Coral Bay and Carnarvon

Monday 13Th we moved the 150 K's to Coral Bay fully expecting to have trouble finding a site in one of the two caravan parks. We were happy to find a spot at the Bay side Park which has small and very sandy sites. We have been very lucky when it comes to getting sites, I think that getting away early and arriving before noon has a lot to do with getting a good site, the early bird syndrome works. We made contact with Tony Bullivant and Elaine on arrival at the Park, it was good to catch up with them again, and compare experiences. Coral Bay is at the Southern end of the Ningaloo Marine Park, it is a beautiful sandy bay with a coral reef just meters off the waterline. We took our swimming goggles and went for a swim. The coral is not like the reefs in Cairns, it is hard coral and has distinctive shapes, even just swimming with goggles we saw heaps of fish, both small and large. I had difficulty swimming, I am finding that my shoulder gives me a lot of pain if I strain it and as a result I am hesitant to give it any reason to hurt me, so I do not swim as well as I used to. Judy booked us on a submarine style glass boat for the next day, it was a really good way to see the reef and the fish. We shared then trip with about 20 other people and a young lady with a lovely accent, I cracked up when a rather stupid old man asked her if she had picked up her Irish accent in America, and she replied no it was in Scotland actually.

This trip was well worth the money ($43) , we found it totally relaxing and very beautiful, the boat is designed so that you sit and look out at an angle of 45 degrees and look at the sights. The crew feed the fish and as a result they follow the boat looking back through the windows at us the people. The biggest of these fish is the "Spangled Emperor" these are very curious fish that swim beside you as you swim off the beach. Our trip included a snorkel with equipment provided, we found this to be not so good because the water temperature was quite cold. I also find the water in this area to be very salty, sounds ridiculous but it is saltier than the coastal area that we are used to, and after a couple of accidental mouth fulls I returned to the boat and watched out the windows, it was a lot easier.

In the afternoon the staff feed the fish along the beach, the fish seem to know when the feeding is about to happen and gather, they swim between peoples legs and go into a frenzy when fed. The Spangled Emperor's dominate but parrot and other fish are also around.

We went for a long walk along the beach the next morning and found a snorkel mask, so Judy went and purchased a snorkel and noodle and spent a pleasant afternoon over the reef while I sat around typing a blog.

We tracked Greg and Soph Pinner down for a happy hour later that afternoon, Greg had booked a fishing trip for the next day and there had been a couple of Black Marlin caught earlier today, so we have our fingers crossed for Greg to catch a big one tomorrow.

We will be moving on to Carnarvon in the morning, so its a quiet night.

Southwards 240 K's to Carnarvon, an oasis in the desert, this highly productive area grows heaps of fruit and veggies by pumping water out of a dried up river. The river flows for about 8 weeks during a wet year, although it does not always rain every year, as was the case last year. There is a large aquifer under the dry river which fills during a wet year and the farmers buy water from this source, they are strictly regulated by the water authority to protect the water source. The supply of fruit and veggies is huge and the price attractive, this is a great place to restock the larder.

Carnarvon is a great town it is well laid out and has a good community feel about it, people are friendly and there is a positive spirit to the place. Judy reckoned we needed to get some exercise so we decided to go for a walk the next morning, we walked from the town to the jetty and back a distance of about 6 k's, it took us the rest of the day to get over it. However after lunch we found enough energy to have a bowl on the caravan parks bowling green. We both went really well considering how long it was since we had bowled. It was later that night that my shoulder caused me to regret bowling, I think that there will be no more bowling until I get the shoulder fixed.

Friday night we watched Collingwood beat Geelong and proceed to the grand final. I am elated but a little sad for Geelong as I feel that this is the end of their power era and they might have to rebuild for a while. Collingwood still have the job in front of them but we can only hope that this will be our year.

We made contact with Pat and Pete from Melb who were staying at a park down the street. We are both heading towards Perth and are running to a similar time schedule, so its likely we will come across each other often. We joined them for a trip to the Quobba Blowholes about 50 K 's away. We had a picnic lunch and walked a beach looking for shells for the grand kids and later that night joined them for dinner and drinks which was a great night.

We visited a local farm called "Bumbaks" for a tour. We found the tour to be very interesting and informative and could not help admiring the local farmers for their persistence in developing new farming techniques to cope with growing with minimum water and value adding to their produce. They grow table grapes, watermelons, mangoes and bananas and they produce 80 different products such as jams and sauces and spices. The tour guide is the wife of one of the sons and is a very good guide, it was interesting that this 32 hectare farm supports four family's, one can only admire these hard working happy people.

