Exmouth

It has been lovely being back in civilisation again after the four nights spent out at the Cape Range National Park, we do not regret spending our time there as it was superb and loved the snorkeling it was just so nice to be able to have nice long showers and our electronic devices to have reception. We have now been here at Exmouth for four nights had only planned to stay for two, but after a day spent washing, cleaning and restocking we realised we needed a little longer to take in the sights.

Maree & Brian were still in the park with us for a couple of days before they moved further south to Coral Bay. We enjoyed a couple of Happy Hours with them and also on their last day here going for a trip to see some very impressive Canyons along the Charles Knife Road, we were able to see the splendor from the car did not have to trek on foot only getting out to take a photo or two. Leaving the canyons behind it was then back up the road to take in the view from the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse of breaking waters along the reef and the surf coming in along the coast. In the distance we were able to make out numerous gas rigs and watch for whales breaching as they headed along the coast. Looking to the East we were able to see the tall communication towers at the Naval Communication Station that plays a vital role in the secure operation of the Australian submarine fleet.

The last couple of days we have spent the morning around the caravan park or visiting the small shopping centre and the afternoons have been spent at the beach where Bazza's  enthusiasm for the beach has been revived with the sighting of a couple of white pointers!

Last night we tidied ourselves up and walked the short distance to Pinocchio's Italian Restaurant, the meal was delicious and the homemade gelato even better. We enjoyed the  Ferrero Rocher Gelato so much that once the washing up was done tonight we again walked to the restaurant to indulge. Bazz had the Tim Tam Gelato and I could not resist the Ferrero Rocher again, wishing I had room in my freezer to buy a litre!

Tomorrow we leave Exmouth and travel 155klm to Coral Bay, we have booked into the Bayview Caravan Park for a week. The snorkeling is supposed to be amazing  in Bill's Bay which is just a short walk from the caravan park.

Canyons along Charles Knife Road Exmouth

Maree,Brian & Bazz at Bundegi Beach Exmouth

At Vlamingh Head Lighthouse

View from Lighthouse looking towards the
Aust.Navey Communicaton Station in the distance

Cape Range National Park Exmouth

This is now our fourth night in at Cape Range National Park and I have been unable to post this blog at the time of writing as we have not had any internet, mobile phone, tv, power or access to water only what we have brought in with us, until we get back into Exmouth tomorrow.  Our first night here we spent at the Yardie Creek Campsite, we had a beautiful vista from the van overlooking the sand dunes and out to the Ingaloo Reef, unfortunately we could only stay there the one night as the site was book from the following day. Our camp host was able to get us a transfer to Lakeside Campsite, the site is a hundred metres from the beach and you only have to walk 500 metres along the beach to the most magnificent snorkelling reef. Hopefully Bazz will come for a snorkel today as he has been quiet happy to sit on the beach while I have been enjoying the wonders of the marine life. We have been lucky enough to see pods of dolphins, turtles, whales and I have seen many species of tropical fish. We have been very lucky to have been able to spend this time here as the area is very popular and is booked months in advance there are five campsites that can be pre booked and four that you can stay for up to 28 days and you just have to be there at the right time when someone moves out.  We would have not had a chance in the school holidays even getting in for a night we heard that they were lined up at the rangers  gate from early hours of the morning. We would have had to come in for day trips to be able to enjoy the beach & reef each day, being  here is like being on a tropical island the water is such a turquoise blue and so very clear with beautiful  pristine sand, we are loving it.

Bazz has taken to reading my Kindle, lucky that I have had some light reading to keep me going or we may have been fighting over it. This has been a very good time to sit and read and enjoy the very quiet evenings listening to the sounds of the wind & sea.  When we leave here we are booked in at the Exmouth Cape Holiday Park where we will again catch up with Maree & Brian who we last saw booking in at the caravan park four days ago with their friends, hopefully they have been able to catch some fish.

Yeah finally got Bazz in the water for a snorkel !!!!

Campsite Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek Gorge

Yardie Creek 

Beach at Yardie Creek

Lakeside Beach

Lakeside Beach

Lakeside Beach

Lakeside Beach 

Bazza finally got wet!

