Days 21-23 Exmouth (26-28 September)

The highlight of these three days was our boat trip on Sunday to the Murion Islands, 16km off shore.  Took about an hour and a half to get there.  Along the way we saw two humpback whales, fantastic.  Unfortunately, too far away to get some good shots.  However on the way back we were able to get a closeup of a whale that was incredibly close to shore.  Amazing to see them.  The dive crew say they see many on these trips.  In fact there is a 2 week period at the end of August when sometimes they see whalesharks, manta rays and humpacks in a single dive!  Imagine that!  The dive centre we dived with also cover the whaleshark season and this season (May-July) they had 530 whalesharks sightings!  I'm sure the same one in some cases.  But still an incredible amount.   We were extremely lucky with the weather, there was hardly any wind (compared to the previous days) and the water was calm (didn't stop me from taking a Travelcalm tablet for sea sickness though).  The dive masters were very good and knowledgeable and provided all gear although we have most our ours.  I didn't dive just opted to snorkel, I hung up my diving fins a while ago and after watching the divers get geared up I am happy not to do it - too much like hard work lugging all that gear around - I think this might be John's last dive too.  The water temperature is 23 degrees which believe it or not is still chilly, even with a 3/4 3mm wetsuit!  We must be aclimatising as we are used to 18-20 degrees in Busso.  I'll let John tell you about his diving experience but my snorkels were very very good.  The first snorkel was at a site at the east side of south Murion Island, it was like looking into an aquarium, lots of fishlife and coral, large schools of a variety of fish including kingfish, angel/damsel fish, a moon wrasse and lots of other fish that I can't identify.  Needless to say it was pretty speccy.  My second snorkel was just as pretty and this time I saw a bat fish it was huge.  The third dive was called the Coral Bowl and was predominantly coral, brain coral, plate coral, gorgonan fan corals, lots of different colours, blues yellows, purples, it is encouraging to see a lot of new growth.   This was a very pretty dive and we were lucky the way the sun was shining over it showed it in its best light. The Murion Islands are within a sanctuary zone which means no fishing or spearfishing which is great.  The water depth didn't exceed 12 metres with lots of bombies closer to the surface so good viewing.  Overall it was a great day and we still agree Ningaloo Reef offers some of the best diving sites (compared to what we have seen at the Barrier Reef).  Lets hope with all the development and oil mining that is happening around here and further north that it doesn't get spoilt.  It was long day starting at 7.30am and getting back at 4.00pm and we were concerned living Coco for so long in the caravan.  Our neighbour offered to check on her during the day and let her out into the shade or turn the a/c on but Coco wouldn't let her in (she probably would have done with some persistence) so we had lots of smiles form Coco when we got home (for those who don't know Coco she smiles when she greets us).  I took her for a long walk to the beach as John had taken her in the morning at 6.00am (yes I did say John).  So today Monday was a relax day and tomorrow we are planning on doing some more snorkelling and kayaking.  It is going to only be 27 degrees tomorrow compared to the 30-35s we have had so should be a nice change.

Hi My turn but Karen has taken all the highlights! However I can add a few highlights of what I saw under the water while she was floating around on the surface looking like a tasty meal (no not for me but the sharks which abound up here!) Naturally the white tipped reef sharks are always around but on the second dive I came across a BIG Sythe shaped tail sticking out of this cave! so naturally I tried to get in closer, then this monster decided he felt cornered so he wanted OUT! Not ferocious but just wanted out so I moved aside, it was pretty thrilling and although you never know I felt very safe as there appeared to be no aggression at all. It was white all over which has made identification difficult but the closest I can get is a Tawny Nurse Shark (although they say they are brown! (maybe this was an Albino! :-) As Karen said it was like diving in a massive aquarium with more types of coral than I've ever seen beautiful swim throughs which often hid even bigger cod and grouper which would weigh hundreds of kilos! All this in around 10m so you got a good 60 minutes per dive. Anyway there was plenty other sights but I think you get the picture! Bye 4 now!

Day 20 Exmouth (25 September)

Hi, John here. I was "Told" that todays blog was "My JOB!" Photos still to follow so you'll have to check back every now and then. Also I've added a video on day 9 and 10 and may do more but uploading large files to youtube is painful at best!

Today I ticked another of those life boxes! I did two dives off the Navy pier here in Exmouth! The security to get there was amazing considering it’s just some pylons in the water in the middle of nowhere but hey 9/11 cost and continues to cost everyone. It’s remote location and high security presence plus a total fishing ban has, as you can imagine resulted in an area akin to what the WA coast was probably like before we all contributed to its current decimated state!

