Exploring Exmouth

To explore Exmouth, we dropped our caravans off at the Bullara Station.  Like the Hamelin Homestead, it too, is a working station. I’m starting to notice that quite a few stations are taking in caravans and campers to bring in those tourist dollars.  And surprisingly enough, the actual caravan parks are BOOKED OUT along the northern part of Western Australia.  You wouldn’t think that you would have any problems getting accommodation when you travel for miles and miles through bush land and scrub.  But yes, you do indeed have to book ahead, otherwise you’re off to the side of the road for the night.

At any rate, we did have a great time at the station and along the Exmouth peninsula.

We found a nice shady spot under the trees, complete with a campfire area so we could roast that large piece of pork I bought in Coober Pedy.

 

This shearing shed no longer in use, epitomizes the wool industry and country life.  Take note of the motors used for the shears, along with the timbers used.

 

The posts, long ago created by the early pioneers and settlers .  Farmer Tim, no longer shears sheep, he has the breed for meat export only.

And these little lambs as you can see are not the Merino variety, but a long legged breed.

And no station is complete without the outdoor “dunny”.  Although, this one is VERY modern on the inside.

Complete with a flushing toilet and bore water shower.

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at Exmouth for morning tea and found that square rigger we saw earlier at Monkey Mia.  And there were a few dolphins in the bay as well.

 

I lost a hook to the “rock” fish above, so I decided to throw a line into the marina behind Chris.  And lo and behold, I caught a rather large bream!! Unfortunately, it was the ONLY fish we caught.  I had to get Chris to get the line and fish away from the rocks.  He also cleaned and scaled it for us.

The Exmouth lighthouse was our next stop.  From there, we had 360 deg. views from the top of the hill.

 

This odd looking fellow is a bustard.  I thought at first it was a baby emu, but no.  It’s also known as a “bush” turkey.  They are native to this area.

 

The road stops here.  At Yardie Creek.  We had to wait for low tide so we could cross.  I did step out into and I sank about 6 inches into the sand, so there was no way a 3 ton Scout was going to make it across this.

While it doesn’t look that deep, it was quite deceptive.

 

So in the meantime, Chris and Col headed up the gorge to have a look while Margaret and I made a cup of tea.

 

I’m only sorry that we didn’t make it in time for the tour boat ride up the gorge.  The contrasting colours and high cliffs were beautiful.

 

And as we waited for the tide to get lower,

 

 

 

you wouldn’t have believed me if I told you.  But out here,…in the middle of nowhere,..the lone piper could be heard.  And in actuality, his wife was taking his picture as the sun set.  In full regalia.

I wanted to ask him to play Amazing Grace, but we had dropped the air in the tyres by then and we were ready to make it across.

One by one, we started across.

 

 

Col, being second

 

 

And this lone englishman here on holidays, he too, came across.

 

Next stop was to find a place to camp for the night.  We found a small camp area and quickly set up the tents just on the other side of the dunes.  The winds came up the following morning, so fishing was out of the question.  So we headed south towards Ningaloo Reef and Coral Bay.

The kangaroos were thick through here.  Mingled with sheep and goats, all tried to quickly get out of our way.

 

The colours and sizes of the wild goats was amazing.  Along with some of the horn sizes on the billies.

 

Many sand dunes were interspersed with the scrub and just the other side the beautiful waters of Ningaloo.

Coral Bay, the hotspot in WA.  So many tourists!  We stopped in for fuel and grabbed a quick bite to eat while we watched the swimmers and snorkelers.

Our day ended back at Bullara Station.  We had our beautiful pork roast for dinner complete with roasted vegies and fresh apple sauce.

 

We left the following morning headed to Onslow.  And we’ll be here now for a day and then on to Karratha.

The Exmouth peninsula was nice, but not quite as spectacular at Steep Point Peninsula.  Yardie Gorge was the high spot on that day.

And now we’re off to explore Onslow and it’s surrounds.

Dismal days in Carnarvon

I should have figured it all out when we parked right…at the back…of the caravan park.  Complete with it’s own bowling green.  We unpacked everything and headed straight up to the shops for food and put the cruiser through a car wash.  There was a bowl's tournament going on right outside our door.  Old folks in their whites having a great time.  Even had over the loudspeaker that you can join the boot scootin’ in the hall, or gentle gym.  All of these geared around the 70 + yr olds.  And this place was PACKED with them.

And then the rains settled in for the night and the rest of the day.  We went for a drive around town to see what it had to offer.  Not much.  There were storm warnings out, so even the fishing fleet was grounded.

We wandered around the marina for a few minutes, but with the weather so bad, we headed back to the caravan to settle in for the day.

Today, we basically cleaned up, partially packed up, and took a trip down to the jetty and lighthouse museum.

The weather was still gusty, but at least the rains had stopped.  We wandered around the lighthouse keeper’s house and through the sheds.  And there was a small train trip up the jetty which goes over the mangroves.

After the rains, the water was very dirty at the mouth of the river. 

 

 

But the local birdlife didn’t seem to mind it all.

 

 

 

Well, we’re packed now and ready for an early start in the morning.  We’re headed to Bullara Station, which was recommended by the last caretakers of the last station we stayed at.  From there we’ll explore Exmouth and the peninsula.  i believe more camping and fishing are in order.

A truly WONDERFUL weekend!!!

We landed in Carnarvon late this afternoon.  We’ve spent the last two days camping out, on the furthest peninsula in Shark Bay.  It’s been an awesome time.