Point Samson

Wednesday we left Eighty Mile Beach and headed for Port Hedland. Port Hedland is one of the busiest Ports in Australia, with a good vantage point in the town to observe the massive ore-carriers and salt ships passing through the harbour. The massive salt piles meet you as you arrive in the town and is one of the major exports leaving the port. Iron Ore from Newman and Tom Price arrives by rail then it is loaded onto the ore-carriers that are headed for China. After checking out the town and stocking up with groceries we then headed south down the Great Northern Hwy for around 90 klms and stopped at the Peawah River Rest Area for the night. Just before the Newman turn off we met with a shower of Iron Ore Pebbles that came from a north bound Road Train, giving us a crack in the windscreen from the bottom that extended to the top plus a couple of star chips.The caravan did not come off unscathed with a crack in the front window as well, looks like a couple of insurance claims coming up.

On the way to Point Samson the next day we stopped off at the Roebuck Information Centre which is located in the Old Gaol Museum where iron bolts and rings can be seen on the interior walls where Aboriginal prisoners were shackled at night.

We arrived here at Point Samson by around 11am and were pleasantly surprised with the Cove Caravan Park, large concrete slabs for the caravan and awning area, large gravel area to park the car and really good amenities. During our stay here we took the opportunity to clean both the car and van as both had a good layer of red Kimberly and Pilbara dirt and dust, lovely to feel clean for a while not sure how long it will last.
Staying here at Port Samson enabled us to explore Karratha, Dampier, Wickham and Cossack. Cossack is an old Heritage Port with only a few well preserved buildings remaining, As the ships became larger this port was less utilised and the final death knell was when the town was devastated by a cyclone. Wickham was built to service the Pilbara iron workers and is the home for the massive port facilities of Cape Lambert. Karratha is a fast growing town with plenty of new housing developments and a good shopping centre and is home to many workers from the mining industries both iron and gas, there is an abundance of runabouts all shapes and sizes in the suburbs due to its location close to the coast. Only 20klms away is Dampier another large shipping port that houses the massive export facilities of Pilbara Iron, Dampier Salt and the North West Gas Shelf Project. Dampier is also the home of the statue of Red Dog, who was made famous by the novel and then the film Red Dog. We also went to the visitors centre at North West Gas in Dampier where we watched a very informative video on the building of the facility and the production of gas at the drilling sites offshore, the centre overlooks the Woodside operated Karratha Gas Plant which is the onshore production plant for natural gas.

After four very enjoyable nights at Point Samson and a see you tomorrow to Maree, Brian and their friends it was time to hit the road again and  head south to Onslow. We stopped in at Karatha for a quick shop at Woolworths and for Bazza to visit the camping and fishing shop, where he once again was able to drool over the wide range of fishing gear that they had in stock. We had thought that we would stop for the night at the Robe River Rest Area, but the site was not appealing as it was too early in the day and there wasn't any shade, and we are a little over the red dust at the moment, so we continued onto Onslow. The Ocean View Caravan Park at Onslow it not much better than the free campsite and we have had to pay $45 for the privilege, a very tired, dusty and dated caravan park. We had previously booked for two nights but have now cancelled that booking and will leave here tomorrow, as the town has very little to interest us. Previously grey nomads had chosen Onslow as a destination unfortunately the town has changed the Discovery Caravan Park is now full of dongers and closed to tourist, there is a shortage of accommodation due to the growth in the mining industry in the area.  We will now head down towards Exmouth maybe have a free stop along the way.

Iron Ore Carrier

Port Hedland 

Point Samson

Red Dog Statue Dampier

North West Gas memorial to the workers who were either killed or seriously injured during the construction

North West Gas

Historic town of Cossac

Sunset Onslow

Eighty Mile Beach

We have been here at Eight Mile Beach for the last eight nights, the first couple of days the weather was lovely but since last Wednesday night we have had fair bit of wind, looking forward to when that abates.

Jason, Anita & Olivia spent two nights here with us on their way back to Newman it was very sad to see them drive off on Thursday morning after being with them on and off for the last three weeks. It was lovely getting to know little Livvie she communicates so well now, she certainly lets you know what she wants!