Today was a bit windy top side which also resulted in a reasonable sized swell (nowhere near Walpole’s though!) and the entry point was over 3m above the surface (due to a very low tide) but when the fins hit the water they took the sting off the high jump. Once in I realized how long it had been since my last dive I had to take a few seconds to calm the nerves but after a couple of quick cross checks and some positive reinforcement chat, I slipped back into it as if it were yesterday and not 2006 in Qld!

I had buddied up with two guys one a local, the other his uncle (despite the fact he was younger…. too much info) anyway these guys also had cameras so I will post some of their photo’s. On with the dive - the max depth we had was only 12.2m so not much deeper than the Busselton Jetty! The pier has a video camera so I’ll try and locate the URL. I borrowed one of my buddys’ cameras and took a picture of the underwater video camera that was taking us! … as you do!)

MAN you will never be able to appreciate the vision we had, let me rattle off that which I can remember. Masses of Big (3–8 kg) silver schooling fish, so many that when they encircled you, you could not see through up or down. Every now and then on the outer of these schools cruised some large Barracuda. Enormous Cod mostly I believe Potato with girths bigger than you’d be able to hug and you could go right up to them and everything else, they only moved if you were about to make contact. Next a largish (2 – 2.5m) Grey Nurse Shark (Ragged Tooth for you South African types) swam between me and a pylon within touching distance. I didn’t move as it felt like one of those moments that a sudden move would/could cause a bad result but the thought did cross my mind that all he (she) had to do was suddenly turn it’s head to the side and my right arm might be gone! But it just gracefully glided on by! man that was as good as stalking a Rhino on Fothergill Island back in Zim!

Later on we saw a large white tipped reef shark resting on the bottom. As I positioned myself to take a photo another one came in from out of my line of sight and settled down, kinda like it was a shopping centre carpark! While on sharks we saw a massive Carpet or Wobbegong which I actually swam right over before been alerted to it by Steve! Amazing camouflage. We also saw Lion fish, all sorts of puffer fish incl NW Blowie some simply incredibly coloured fish several large Moray eels one of which thought my finger was food but I removed it to a safe distance, Sailfin catfish (a black cat fish with a large central spine and flappy skin making it look sail like, always in pairs). All manner of really colourful soft corals including fire coral (white in colour) and many shapes and variations of Nudibranchs.

Our first dive lasted 50 min then we climbed back up the stairs to the Jetty platform for a break and some lollies and fruit. While there we saw several humped backed whales go by splashing around and on the second dive we could hear their calls underwater it was all over far too quickly. We hadn’t planned on diving while on this trip as we were over the hassle of all the gear the stress in preparing etc but boy I’m glad I did this one

On Sunday we decided both Karen and I will go to the Murion Islands where I’ll do another couple of dives from the boat and Karen will do a snorkeling tour so more still to come. BUT I cannot see how it could even come close to the dives today on the Navy Pier!

Days 18-19 Exmouth (23-24 September)

Update:  check out blog entry Days 9-10 Denham for video on shark feeding.

Day 17 -We are now 1442kms north from Busselton.  We are really happy to be in Exmouth it really is one of our favourite places.  Anther hot day and no wind.  We walked into town to pick up a few supplies and check out the diving/snorkelling tours.  John booked to dive the navy jetty on Friday - this is one of the top 10 dive sites and we are booked to do dive/snorkel tour on Sunday at Murion Islands (16kms boat ride).  Hoping to see turtles on this trip.  It is 34 degrees and no wind, went for a swim at the park pool - it was cold but yummy.  We had our prawns for lunch today - delish - ate a whole kilo between us, piggies.  Something funny happened today while I was putting some washing on the line, two emus went waltzing by, I could have touched them they were that close and they were totally unperterbed, we saw them later in town.  There are a lot of emus around Exmouth.  Apparently there is a father emu along the beach track who is very protective of his chicks and will attack dogs (an emu killed a poodle a few years ago on this track) so on the lookout. Coco loves walking to the beach as there are lots of roos that she can smell and see.