We visited other farms and bought lots of fresh tomatoes,capsicums etc, we also bought mango sides (frozen because they are out of season at present) and visited the local seafood outlet for prawns and sand crabs. All were delicious and really good value for money.

The last full day we visited the aboriginal culture center for lunch, with Pete and Pat and all enjoyed a beaut lunch cooked and served by country people who are training in the hospitality industry. All in all we really enjoyed our visit to Carnarvon and were sorry to be moving on but looking forward to new challenges at Denham and Monkey Mia.

More photos for last blog

Photo's

1..Gas Plant at Dampier

2..Termite Town outside Onslow

3..Salt beds outside Onslow

4..Dolly on the Cliffs

5..Lunch at Tom Price

Dampier, Karratha, Roebourne and Onslow

Dampier and Karratha are only 20K's apart. Dampier is a loading port for Rio Tinto's iron ore from Tom Price and other mines, it also loads Salt from the salt farms between D and K, it is also home to Woodside Liquefied Natural Gas. This plant is a most impressive facility that accepts Natural Gas by pipeline under the sea from drilling rigs out on the ocean. The gas has its impurities removed and is then loaded onto ships for export overseas, it is also piped South for supply to Western Australia. This maze of pipes and structures covers a huge area and has an information center which I recommend that no body misses seeing, the site is easily found because of the huge burn off gas flares that send flames high into the sky.

Judy decided to stay in Dampier Transit Park and it turned out to be a good decision because we had a great view of the iron ore loading operation which is located right beside us. The only drawback with this park is the lack of water connections for vans, but the showers were OK. Dampier is a nice clean little place and Karratha is also an impressive town with many new homes under construction and good shopping facilities. Late afternoon a camper trailer set up next to us and it turned out Tony ex Tallangatta and Glynis ex Houn and their friends Glen and Rhonda from Albury in another camper arrived. It's always good to catch up with people from our area.

Next day we decided to take a drive to Roebourne, the 60 K trip is a nice drive and Roebourne is an interesting little place. The ex jail now museum depicts the history of the area, while in Roebourne we visited the lookout and it was here that we heard that the Labor Government had prevailed and with support of independents won government. Wow what an interesting 3 years we are in for. We had intended to also visit Cossack and Point Sampson but expecting these places to be similar to Roebourne, gave it a miss (we were told later we missed the best bits).

Back at the park we joined others at the front of the park for a beaut sunset and happy hour, all good. Next morning packing to head for Onslow I discovered some low life had stolen my D shackle to attach the safety chains to the car, $4 worth of gear but an absolute pain when you are packed and ready to go, a pad lock did the job and off we went.

Onslow is about 322 Km south of Dampier and about 90 K's off the main highway, so, our expectations of this little village were high and we were a little disappointed. Cyclones and extreme conditions take their toll, we stayed at the Beadon Creek Park and found the sites sandy and afternoon winds blowing sand everywhere. The Goods Shed Museum is worth a visit and the Ian Blair boardwalk to sunset beach is a pleasant walk (take midge spray). The most impressive thing is the salt mine and loading conveyor and wharf, the salt is loaded onto ships via a conveyor about 3.5 K's long and a jetty 1.3 K's long. Good view's of the conveyor can be had from the 4 mile creek road bridge. The belt moves very quickly and the amount of salt loaded is amazing.

It is interesting to note that the Japanese bombed Onslow in 1943. The Jap pilots missed their target and no one was hurt, shrapnel from the bombs can be viewed at the museum. The Allies did use Onslow as a naval base during the war.

After 2 nights here we did our fastest pack up ever to leave next morning for Exmouth. Exmouth is approx 400 K's South of Onslow, it is an interesting place, said to be very high on the hit list if there is a world war 3, it houses a joint communications venture between the U.S.A. and Australia. The purpose of this base is to provide Communications between Command Centers and ships and submarines, it bristles with radio towers and other equipment. When you drive past a sign warning electric detonators may detonate randomly, there has to be some very powerful radio waves around.

Exmouth is also famous for its proximity to the Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo Marine Park. This area is also famous for the annual visit of the Whale Sharks, around April to July, after coral spawning, the massive sharks ( some 12 meters long) come to feed. They are gentle giants and many people come to swim with them. What a bugger, we are here at the wrong time, I guess I'll just have to spend the $350 each on something else.

