definitely be working on my French assignment!

June 26 ... Coral Bay

Coral Bay

The reef.

Regrettably, we have to move on from Coral Bay tomorrow. Garry now feels that we should have stayed here longer as it is idyllic, but the Park is fully booked and we are expected in Exmouth. It has been wonderful with perfect days except for yesterday. What a difference!

It began to rain early on Saturday morning and this quickly turned into a deluge. Lots of camp sites and the shops and roads all flooded. Opposite us two families had just erected their tents when our road flooded and they got muddy water through everything. They moved today as their site is still a muddy puddle, but we were fine. I spent the day catching up on some French oral work and other odd jobs, and Garry was happy reading the paper and walking about in between showers. He went over to see the fish feeding in the afternoon and he said that was very interesting. About 40 very large red emperor fish come in to water around 60 cms deep and will actually take food from your hand, as well as swim all around your legs etc. Despite the number of fish about, we have not seen one fisher person catch anything which is surprising really.

Back from snorkeling

Picturesque

Every other day we have just gone to the beach and Garry goes snorkeling while I sun myself. It has been a great "holiday" during our travels... not that we needed one at all, but it has been most enjoyable. Tonight we climbed the lookout to watch the sun set and the sky turn pink. Coral Bay has to be one of the special places in the world.
Fittingly, while we were here, Ningaloo Reef was made a World Heritage Site, and that has to be a good thing for this area and WA.

The evening sky in Coral Bay

June 23 ... Coral Bay

Our camp site at Coral Bay

Well, the locusts were really weird but they appear to have left us ... perhaps it is warm enough for them to move on. They were more interesting than bothersome. They moved in an airspace about 3 ms off the ground and did not land on the van or us hardly at all, but the trees were covered. They appeared in late morning and if you looked up, the sun on their wings and their movement made them look like a snowstorm. Obviously the birds have had enough of them because nothing was feeding on them, except the big fish if the locust somehow fell into the water. On the horizon they looked like a huge, moving thick brown smudge ... all quite interesting.

Coral Bay

 We have fallen into a very pleasant (and lazy) routine where we sleep in and wait for the day to warm up. Then a late breakfast and a couple of hours to do stuff ... emails, French, buy the paper etc. Around 11 we have morning tea / lunch then head for the beach from around 12 - 3pm, the warmest part of the day. The water is fresh but beautiful and swimming is enjoyable. We now walk around the point to Paradise Beach as it is a little bit nicer there. Until today there has been a sneaky breeze that is good to shelter from, but today is perfect, and I expect it will actually get hot. The locusts might be quite good weather forecasters!
After sunning ourselves for a few hours we walk "home" for afternoon tea, then showers, an early dinner, the crossword, a movie, reading and to sleep around 10.30. What a life! All of this is interspersed with some people watching, occasional excursion and interesting conversation. I couldn't do it indefinitely, but for a week or two it is a pretty relaxing lifestyle.

Linda in Paradise!

Paradise  Beach

People are coming and going here all the time. In the park most are oldies but there are a lot of backpackers on the beach, mainly international, but it is far from crowded. There are a few shops and it is pleasing to see the "silver man" is still here. It was not too much of a struggle to find some lovely earrings there. We had dinner out the other night at the local cafe and it was excellent. Garry enjoyed his "usual"- a massive bowl of mixed seafood poached in cream and garlic sauce. He never did get his lobster feed so we have put that on the list for next time.
From what we have overheard, it is a very quiet season this year. Visitor numbers are way down, which is possibly a good thing for us but not so good for the tourist industry. I guess it is a reflection of the global economic situation and our strong dollar.

June 20 ... Coral Bay

These oldies like to get up and get going early when it is time to move on. By sun up we were the only ones left who had to leave! Where are they going that they have to get away at first light?... we feel very tardy sleeping in till 7 ! Anyway, we also were on the road by 9am and went in to Canarvon to finalize our shopping and have a look at the historical jetty at the mouth of the Gasgoyne River. It is not anything particularly special  AND you have to pay to walk out it ... so we didn't. After buying a new radio, which we hope works better than the old one, we headed north.
It was only about 230 kms so it was a very easy drive. Along the way there was still a lot of water lying about and we saw more than a dozen wedge tail eagles gliding just above the road.
Coming into Coral Bay we drove into a large swarm of locusts and this swarm completely surrounds the settlement. There are millions of them and they are expected to stay here for some time yet. This is a bit funny because the last time we were here we were flooded in by a cyclone and the coral spawned. Because of the cyclone, the sea currents stayed onshore and the water became depleted of oxygen by the spawn, hence we had hundreds of dead, and very smelly, fish... everywhere. This is such a beautiful place but we seem to experience it on the rare occasions when something "nasty" is happening. In truth, the grasshoppers are not creating too big a problem ... just yet, anyway! Lucky I am an atheist or I would be starting to think along the lines of biblical plagues.