Day 18 - Expecting a hot day up to 34 degrees, got up early and went to well known Turquoise Bay for a snorkel.   Not too many people when we arrived (about 9.30am) but by the time we left it was quite busy although not overly so.  We stopped at the Milyering Visitor Interpretative Centre and saw a sea eagle had a nest on a communications tower (photo).  We had some great snorkelling went with the drift snorkel, the current was very strong today can see why some people end up in trouble.  The water was very chilly but bearable.  Saw our first sea snake (black and white striped one - we learnt at Ocean Park they are harmless), angel fish, wrasse, triggerfish, spangled emperors and some lovely coral.  It is encouraging to see some of the coral is re-sprouting with some pretty colours.  It is a spectacular snorkel and you can walk out to the reef and it is probably not more than 2 metres deep.  We are going back again before we leave.  We discovered some other good snorkeling sites while we were in the national park that we will do before we leave as well.  We don't have an underwater camera so can't show you how speccy it is, but if travelling this way it is a definite must do.  Unfortuntely as it is in the national park we couldn't take Coco and left her in the caravan, (I had taken Coco to the beach for an hour walk before we left so felt a little happier leaving her), we asked the lady next door to keep an ear out for her and to call us if there was a problem, she didn't hear a peep from her which was good - we hope she is as good on Sunday when we go to the Murion Islands.  We also checked out some other beaches that we can take Coco too and these look really good too - so we'll fit them in as well.  At this rate we will be here for months.  The chap next door to us had been out in his boat fishing today and gave us some fish (not sure what it was) we had it for dinner, it was delicious.  Sigh, what a life.

Day 17 - Coral Bay to Exmouth (22 Sept)

152kms today.  Along the way we stopped and took a photo of the termite mounds, they are huge and there are lots of them.  We arrived in Exmouth by lunchtime.  Very windy and very warm.  Took all afternoon to get setup as we decided to not only put up the annexe but also the gazebo, so we aren't moving again for a while!  Packing up and setting up in the same day is too much like hard work - starting to think we should have invested in the rollout awning.  On the way into Exmouth we stopped at Kailis fisheries and bought up big on prawns (isn't this a must do)?  The caravan park is not too busy (we are hoping we don't get inundated next week with school holiday makers) and we have little ensuite ablution blocks which are great.  We went for a walk to the closest beach via a bush track.   Very tidal and the tide was way out which left rock pools and exposed coral.  John discovered a cone shell which we have never seen before.  A beautiful night, warm and balmy, lovely!

Days 13-16 – Coral Bay (18-21 Sept)

220 kms today from Carnarvon to Coral Bay. Crossed the 26th parallel along the way. We arrived before lunch, a first for us. It is really warm in Coral Bay and there are so many people, we are all packed into the caravan park like sardines. Not the best place to come during its busy season we’ve decided. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to put up the broadband satellite dish due to a tree being smack bang in the middle of the dishes viewing line – hadn’t counted on this happening. May have to chance the internet café if we get desperate. It is also very expensive here so best to bring food supplies with you, ie. $5.65 for 2 litres milk! Fuel is $163.2/litre the most we have paid to date. Went for a snorkel – the water was freezing (which we weren't expecting - has to be warmer than Busso). Didn’t see a great deal only some huge spangled emperors and a large shovelnose shark. We visited the reef shark nursery which is about 1.5kms away from the main beach. It is an annual occurrence, we saw about 30 babies, unfortunately it wasn’t the best day to view them as it was so windy and the water choppy but it was still neat to see them. Each afternoon there is a fish feeding experience where a hundred or so spotted emperors come into shore and are fed fish pellets. The fish just about jump out of the water to take the pellets. It is all part of an education process – I think mainly to stop people feeding them bread and other food. The one time we didn’t have our camera so can’t show pictures. Whilst we enjoyed our four days in Coral Bay we were ready to leave as the school holiday invasion was beginning (a week early?) and the park and beach are getting packed with people.

Days 11-12 Carnarvon (16-17 Sept)