Another thing of note around Exmouth is the number of Emu's, they wander around the streets and through the caravan park. They seem pretty harmless but are scary up close because they are so big, even my big strong grand children would be scared, what do you think Tom, Ben, Zara, Zoe,Sophia,Wil,Jacob and Emily. They have big scary eyes too!

We spent very busy day's here, sight seeing and looking around, our nights were busy too, we met up with Tony Bullivant and Elaine and Greg and Sophie Pinner from Albury and friends Pat and Peter who we met at Onslow. So happy hours went a little longer, happy hours are one of the pure joys of caravaning, meeting, mixing and enjoying new company is an absolute delight, however one needs to be disciplined as to the drinks consumed, a hangover is not desirable when touring.

Exmouth has a lot to offer and is a definite must see and do and so after three nights sadly we are off to Coral Bay which is at the other end of the Ningaloo Marine Park

Karijini National Park and Mt Tom Price

After the Loading Facility Tour on the morning of Wednesday 1st of September, we left Port Headland for Karijini National Park. This was to be an interesting adventure as we did not know what to expect. We have found the information on West Australian National Parks to be very confusing and their maps even more so. So after a late start we found ourselves driving down the Great Northern Highway towards a Town called Newman, this Highway is very busy with many wide-load trucks en rout to the mines at Newman.

The scenery as we traveled changed from the lowlands of the coastal area to the beautiful hills of the Hamersley Ranges, the colors of the hills and gorges is a violet blending with the red soil. We were very tired getting toward the days end and although tempted to camp at the Munjina Roadhouse decided to push on and look for a free camp, which we duly found at Munjina East Gorge Lookout. This lookout has a few camp sites high up on top of the Gorge Cliffs with spectacular views down into the Gorge, Judy loved the site as did I, but I had some vague misgivings about the windy aspect of the site. These misgivings proved to be correct during the night when I had to retract the awning, close the vents and windows, Judy reckons I'm not a pretty sight rushing around in my undies in the middle of the night.

After some discussion next morning we decided to move onto Dales Camping Ground in the Karijini Park. After visiting the Visitors Center the layout of the Park became much clearer and we figured we could see the park in two days, the sites were well laid out with well designed drop toilets adjacent to the sites, however no showers. The only available showers are located at the visitors center about ten K's away and solar heated, so timing is essential to get a warm shower.

Next day we set out to visit the Gorges and Lookouts, the first was Dales Gorge which we viewed from a lookout at the top and then onto the Eco retreat and camp ground. Next was Weano and Hancock Gorge and Oxer Lookout and then Joffre Gorge finishing with Kalimina Gorge. All this involved a drive of 130 K's of red dirt road, and could have taken much more time if we had chose to walk through the Gorges. The scenery was beautiful and well worth seeing, it a pity that we are a little "Gorged out " after having seen so many over the last few months.

Back at camp after a big day we had a quiet night, happy to be moving on tomorrow.

A 100K trip the next morning took us to "Tom Price" a mining town set up to house workers for the Rio Tinto open cut mine. This little town is a very picturesque and neat and tidy town, the caravan park is also home to some of the mine workers but is well laid out and very welcome after the red dirt of the National Park. Sunday 5Th, Fathers day, we joined a tour of the open cut mine, we both found the tour very informative and interesting, the sheer size of the operation is quite astounding. The demand for iron ore world wide is leading to mining company's looking for new ways to increase their production and streamlining of systems. It is also obvious that many young people are working in these mines, the towns are full of young family's. I think it is a great way for young family's to establish themselves, however I also think that they should limit the amount of time they stay in these towns as children need to develop into a broader perspective than these towns can provide.

Judy took me out to lunch at the local pub for fathers day, we do not eat out much and after this meal I feel that we are right not to do so, as we cook much better food at home and a lot cheaper. It was good for Judy to think of me on behalf of the Kid's and they all made contact to wish me a happy day. Who could wish for a more beautiful family. I am a lucky man to have five loving people and family's around me.

There is a back road from Tom Price to Karratha, but it is mostly dirt road. We decided to give this road a try in an effort to save back tracking. We had missed out on the Gibb River Road but this road made up for that, it is fairly badly corrugated. Pilbarra red dust with the addition of iron ore dust is fine silt like dust that penetrates everything and actually seems to attach itself and seep out on a continuing basis. And so on arriving in Dampier and opening the caravan the scene that greeted us was a layer of red dust over everything including the contents of the fridge and several drawers which were adorning the floor.