The brown haze above and around the hills are locusts!

A constant flight

The trees are thick with locusts

Fortunately we had booked some months ago at Coral Bay because the park is full. We have an excellent site, and it is huge. We are up the back a bit but the water is still only a short walk away. And it is hot ... absolutely beautiful. By the time we went for a walk and then set up, it was 4 pm but still Garry had to go for a swim, and he promised me it was warm. I will find out tomorrow.

Coral Bay Park

Coral Bay - the dark water is the reef.

First swim

 We are really looking forward to our week here. It will be the first time since we left home two months ago, where we truly have nothing much to do except indulge ourselves. There are no shops, no sights to see, and nothing much to do except go beaching! Sounds wonderful.

June 19 ... Canarvon

Well, I did get to go back to Eagle Bluff, not once but twice! Yesterday was a perfect day, a clear blue sky with no wind, and we were very glad we had booked a flight over Shark Bay. It cost $150 each for about 40 mins and we chose the Blue Route, down over Eagle Bluff, across over the salt mines, up the Zuytdorp Cliffs and over Steep Point, around Surf Point on Dirk Hartog Island, through South Passage and along the coast, then finally back across the bay to Denham.

  Flight - The Blue Route

Garry - Ready to go!

I took heaps of photos but they are all through the glass of the plane window with lots of reflection, and right outside was an aerial I tried to avoid, so they can not possibly capture the depth or breath of colour, or the expansiveness of the scene. However, we wanted something to remember such a fantastic experience by, so I kept clicking!

Unfortunately Eagle Bluff disappointed us again in that there was no marine life but the views were spectacular. It is easy to see why such a variety of animals can be sighted there as the waters are so clear and there are dense sea grass beds just off the coast. More than 10000 dugongs live in Shark Bay and that is about one-eigth of the world's population, so why are they so hard to spot?!

Eagle Bluff

Waters off Eagle Bluff

From  the bluff we set off across the bay, trying to sight sharks etc all the way, towards the Useless Loop Salt Mines. This is a huge industry which produces the best quality table grade salt. Strangely, most of this is bought by Japan primarily for use in their blast furnaces! Out in the bay are large mounds of pure white sea salt ready to be loaded onto ships. On shore are massive ponds in their various stages of drying. There is a small town providing very basic services but this would definitely be a quiet place to live.

Initial Holding Ponds

Drying Ponds with Salt Piles, ready for loading, out in the Bay

A few bumps and we were over, then alongside, the Zuytdorp Cliffs. The sea was pounding against these, even on such a calm day, so they looked very daunting. We followed them along to Steep Point, the most westerly part of the Australian mainland and only otherwise accessible by four wheel drive. There is nothing there except a lighthouse ... and great views.

The Zuytdorp Cliffs

Quite foreboding, even on a calm day

Steep Point with cliffs clearly visible

Steep Point - the most westerly part of Aus Mainland

South Passage is between Steep Point and Dirk Hartog Island. At the bottom of the island is Surf Point and there were certainly plenty of waves there. But on the more sheltered side of the island we were on the lookout for swimming things, and we were not disappointed. Whilst not plentiful in number, we saw 3 dugongs, 1 shark, 2 turtles and 3 rays, and I was very happy with that. Granted they were all pretty small but still clearly visible from the plane.

South Passage with sea grass beds

Then it was back towards Denham. The beauty of the different coloured water was entrancing. We really wanted to keep on flying around. It must be an amazing trip in summer when the bay is teeming with sharks and other life. Should we return during those months I would definitely want to do it again.
The pilot did a big circle around Denham and we could clearly see our site in the caravan park and the township. A faultless landing and it was all over, but something very special to remember.

Denham Seaside Tourist Park - Site 19

Denham township - Shark Bay - WA

It was well after 1pm by the time we had eaten lunch and stopped in again at Eagle Bluff ... just in case... but no, nothing swimming by today! After a last glimpse of Shell Beach and the bay from various hills, we were back on the highway and heading north to Canarvon.
On the way we encountered another swarm of locusts which made a bit of a mess of the car but otherwise the drive was very flat and relatively monotonous. The Wintersun Caravan Park in Canarvon is very nice but we have a shady site which is not the best at this time of year, and no sea views!

Today we spent doing domestic duties: washing, shopping for groceries and cleaning.  Coral Bay has only the basics and no water so it's best to be organized. It is amazing just what we can pack into this little van, but having the box on the back is excellent. Canarvon is very much still recovering from the massive floods they experienced over December and January. Some businesses were completely ruined and there is a lot of rebuilding going on. We noticed a lot of damage around the place, including on the plantations but we did stop at one to buy some mango "leather" and some mange ice-creams, which were delicious. A lot of people in the park know each other; most are much older than us and all of them either fish or play bowls, or both! This is the first place that has felt a bit like a retirement village and I will be happy to move on.