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.
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