We left our vans at Hamelin Station, which is an actual sheep farming station.(aka ranch)  And then we headed off to the most western point in Australia, Steep Point.

We stopped here for morning tea.  We had heard a story about a mackeral in these waters, so I tossed a line in to see if I could catch him.  I actually spotted the two foot beast in the shallow waters, but he never even went near the bait!  hrrmph!!

We crossed sand dunes and salt lake pans.

 

 

 

It was like we took a wrong turn and landed in the Sahara desert!!

 

 

We stopped here for lunch.  While I made sandwiches, Chris threw a line in and spotted a dorsal fin that belonged to a  4ft shark in these shallow waters.  I collected some really neat pieces of coral and seashells along this shore.

This was our camp for the night.  Right next to the seashore. Once the tents were set up, we headed up to the furthest western point for the sunset.

 

We watched the sun set at this point.  Col even spotted some whales out at sea, making their way north to the Broome area.

 

The power of the ocean is beyond comprehension until you come and listen and watch the roaring tide hit the cliffs with such fierceness.  And just behind that spray stands Col, right on the edge of  the cliff face.

  I always get nervous when he walks so close to the edge.  It’s like a 100 ft drop to the rocks below.

 

 

And the first day of camping ended at Steep Point, the furthest west you can go in Australia.

 

We woke up the next morning to fresh air and a cup of coffee. As we sat there waking up, I notice some fish jumping around in the water.  So we all quickly grabbed our gear to start fishing!

Fishing Goddess that I am, ..I didn’t even bother changing out of my PJ’s.  I just rolled them up and started fishing!  I caught two fish and found a starfish!

 

But this was no ordinary morning!..we saw some dolphins come in and the fish were just SKIPPING across the TOP of the water!  It was the most amazing site!  The dolphins swam furiously chasing and eating the fish we were trying to catch. 

But we had four fish, one each for breakky and it was beautiful!  Four pieces of whiting.

 

 

These blowholes dot the cliffs along the shore.  These two at False Entrance are fairly large ones.

 

The water was like a washing machine.  The swells enormous and pounding the the coastline with ferocity.

 

It was getting late in to the day, so we started heading back to the vans and it was still a long way to go.  Ol’ Eagle Eye, Col, spotted more whales making their way north.  Unfortunately, they were too far for me to take a picture of them.

We came back to the spot we had our previous morning tea, and while the boys put air back into their tyres, Margaret and I collected shells and watched the sun go down.

This has been such a wonderful weekend.  Not only did we see more fantastic sights, but we started the weekend with news that Scott was going to ask Jenny to marry him.  Congratulations to Jenny and Scott, we wish you both many happy years together.

A big day out, but a wonderful day out too.

It’s been a LONG, but WONDERFUL day.  We got up at 5am and left at 7am to go and feed the dolphins at Monkey Mia. (pronounced my-ah, not me-ah. It’s Aboriginal)  This ritual has been going on for years.  It was in 1963 that the governments listed this whole Shark Bay area a World Heritage Environmental Marine Park.

When we got there the dolphins were already waiting for their FREE handouts.  It was interesting to see these beautiful wild mammals swimming so close to the beach ready for their interaction with humans.

The rangers keep a strict control on how much fish is fed to the dolphins so they learn to feed themselves and their babies.

 

These little guys were resting on the end of the jetty and just watching the people.

 

 

THIS,..is where we got the most excitement from.  Here at Cape Peron, we spotted two sea turtles, a couple of sting rays, 3 tiger sharks, and several dolphins.  All swimming around this cove for food.  We spotted some Skipjack, aka Spanish Mackerel, nearly 3 feet long!!  And one of the ladies in our group spotted either a sea snake or an eel amongst the rocks.(even though nobody else saw it, “sure Sandy,sure”)  We spent quite a bit of time at this point just gazing into to the cove to see what else we might find, as dugongs were known to haunt this area as well.  (there’s more photos in Flickr Slideshow)

We stopped here at Gregorie’s beach for lunch.  Once we finished, we headed up to the beach to have a look.

 

This is one of those special places where the contrasting colours are just vibrant.  We played in the water and we played in the sand.

 

  And Chris chased the birds for us, so we could get the birds in flight.

 

 

One by one, they flew off.

 

 

 

 

And, our first incident happened.  The Scout got bogged,..or “temporarily stopped” as Col says.  But with a few shovels of sand away from the tyres, he was out in no time at all.

This was a beautiful beach.  Once again, the red sand met the blue ocean and it all it does is make you want to take a swim despite the cold temperature of the water.

We weren’t sure if these guys knew they were just standing on a sandy shelf or not.  But the group quickly dispersed once they realized there were fresh oysters on the rocks below.

There were some large salt pans that we travelled through to get to the tip of the peninsula and back again.

And then incident number 2 happened.  The Scout got bogged.  AGAIN!!  4WD never got engaged.  Margaret said there was a loud “clunk”. Well, that’s not good news, but once again, sand was dug out away from the tyres and Col kicked it into gear and made his way to the other side of the hill on to the beachfront.  And much to his chagrin, Chris gave him a hard time about getting bogged TWICE in one day.  But he took it on the chin gracefully and with good humour.

We stopped in at the Big Lagoon on the way home.  Here we had a cup of coffee and biscuits to end the day’s excursion.

 

Yes, it’s been a big day, but an absolutely beautiful day.  You couldn’t have asked for better weather.  And we saw so many fish and wildlife today, it was exciting.

Tomorrow?..don’t know, I’m still savouring today.