Arrived Carnarvon just after lunch on Wednesday. Went for a wander around town in the afternoon and a quick shop for dinner. The caravan park (Capricorn Caravan Park) we were staying at was very noisy, on the NW coastal highway and our site was literally next door to a 24 hour fuel truck stop so all day and night could hear truck brakes and engines idling, not ideal. The next day Thursday, we did the drive along the Gascoyne food trail. This is a half day self drive tour stopping at all the plantations and food stalls picking up fresh veges and fruit. It is so cheap and really is just picked. We had fun doing this. We did a plantation tour at Bumbacks Plantation. They specialise in mangoes, bananas, watermelons and just recently table grapes. It was very interesting and informative and an eye opener to the waste and work involved in these working farms. Mainly due to the strict marketplace and checks they have to adhere to by the Ag Dept, Foodsafe and the horticulture industry standards. The amount of fruit they have to throw out just because it is slightly discoloured or misshapen is shocking, in fact some growers are now not growing bananas due to the ridiculous regulations it is just not viable for them. They water their crops on demand - each plant has its own drip sprinkler and when it is dry an alarm is set off via a computer which then waters it - very clever.  Due to the arid climate growers had to find water saving devices and most growers now use this system.  Nearby the caravan park is the Gascoyne River riverbed. This is fascinating in that it is a dry riverbed with the water being 18 metres below the surface! During the wet season if there is enough rain the river floods, Carnarvon only has 200mm rainfall per annum (if they are lucky) however last year they had two floods. The average temperature is 28 degrees with 10 days over 40 degrees. It’s an almost perfect climate. The riverbed was great for Coco to have a run around and nearby landowners run around on their quad bikes having some fun and to run their dogs. Part of the food trail included a visit to a fresh fish market where we bought freshly caught and steamed crabs – beautiful. And of course prawns and all other fish, we bought some Spanish mackerel to try. Went to the heritage precinct that has the one mile jetty. This one burnt in 2007 (someone set it alight with petrol) and like Busselton they are fundraising to repair it. They received $1.5M from the Govt compared to Busselton’s $24M!

Introducing Lenny

Lenny the lion is a hand puppet that John has had since he was a very young boy and we rediscovered him when packing and decided to bring him along for the ride as our mascot so look for Lenny in our photos.

Days 9-10 Denham (Shark Bay)

Very very windy here, the annexe was bouncing around all night in the wind.  Monday morning bought more wind and it was a really cold wind, reminded us of Busselton but a tad warmer.  Tuesday is a magical day - no wind! hooray!  and it is warm, tshirts and shorts first thing in the morning.  The park is thinning out with caravanners although it seems there must have been a couple of vans camped outside as they are in already this morning.  Today we visited Ocean Park 8kms outside of Denham. Ocean Park is an ecotourism venture owned and run by marine biologists.   They have many wild fish including 2 tiger sharks, lemon sharks and sandbar sharks plus pink schnapper, groper, turtles, sea snakes etc. 


 It was very very interesting and worthwhile.  They catch the fish with hooks put them on display and release them and catch a new lot.  This is justified as a means of learning about the fish in a close up environment.  They are certainly very passionate about the fish and very knowlegeable.  We will try and include a video.  On the way home we went to a lookout and saw two emus on the beach, something we've not seen before.  We are also seeing some pretty wildflowers.  After such a beautiful perfect day we weathered a storm tonight, lots of rain and more wind.  The annexe made it through, hope it it dry by the morning when we have to pack it.

Day 8 - Kalbarri to Denham (Shark Bay)

Yet another early packup and 380 kms to drive. We are over these one night stops, too tiring.  We have agreed that in future we will look at staying for a minimum of one week in each spot.  Not so windy today so much smoother and easier drive, could even get into fifth gear!  Saw some pretty wildflowers, an emu and a racehorse goanna (kind of).   We stopped at Nerren Nerren which is a designated 24 hour free camp for a breather.  We were very impressed with the setup and feel more comfortable about doing some free camping in these designated sites in the future.  Quite a few caravans and campervans camped there (even a Winnebago!) which surprised us considering it was lunchtime.  We are now 1067 kms from home - at this rate we will be home by Xmas after seeing the whole of Australia!   Its a long drive into Denham from the Overlander turnoff, 130kms and it goes on forever!  Some excitement is driving over the grid that 'barks'.  This is meant to keep the cats out of the area. We haven't seen as many feral cats as we did last time we were here in 2006 so maybe it does work.  The Denham Seaside Tourist Park is well setup.  We are camped on crushed seashells and the site is well sized.  They have a unisex ablution block which have 10 individual ensuites, ie toilet, shower and sink, so been able to get dressed on a dry floor is great.  Fairly windy but managed to get the annexe up without too many dramas, needed to be well pegged to stop it flapping all night.  Apparently it is windy all along the coast so must be the time of year.  I think the receptionist here thinks we are slighly mad heading north this time of year due to the heat we will experience further north.  Most people are heading south!  The couple next to us are from Victoria and he can't get over the distances in WA and is still getting used to the fact that roadhouses are landmarks and that the roadhouse is all that is in a location.  Quite funny really.  We are here for 4 nights and tomorrow will have a day of catching up with chores, ie washing and tidying the van before exploring begins.

