Ningaloo Reef - an underwater artscape

Beach in Cape Range National Park Exmouth

Cape Range National Park

Me snorkelling Ningaloo Reef

Green Turtle - it was mating season!!

Ahhhh love birds!!

Anthony and Carla's rig

The book exchange at the camp site

Charlie with "the kids" Dennis and Katya - who adopted who?

Cape Range National park - the beach at our campsite

Charlie at the entrance to the national park

Turquoise Bay Ningaloo Reef

Turquoise Bay - stunning - yes ME!!!!

Our campsite

A large "chicken" on the beach

Happy hour in the sand dunes

Fishing

Yardie Creek Gorge, Cape Range National Park

A crab - it got quite aggressive with us

Coral Bay

Coral Bay

Well we left the red dirt of the Kimberleys and Pilbara behind and travelled south from Karratha to Exmouth and the famous Ningaloo Reef.  The road to Exmouth was dotted with lots of sturt desert peas and red iron ore dirt - quite spectacular really but I must admit I am very glad to be out of the red dirt.  I don't think we will ever get it all out of the car or the caravan!!

We arrived in Exmouth and went straight to the Cape Range National Park - there are only a few campsites available in the National Park and they are very popular.  We got to the gate at about 11 am. but couldn't get in so had to go into a caravan park in Exmouth for the night.  The system is that the gate opens at 8 am and you get allocated a camp site at that time so the next morning I got up early and was at the gate at 6.50 am (the second one there - some German backpackers were there first) and managed to get us a camp site.  We stayed at Mesa Camp which was great, right on the beach and only $10 a night.  We met some really great people there who I am sure we will stay in touch with.  We booked in for 4 nights and ended up staying for 10 nights.

There is a great system in the National Parks here in Western Australia - they have camp hosts who allocate sites and are a central point of contact for campers.  Our camp hosts were Glen and Rowena with their 2 boys and they were all great fun.  We were actually interested in being camp hosts and there was a position available at Yardie Creek campground.  The Ranger came and saw us about it but as we are flying out from Perth to Adelaide for Christmas it wasn't practical but it is certainly something we will consider for next time.

We explored the beaches and did some snorkelling at Turquoise Bay which is absolutely stunning -  a wonderfully sheltered bay with the reef just a few metres from the shore.  We snorkelled, swam, saw reef sharks, rays, dolphins and generally just relaxed on the beach there.  From what I saw I think the Great Barrier Reef is more spectacular with the coral colours etc. but Ningaloo Reef is so accessible which is a bonus especially if you are not a confident snorkeller.  I just wish we had the grandies with us so that we could teach them to snorkel.

We also went to one of the turtle rookeries within the park.  It was nesting season for the turtles and there were literally hundreds on the beach and in the shallows mating (hey is that a 2 hump turtle there?).  They were fascinating to watch and see them digging their nests.

We met some great people there particularly Barb and Trev who have sold up and are travelling around in a bus.  We spent lots of nights in the bus with them playing cards and sampling Trev's home made spirits - made the card games interesting as the night wore on!!  Charlie and Trev went out fishing in his boat but only caught a few smaller fish but it was enough for a feed.  Hopefully we will catch up with them again nearer to Perth.

We had a young German couple, Dennis and Katya, next to us for a few days and I'm not sure who adopted who but they wanted to learn fishing so Charlie lent them a rod each and took them fishing a couple of times in the morning and they were over the moon when they caught some fish.  However, it was like taking the kids fishing when they were younger as he had to keep untangling the hooks and baiting them up until they got used to it!!  Still it was good for international relations. We also met another lovely young German couple called Martin and Isobel and Martin and Charlie exchanged many tall stories about fishing!!!!

We were sorry to leave our campsite but there were still lots of places we've got to see so we said goodbye to our friends and headed to Coral Bay.  Thanks Glen, Rowena, Barb, Trev, Graham and Sandra for your great company for the last 10 days and hope to meet up with you all again soon.

We arrived in Coral Bay yesterday which is a pretty little place and more of the same, swimming, snorkelling eating, drinking.  Had a couple of glasses of cider last night at the pub up on the hill watching the sunset which was bliss.

We are leaving Coral Bay tomorrow and heading to Quobba Point where we will camp by the blowholes so for now its Adieu from The Wandering 2s.

Eighty Mile Beach to Karratha - Sun, sand and sea

Eighty Mile Beach WA

Charlie fishing - he's determined to get the "big one"

Yay - he did it!!  All smiles (Charlie that is, not the fish!!)