When we were in Broome we caught up with Maree & Brian who are also travelling the West Coast with their friends, they have now pulled in here at Eighty Mile and I am sure we will catch up at a few more places as we travel south. We are now trying to slow ourselves down as we do not want to get down in the cooler weather too soon, we have been finding the nights since leaving Broome have been much cooler.

Not much to write about at the moment the only highlight here is the little market on Wednesday & Sunday afternoons takes all of 6 minutes to see all the stalls. With this wind even the die hard fishermen have not been venturing out, lucky for us we have fish in our freezer that we caught when we were out on the fishing charter. Mobile phone cover is intermittent sometimes we have it in the van other times we need to walk towards the sand dunes to pick it up. Internet is another problem we need to go out near the entrance to the park to pick up our wi fi but Maree is able to use her I Pad in the van with an antenna without a problem.

Eighty Mile Beach

Fishing Eighty Mile Beach

Last Sunset before we left Eighty Mile Beach

Broome....cont

For the last few days we have had plenty of sunshine and the daytime temp has been 30-33 degrees, does get a little hot in the sun at times always nice to find the shady side of the street or a air conditioned shopping centre.
Baz and I feel a little tidier as he has had a haircut and I enjoyed a lovely relaxing morning on Friday at the hairdressers getting a cut and colour, while Baz shot off to the coffee shop for his fix of cake andcoffee as I wasn't there to ask the question   "do you really need that ?".

Saturday started out very relaxing enjoying a lovely breakfast at the Kool Spot Cafe in town, then it was a stroll around the pearl shops, but the only pearls that I really liked were well out of my price range a pity I have such expensive taste. A phone call from Jason probably saved the bank account as he was on his way to the caravan park with Olivia and wanted us to go to the pool with them, so shopping forgotten it was back to the van. Saturday afternoon found us on Cable Beach with the tide going out we were able to drive down the 4x4 access onto the beach through a rocky outcrop to where the Camel rides depart which is also where the nudist sun lovers hang out, hang out more ways than one not a pretty sight. We had booked the late afternoon Camel ride then upon our return Jason and Anita were booked on the sunset ride and we were to look after Olivia, but she had other ideas and after a loud protest was lifted up onto Anita's lap. As we were not sure if she would last the hour poor old Gran ended up walking the whole hour with the Camel's in case she wanted to get off, one way of getting my exercise, very hot and sweaty when I got back.

The alarm clock went off at 5am on Sunday as we were booked on a fishing charter and were being picked up at Grant's place at 7am so it was a very early breakfast, no time to lay in bed and watch Sunrise. We travelled about 40klm off shore out in the Indian Ocean and even if we had come back without any fish we could say we had a very memorable day, as we saw Turtles, Sea Snakes, Dolphins and Whales. These gentle giants glide through the water effortlessly, a couple surfaced quiet near the boat breaking the surface in a breathtaking breach. The fishing started out quiet exciting with a couple of lines over the stern of the boat as we trawled for  Mackerel and it was not long before we had a dozen on board with everyone landing one except me, I had just got mine to the surface when a very large shark took it! I was a little too slow getting it on board. The bottom fishing was a little disappointing as quiet a few fish were caught but most were returned to the sea as they were undersized or not any  good for eating. So much gear was taken by sharks during the day, you would hook a fish start bringing it to the surface to only end up with a slack line as the fish, hook and sinker would be gone. When the sharks appeared we would have to pull in our lines and move off to another fishing spot only to have the same happen again, you certainly would not wanted to fall over board when you saw the size of the sharks that were circling the boat at times and they were lighting fast taking the fish.

Luckily we had booked the extra night and are not leaving until Tuesday (tomorrow), as we were pretty slow this morning after our big day out on the water. We finally had time to catch up with Maree and Brian today who arrived on Saturday and will be staying in Broome for a week before they go down to Eighty Mile Beach where they will catch up with us again for a few days, before heading further south.

Poor Camel, wore him out for Neat & Jase

Neat & Jase with Olivia

Camels at Sunset, Cable Beach

Baz with his Mackerel

Mackerel 

Had to return this one to the sea!

