At Exmouth Visitor Information Centre the staff couldn't be less helpful if they tried. They were more interested in tour operators coming in and replenishing pamphlets than assisting travelers.
Exmouth is 45km from Ningaloo reef and accommodation was still at premium prices in Exmouth so we drove on to Cape Range NP to camp beside the beach and very close to the reef.
The night was very windy night, gusts up to 70km/h. The camper was setup so as to give maximum shelter to the kitchen which meant the kids room took full brunt of the wind. Every rope was employed holding the camper down. For the wind we used sixteen ropes where we barely use ten. We survived the high winds well, only one small collapse early in the night.
Saturday morning we drove to the Oyster Stacks to look, the water was too shallow to snorkel here. The coral comes right up to the beach here, which means that it can only be viewed at the highest of tides.
We ventured on to Turquoise Bay where we had a snorkel. This was the first time since Cooktown that we had been in really cold water. From the beach it was only a short swim out to the first bed of coral to snorkel. Even while we were acclimatising to the water there were fish swimming right up to us probably because of marine sancturary. Bianca worked the snorkeling out very well and went on a long swim with Nicholas.
Chelsea and Angela swam with pool goggles and saw lots by duck diving. This didn't help Chelsea when snorkeling though as she kept going under then came up spluttering!
There were large numbers of fish and coral right across the bay. This also brought lots of people to the bay. Apparently during high season people queue from before 7am in hopes that they might be allocated a campsite in the National Park.
The wind started to pick up again so we headed for the sheltered bay at Lake View. Again the water was too shallow for snorkeling over the coral. The girls had a good play at Lake View, digging in the sand, building sand castles, jumping from rocks onto sand and Chantelle swam of course.
After a lovely play on the beach we visited the ranger station to learn about the animals of Ningaloo. Ningaloo is a world heritage site mostly because of the diverse range of animals that live or migrate through there. There are Giant Manta Rays that can be upto 8 metres, whales, Dugongs, whale sharks and three of the 8 species of sea turtle.
We were still in the mood for visiting so we went to Jurabi Turtle Centre. Jurabi was a bit of a disappointment. It really was just a bunch of information boards under some shade sails. The information on the boards was a regurgitation of the turtle booklet we were given at our campsite. There was also a display of stuffed turtle hatchling predators with ping pong ball turtle eggs.
Not far from Jurabi was the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse. Vlamingh Head is one of the few places in Australia where, if you are so inclined, you can watch the sunrise and set. We didn't. From the head there is a great view of the navy antenna array. The Very Low Frequency radio station was built following an agreement between US and Australia in 1963 and is still in use today though run entirely by Australia. The array comprises 13 towers the tallest almost 400m with a foundation of concrete 17m deep. During WWII a radar station and antiaircraft guns were positioned on Vlamingh Head to protect the US Submarine refueling base at Exmouth.
Good thing we are up early to see all this!
Sunday morning we left Messa Campground and drove back to Exmouth where we had promised the girls a play at the water park. Thankfully the wind had died off enough to make the packup simple without mountains of flapping canvas.
Just 12km off the main road is the little hamlet of Coral Bay. It was a sensible place to stop for lunch on our way to Carnarvon. After lunch we went down to the beach for a swim and snorkel. In the shallows was a little ray swimming around, it was clever enough to keep a safe distance from us. The water was so shallow and clear and the shallowness made the water was so much warmer.
From Coral Bay to Carnarvon was lots more of the same. Planes filled with low bushes growing in red sand. Most rivers were dry or just pools of water. Even being so close to the ocean the land is desperately dry. We passed, for the last time this trip, the Tropic of Capricorn, with a real feeling we are heading south. The other thing that changed is the live stock, we started seeing sheep again and with the sheep feral goats. The goats are dangerous as they hang around the roadside in large herds.
The view changed dramatically as we came to Carnarvon. None of us have ever seen anything like the agriculture around Carnarvon. This district grows 80% of WAs winter vegetables. Not even Atherton or Kununurra has the variety of fruit and vegetables growing as grows around Carnarvon. The water comes from the Gascoyne River and aquifer. Oddly the river was just a wide sandy depression and there has been so little rain all water allocations have been halved for the following year.
We checked into the caravan park that unfortunately had flowering trees that were dropping woolly flowers that blew into the tent, any open vessel and stuck defiantly to the Velcro. The upside was when another camper came over and offered a very nice freshly caught Taylor. The fish would be large enough for dinner tomorrow night.
Monday morning we were almost snowed in by the beastly woolly flowers. They had been blown around by the strong winds overnight.
Other than fresh food Carnarvon has an excellent quality seafood industry. We went down to the wharf district and visited Pickel's Seafood. Pickel's had a fabulous variety of fish all pre packaged and frozen for freshness. Angela selected some whitebait to make fritters with.
After Pickle's we went to One Mile Jetty historic precinct. You might have heard of the 'wonky donkey', this was the wonky jetty. For the entire 1 mile length the jetty snaked out into the bay. About half way along the jetty we left the relative shelter offered by the mangroves and were in the full brunt of the gale. Lest we lose one of the kids in the wind, probably light little Bianca, we turned and walked back.
Also near the jetty was an old water tank that had been converted to a lookout. The water tank was used in the past to supply water to the steam ships that called in two every week. The heavy rivitted walls offered adequate protection from the wind up top. Inside a shed was the shearer's hall of fame, transport museum including HMAS Sydney II. In the museum they had a documentry running about the loss of the Sydney and the German Kormoran. The Sydney was found on the sea floor not far from Carnarvon and the Kormoran not far from the Sydney. Survivors from the German Kormoran made it to Carnarvon in lifeboats, one was on display in the museum, all 645 men on the Sydney were lost with the ship.
For lunch Nicholas made the suggestion of a sausage sizzle on the beach near a playground. Seemed simple enough. Found a table and BBQ easy enough. The problem was keeping the food on the BBQ! We like some fried onion and mushrooms with our sausages. Nicholas sliced the onion on the BBQ and the wind kept blowing it off. We didn't bother with the mushrooms. The wind was strong enough to roll the sausages on the hot plate. The funniest thing was watching the seagulls trying to get any left overs from the BBQ, while the wind kept blowing them off the stainless steel work surface. How we did enjoy watching them try to stay on there.
After lunch we drove the food trail of Carnarvon. The food trail took us past several farm gate produce stalls and through the highly productive fields. We purchased cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumber, bananas, watermelon and sweet corn all grown on one farm, the variety of the food grown here is amazing. We stopped at another farm that makes a lot of spreads and chutneys from their own produce. We sampled banana jam and mango smoothies and homemade ice cream. Yummy.
Back at camp we had fresh fish in beer batter, white bait fritters and BBQ chips for dinner. Angela made yet another delicious dinner thanks to the gifted fish. From another camper we were given a fresh picked watermelon. Very lucky us.
Tuesday morning we were leaving Carnarvon for Denham and Monkey Mia. On the way out of Carnarvon we took the HMAS Sydney II memorial drive which is lined with 645 palm trees each with the name of a person lost on the Sydney. When you see physically 645 palm trees along the road you realise just how many that really is.
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