Showing off back at camp

Terry showing Charlie how to fillet the "Giant Threadfin Salmon"

Our camp site at Cape Keraudren just $9 a night

Cliff face at Cape Keraudren

That's us perched up top - sea views from every window

Charlie hunting for coloured octopus at Cape Keraudren

Creek leading into the sea at Cape Keraudren

Fantastic coloured sky after sunset at Cape Keraudren

Our early morning visitors

I think she's used to being fed

Me after I fell in a hole at De Grey River - ouch!!

Our freebie camp site at De Grey River

De Grey River - stayed here for 7 days resting my badly sprained ankle

New freebie camp site at Cleaverville Beach near Karratha

Our view from the caravan at Cleaverville Beach

Well 80 mile beach lived up to its reputation as far as we were concerned.  Its a beautiful stretch of white sandy beach with the most fantastic coloured shells and more importantly FISH!!!  Charlie finally caught his big one - a giant threadfin salmon measuring 1.1 metres and weighing 9 kg.  The look on his face when he landed it was pure magic and was worth all the hundreds of dollars (no probably thousands) we have spent up until now on bait.  Its a perfect spot for fishing, you can drive down onto the beach from the caravan park which is just behind the sand dunes and stand in the surf just casting your rod.  Even I became a fisherman - well I thought if I can't beat him I might as well join him and actually found that I enjoyed fishing from the beach and I was catching them as well.  We also caught blue nose salmon as well as another 79 cm. 6kg giant threadfin salmon and shark so we have our Engel half full of lovely fresh fish.

The best part of it was that Charlie became THE MAN!!  He has now had his 3 minutes of fame - a legend in his own lunchtime.  Other blokes were coming up to him in the caravan park and asking what rig he had, what bait etc. etc. and Mr. Magnanimous was saying "oh come round to site 43 and I'll show you how to set your rig up".  His fame was park wide but I think he deserved it.  It went to his head a bit but I knocked it out of him of course.

We were only going to spend 2 nights there but ended up staying a week as it is a beautiful place.

From there we went on to Cape Keraudren which is a coastal reserve a bit further south.  It was an idyllic spot and we had a lovely position up on the point.  We went fossicking among the rocks for the highly coloured octopus and found some.  Charlie also tried fishing but didn't have much luck there.  Unfortunately we had to leave after only 2 nights because the sandflies were carniverous but its certainly a spot well worth visiting for a chill out.  We had a very tame kangaroo and joey visit us each morning looking for food - she would have come into the caravan if we'd let her!!

Off to De Grey River for our next stop which is a free camp not far from Port Hedland.  A perfect bush camp by the river with some lovely shady sites.  Unfortunately within half an hour of arriving I fell into a hole and badly sprained my left ankle.  Charlie ran to get a spade to fill the hole in but I got out too quick - Ha, ha you should have banged me on the head with it instead!!  Anyway we were only going to spend 2 nights there as well but as I couldn't do anything or walk on my foot we decided to stay there until it felt a little better rather than moving on to Port Hedland and paying $50, yes $50 a night for a caravan park!! Got told off though by our besties as we hadn't checked in for a while due to not having any phone coverage and we had said we would be out of range for a few days but it turned out to be over 2 weeks.  Sorry won't do that again guys.  Charlie filled in his time there by fishing in the river catching bream and catfish (yuk) and fossicking with his metal detector.  I read 4 books!!!!

After 7 days there, my foot was feeling a little better and as we had run out of water and fresh food we pulled into Port Hedland for 2 nights into a NAZI caravan park!!  The only one in Port Hedland so no choice but $50 a night, deposits for this and that, locked doors, concrete pads with rows and rows of caravans - now we know why we prefer free bush camping!!  Anyway we filled the water tanks, Charlie was a rebel and washed his car on site - you weren't supposed to - there was a car wash bay where they charged you $5 and yes you've guessed it another $20 deposit for the hose fitting but we were determined to get our moneys worth, stocked up with groceries, did the laundry and after 2 nights moved on before we had to take out another mortgage to pay the site fees. 

We are now at another freebie just north of Karratha called Cleaverville Beach  with camping right on the beach.  Its lovely and totally relaxing.  We are going to stay here for about a week as we are sitting out the WA school holidays before we go to Ningaloo Reef at Exmouth.  Really looking forward to that and camping in the Cape Range National Park so for now thats all.

Adieu from The Wandering 2s.