Judy is a real trooper and proceeded to clean up inside while I tackled the outside. A couple of hours later we had the inside livable again, but it will take a long time to get rid of this dust. In retrospect the 200K backtrack would have been a lot easier. However as I have quoted previously " A BOAT IN THE HARBOUR IS SAFE.....BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT BOATS ARE DESIGNED FOR"........go hard or go home!

More Pictures with next post

Eighty Mile Beach and Port Headland

Friday the 28 Th we departed from Broome and headed 365 K's to Eighty Mile Beach. The trip was not that interesting and so gave us time to reflect on our time in Broome. We are determined to return to Broome some time in the future as we think it is a place of great interest. Our first impressions of Eighty Mile Beach was of a Caravan Park nestled between sand dunes with not much shade (we found out later it had been a victim of a cyclone earlier in the year). The tides in this area are massive and low tide revealed thousands of shells along the beach, the first afternoon we walked along the beach and collected a few samples. An early morning walk along the beach the next morning we decided that we would have a veg out day and do nothing, so we watched the footy on T.V and witnessed Collingwood get beaten by Hawthorn (pooh). Our neighbours went fishing for the day and caught 4 massive fish, so I asked a friendly Ken and Beryl about how to rig a surf rod and what to use for bait, they were very helpful. So I dug the rods out of the pod and rigged up for a fish tomorrow. There appeared to be a run of these fish happening because quite a few had been caught on the day, so we prepared for tomorrow. Late in the afternoon we were treated to a concert by people camping in the park, it went for about an hour and a half and was excellent. This Park has many people that come here to fish and stay for the down south winter, so most know each other and are very friendly and helpful.

The next day the high tide was at 1pm, so we drove onto the beach at 11am and drove along the beach for about 2 km and got the rod's into the water. Judy got the first big hit, so big it straightened out the clip on the trace and she lost the complete rig. We were using a treble hook rig and I only had one left, so I very quickly took the snap clip off and re-rigged directly onto the trace. I was the next to get a bite and hooked up, I have never caught a fish as big as this and was pumped pulling it in, my blood pressure soaring as the clutch on the reel screamed and the fish took line off. After an exciting few minutes I managed to get the fish up on the sand and handing the rod to Judy grabbed it by the gills and ran up the beach. I do not know how much it weighed but I reckon it was between 12 to 14 kilo's.

I now understand why so many people spend so much time fishing, catching big fish is a great feeling. Anyway I re-rigged and almost immediately hooked up again, this fish was even bigger and had even more fight, I managed to get him onto the sand and as I was handing the rod to Judy the trace came undone and a wave hit the fish and off it went. I was upset losing the fish but even more upset that I did not have any more treble hooks, we tried different rigs but caught no more. After a lenghty time filleting the "Giant Threadfin Salmon", we found that we had enough fish for 9 meals for the 2 of us.

We went to bed that night trying to decide whether to stay for another day and fish again or to move on. The decision was made the next morning and we decided to move on, I will never know what would have happened if we had of bought some more tackle and fished on, but I am convinced that we could have caught more, but we had no space to store them anyway.

So onwards to Port Headland, we were once again lucky to get a site at Port Headland as many travelers are now heading back down South. Port Headland is impressive for its massive Port facility, the main export being Iron Ore. The loading of the ships goes on around the clock and ships are lined up waiting to be loaded. B.H.P. Billiton bring ore from their Newman mine by train, most trains are 3.5 kilometers long. The ore is stored in stockpiles, then picked up and conveyed to ship loaders. The machinery is huge and impressive to watch in action, the amount of ore moved is massive and increasing, I think there is big money to be made here for young people prepared to work here for five to ten years.

Rio Tinto have a Salt mining facility which is also most impressive, there is a mountain of white salt which is farmed in salt water ponds on the outskirts of town, this is then loaded onto ships and transported mainly to China. The whiteness of the salt is very impressive after the dark red of the iron ore.

Judy suggested a tour of the port facilities so we had to wear long pants and sleeves and closed shoes and then boarded a bus at the tourist center which took us around the B.H.P setup. It is even more impressive up close. It all reeks of big money, no wonder Rio and B.H.P shares are blue chip.

Anyway after two nights we are on the move again, off to Karagini National Park