Day 7 - Dongara to Kalbarri

Another gusty day and another 224 kms to go.   We are seeing so many caravans heading south, just aout every second vehicle is towing a van.  Starting to wonder if they all know something we don't.  We only had one night in Kalbarri mainly so we could catch up with friends who were on holiday there.  Arrived mid afternoon.  Have been to Kalbarri a few times now so didn't need to (or even have time) to do the gorges or other exploring again.  Went for a walk into town to get supplies for an impromptu bbq.  Had a good night and a good catchup.  The Kalbarri Anchorage Caravan Park was very busy and it seems majority of caravanners are heading south.  We had a nice spot overlooking the river.  It was also our first taste of some warm weather, we could take our jackets off!  Heaven and very little wind, even better.

Days 5 and 6 - Perth to Port Denison/Dongara

Left Perth and it was pouring, luckily we packed the annexe away the day before while it was still dry.  The trip to Dongara should have taken about 3.5 hours and took us over 5 hours!  We were travelling straight into very strong winds (upto a 100kms according to a roadhouse attendant).  The old padge (Pajero) did us proud it was really stuggling but it got us there, albeit in third or fourth gear all the way.  Our fuel economy was way down and luckily we came across a roadhouse when we down to less than a quarter tank.   We were very glad to get to Dongara.  The caravan park Dongara Tourist Park was good, no problems with dogs.  We got the impression it was mainly a one nighter due to the number of vans that were still hitched to cars.  It is right on the beach but luckily we were near a dune so were fairly well protected from the winds.   Whilst we we were only there for one night it would be fine to stay for a few days.  The beach is very nice and within walking distance to town and there are some nice walks along the beachfront. The road is lined with Moreton Bay Fig Trees which are beautiful.  The town is very much designed for summer with lots of bbq and picnic areas, playgrounds on the beach front.  We had a lazy night and decided to grab fish and chips for dinner expecting to find local fish.  To our disappointment the fish and chip shop only had pink snapper that was local everything else was imported.   Port Denison/Dongara is the crayfish capital of WA however the fisherman aren't allowed to sell them to locals anymore. At one time locals could go to the wharf and buy fresh fish and crays but no longer, majority gets exported and suspect Kailis sell the rest from their outlets.  Seems a pity.  Anyway I had grilled pink snapper and it was delicious. 

Days 1 -4 (Perth)

Left on Sunday 6th as planned just before lunch (9.00am start haha), even the sun came out for our farewell. Arrived in Perth and staying at the Banksia Caravan Park in Hazelmere (near Maida Vale). Quite a nice park that takes dogs.  Only have concrete pads but managed to peg in the sides of the annexe thankfully. Predominantly permanents stay here – facilities are clean. Some nice walks alongside the golf course, and some really lovely homes around here too. So lots of walking for Coco. We have a shopping list that is getting longer so that will take most of our time while here. Catching up with friends the next two nights then our trip really starts on Thursday.

One of the caravaners told us about a park in Mundaring called Jorgensen Park (about 12 mins drive) that allows dogs.   It is fantastic, a huge nature reserve that transects the Bibbulmun track, could spend hours wandering in there, it is great for dogs as they can run free, so much bush and lots of other dogs.  Coco loved it.

Monday and Tuesday spent pounded the camping shops for a tent, sleeping bags etc.  After much searching we have bought a 4 man Oztrail tent and two -5 degree celsius sleeping bags, lightweight table, lantern, cooking ring etc and other bits and pieces so we are now pretty well set for camping.  John got the tomtom hard wired into the car, so we have been pretty busy - hardly any time to do my blog?  Don't know when the relaxation kicks in!  Hopefully soon.

Map of Australia

 

For our non-Aussie friends

Final night

Our final night in Busselton and we are exhausted!  On the go forever it seems and having to do things as we think of it so as not to forget  - making the same trips back and forth it seems - certainly getting in the 10,000 steps today..  John is planning on leaving here at 9.00am tomorrow - can't see it myself but good plan.  Caravan is just about packed, house clean and storage container packed - I don't want to see another packing box again.  So in the morning we have to pack the car, roof rack, and finish packing the caravan.  Phew! 

3 days to go

Karen finished work today and now the reality has hit!  We only have two full days to finish packing, cleaning and organising!  Our to do list still has things on it.  Aargh!!