Shared with the shark, only half a fish left ok for bait

Rods set up ready to fish

Eighty Mile Beach - Broome

The drive from Newman to Port Hedland took around 6hrs and the only civilisation along the way was one Roadhouse and some mine workers dongers, over here in WA it is certainly a long way between towns. This time when we passed through Port Hedland the mud had turned to dust, but there was still evidence with water laying alongside the road from the rains that they received nearly two weeks ago. Once again we had a stop over for the night at De Grae River before heading onto Eighty Mile Beach.

We cut our speed back to 40klms to negotiate the dusty corrugated road into Eighty Mile Beach luckily it was only a 10klm stretch but it only takes a few meters for your vehicles to be covered in the red dust. Pulling into the Caravan Park reception Baz was advised by a driver from the vehicle that was following us, that we had lost our sullage hose out of the tube on the back of the van. It would have been nice if he had retrieved it for us as Baz had to then back track with van, and then find somewhere he was able to turn to head back to the park again. Eighty Mile Beach lived up to all that we had heard about it, Baz even said it was worth the red dust, beautiful aqua blue water, lovely white course sand and dozens of people fishing off the beach. Jason, Anita & Olivia arrived later that afternoon and certainly enjoyed their fix of sand & water after the rocks and red dust of Newman. We sat on the beach until the sun had set and witnessed another stunning sunset over the Indian Ocean.

Tuesday it was on the road early as we wanted to be in Broome by lunch time, this would then give us time to set up, have lunch and clean ourselves up to be on the foreshore at Cable Beach to meet Grant, his family and his friends from Broome to remember his son Adam, who tragically died 12 months ago pursuing his dream of flying.

Road into Eighty Mile Beach

Eighty Mile Beaach

Mulloway or Jewfish caught off the beach

Reflections

Jason & Oliva

Sunset Eighty Mile Beach

Newman cont.....

Anita had great plans for a Dora cake for Olivia, but after the third unsuccessful attempt of trying to get the cake out of the tin, it was time to think of plan B! After some discussion on how best to use the cake that had already been cooked we came up with the idea of a Caterpillar Cake, Gran was assigned the grass while Anita constructed the Caterpillar. Many hours later we had the finished product much to Livvies delight, as all she wanted for her birthday was cake. Anita wishes she had spent more time with her grandmother when she was younger, as she has not inherited her abilities. I was given the important task of nursing the cake as we drove to the park, Anita did not want to put the cake on the table with the other party food so it was left sitting on top of the Waco in the back of the Pajero. Baz had the sudden need for a toilet so off he goes back to the house, forgetting that the cake that took hours & hours to make was perched in the back, on his return I was unable to look and too scared to tell Anita, but he was lucky, very lucky as the cake had not moved.

Newman social life is very busy as the next day we went out to the Capricorn Road House about 10klm out of Newman as Isla a little friend of Livvies was turning 1, we spent an enjoyable couple of hours sitting outside the Tavern while the children played in the playground.

Thursday it was time for big people stuff, we packed a picnic lunch and headed off in Jason’s vehicle to Weeli Wollie, Baz was not taking the Pajero on the 40klms of dirt road and numerous water crossings, seven in total. Weeli Wollie Spring and Creek are very popular with the families from Newman for day trips and camping as it provides a day of four wheel driving for the big boys and when you arrive the kids are able to swim in the pools. Lucky we did not get stuck in any of the water crossings as we were the only ones out there, we had only passed a couple of vehicles that were heading out as we were going in. We asked Jase “did you tell anyone where we were going?”  He answered “yes, YOU.”  It was a very enjoyable day the weather was lovely but not hot enough for us to be tempted in a swim, Olivia thought it was OK and had a lovely time in the water.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we leave Newman and head towards Eighty Mile Beach, where we will wait for Jason, Anita & Olivia to arrive on Wednesday, they will stop there for a night then we will all head for Broome on Thursday.

Olivia with her pressie from Gran & Grandad

Birthday girl with mum & dad

 Baz at Weeli Wolli

Jase & Olivia at Weeli Wolli