Coral Bay and Carnarvon

Thursday 25^th August

Last day at Exmouth

Today was our last day at Exmouth, and true to fashion we spent it at the beach again.  Seems all the whales and everything else have got tired of us watching them and moved on.  Having said that we still had the company of one turtle and a few whales well out to sea.  It seems the turtle mating season is in full gear, as we had another couple performing for us, again just as we were leaving to go home.  Tomorrow we head down to Coral Bay.

Friday 26^th August

Exmouth to Coral Bay.

It was only a short drive of 178 km down to Coral Bay.  On the way we called into the Prawn Factory again and bought another kilogram of King Prawns.

Although Coral Bay shows up on most maps of Australia, it is basically just two big motor camps and a couple of shops.  Its big attraction is that the Ningaloo Reef is virtually right on the shore here, and as the name suggests, a bay full of coral.  Snorkelling is the thing, followed by fishing, but because all of the bay and most of the area inside the reef is a nature reserve, fishing is limited to outside the reef, which means a boat.  And there are plenty of them and about every second campsite has a boat parked on it.

It is very much a ‘Seaside Resort’, and as soon as you drive into town you get that sleepy seaside resort feeling.

After setting up camp we walked along the beach for about a kilometre and spent the afternoon snorkelling and sunbathing, and Cameron built some fantastic roads for his trucks and cars in the sand.  

The coral here is quite different to what we had seen at Exmouth and probably the most varied and colourful we have ever seen.  Unfortunately, there were nowhere near as many fish about, which seems odd given all the coral.

Saturday 27^th August

Back to the beach again for more snorkelling etc.  Cameron’s confidence in the water never fails to amaze us.  Nothing seems to faze him.  A lot of the time we were 100 - 150 meters from shore in about 3 - 4 meters of water, with a strong wind causing quite a chop. 

He was quite at home doing his own thing, diving down to inspect giant clams and anything else that caught his eye.  It was Christel and I who wanted to go in for a breather long before he was ready to.

Back on shore he built a huge network of roads for his toys, and then spent a long time in the shallows catching small fish.

Sunday 28^th August

Coral Bay to Carnarvon.

Today we headed south again to our next destination Carnarvon.  More of the same roads, and even after all this time, we still can’t get used to the fact that you can drive all day through the countryside and not see a single animal of any kind. 

The countryside is very green and looks like it could support heaps of cattle, but it is all rough scrubby shrubs and harsh grasses.  Every now and again we would pass through areas littered with Termite Mounds.

About 50km south of Coral Bay we crossed back over the Tropic Of Capricorn.  We had been in the Tropics since the 21^st June when we crossed it heading north from Alice Springs.

As we came in to Carnarvon it felt like we were getting back into civilization. We started coming across cultivated land and market gardens and plantations, especially bananas.  Carnarvon is on the coast at the mouth of the Gascoyne River, and has a population of about 9000.  It produces over 30,000 tonnes of fruit and veggies each year and supplies 70% of Western Australia’s veggies.

It has a jetty that is 1.6km long, and is the longest jetty in West Australia.  It is a beautiful town and we have booked in for 4 nights.  There is a lot to see and do in the area, so we may end up staying longer.

After setting up camp we headed in to town to have a look around and do some much needed grocery shopping.  They had Kangaroo steaks for about $9.00 so we decided to have some for dinner.  They were beautiful.

 

Monday 29^th August

Carnarvon.

Happy Birthday Christel.  Cameron had decided he was going to get Mum breakfast in bed, so it was an early start for him.  As usual we turned on the Laptop first thing, and found Christel’s Mum and Dad trying to contact us on Skype.  They gave their birthday wishes and had a chat.  Then after breakfast Christel went on to Facebook and found several messages of birthday wishes.  Thank you to all those people who sent messages.

Strange as it may seem Christel decided she wanted to spend her birthday catching up on some much needed washing and cleaning.  After having spent the best part of the last month in severe water restricted areas, it was well overdue.  We were even allowed to wash the car and caravan.  We had to pay $2 for the car, and $4 for the caravan, but it was well worth it.

After lunch we drove into town to book dinner at a restaurant to celebrate Christel’s Birthday, and also called at the visitors centre.  Some of the nearby attractions include some blowholes and a great snorkelling beach, on the coast at the southern tip of Lake MacLeod, about 80 km north of town.

Carnarvon is also the home of a huge satellite communication dish.  Built in conjunction with NASA it played a vital role during the space race of the 1960s and 70s, and also relayed messages when the Apollo Mission landed on the Moon.  It is no longer used but stands guard on a hill overlooking the town.

We enjoyed a lovely birthday dinner at the Carnarvon Hotel Restaurant, overlooking the water front.  Unfortunately we just missed watching the sunset, but were still able to enjoy the lovely purple colours of the evening sky.  I bet Christel’s birthday next year will be celebrated in very different surroundings.