Denham / Point Quobba / Cape Range NP (Ningaloo Reef), W.A.

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6 - 15 April 2012




After leaving Francois Peron National Park (and having more trouble getting out of the terrain than we did getting in...) we were booked into a caravan park in Denham. Getting back in to civilisation and structured living arrangements is always a bit of a shock to the system. Still, I must admit, it is always nice to have a hot shower when you haven't had access to one for a while.

I also find myself feeling rather grateful to the individual that invented washing machines... Especially since we have been camping in the lovely (but very fine) red dust. So we spent some time in Denham getting "clean and presentable" before mum and dad/nanna and pa arrived.

We took a drive down to Shell Beach which is a gorgeous beach south of Denham that is made up of millions of tiny cockle shells. It's a natural phenomenon where the tiny shells are washed into this bay and some parts of the shore are up to ten metres deep of these tiny little cockle shells. We also did a tour of Ocean Park where we saw lots of different marine life and were able to see shark feeding which enthralled Reef.

We went to Monkey Mia Conservation Park where the dolphins arrived late that morning. It was so amazing to see them swim into the shore and how tame they were around the Conservation Volunteers. As it was the Easter long weekend, there were hundreds of people there so unfortunately we didn't get picked to feed the dolphins but, nonetheless, it was a great experience. On our way back to Denham we stopped in at Little Lagoon and went swimming and snorkelling. That night the parents arrived and it was so good to see them. They had many funny stories to tell and so started a month-long period of free entertainment for all of us provided by mum and dad. I don't know why but drama seems to follow them around and it's like watching a Faulty Towers episode when you sit back and watch them. Within hours of them arriving at Denham, dad had somehow managed to unknowingly pull a hose from a pipe creating a huge fountain in the campground. It was chaos momentarily as we scuttered around trying to stop the fountain before it started flooding people's campsites. We would come to learn that this was the first of many humorous moments provided by Pete and Gay....

We had an early start the following morning back to Monkey Mia and I was feeling a little anxious as it was mum and dad's only opportunity to see the dolphins. If they didn't show up, they would miss them altogether as we had to move on the following day. Well, I need not have worried; it was the most perfect day! The dolphins arrived not long after we arrived at the water's edge and there were even more dolphins than the previous day. Astoundingly, from all the many people present there, Reef and Oscar got picked to feed one of the dolphins. It was such a magical moment! And also a rather funny one too as Oscar didn't follow Reef out of the water after the feeding but started walking out further trying to pat the dolphin. This is a big "no no" for multiple reasons and the poor volunteer was trying to gently stop Oscar but I had to race into the water and stop Oscar from whatever he was about to do. The crowd had a good laugh about it and Oscar was none the wiser. Oscar - no fear of animals whatsoever, except dead fish! We were lucky enough to get a second and third visit from the dolphins that day and even luckier that Reef got picked for a second time. What are the chances of that?!

We spent most of the day at Monkey Mia which is like being on a tropical island resort. We had a bbq lunch overlooking the water and went swimming and snorkelling where we saw turtles. At one stage a big dolphin swam right by mum and all she saw was a big dark fin - needless to say she nearly had a heart attack and was pretty close to jumping on Alex's head I think. After lunch everyone apart from dad decided to go for one last swim and snorkel. Dad thought an afternoon nap under a palm tree was more enticing so he took himself and all the bags off to a grassy spot not far from where we were swimming. After a few minutes, we heard a raucous coming from dad's direction. We looked up in amazement before doubling over in fits of laughter as we realised dad had fallen asleep and was being attacked by the resort's wild emus who were after the loaf of bread in one of the bags. We had been warned about the emus and how aggressive they were becoming with people's food and there were signs up around the resort about them. Luckily for dad, an old woman came to his rescue and then another young fellow who shooed and chased the pack of emus away. All we could think about was the vision dad would have had when he woke up, looking up towards the sky with all these emus bending over him, pecking away and trying to get to the bread. It was a funny sight that attracted lots of attention from onlookers and provided us all with endless laughter. He won't live that one down in a hurry...

We left Denham the following day which was sad in a way as it is such a gorgeous seaside town and it was a pity mum and dad didn't get to see more of it. But, as I always say, you have to leave some for next time! We were hoping the next stop was to be around Red Bluff or Gnaraloo but we only got as far as Point Quobba. Wow, we won't forget that campground in a hurry - it had the worst loos of the trip so far I think. We don't mind pit toilets in the least, in fact we are surprised to see flushing loos at times, but these pit toilets were all about to topple over and they were way too shallow.. Alex and I said we would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in mum and dad's car. This place would definitely have had the "Oh Shit!" factor!! Nonetheless, it made for a memorable stay and we took a walk to the lagoon the following morning which was beautiful and we were lucky enough to sea a large ray mucking around in the waves near the rocks.

The next stop was the much anticipated Cape Range National Park, home to Ningaloo Reef! It was a long drive and by this stage we were starting to notice the troopy was definitely not running at peak performance. Under tow, we were lucky to be passing 80kms which was a concern to us, not to mention how much longer it made the long drives between stops. But we pushed the worry aside for our time at Ningaloo - nothing was going to dampen our spirits for this special part of the trip. Ningaloo Reef has probably been the most anticipated place for us out of the entire country. And it didn't disappoint. The reef itself is a vibrant living, breathing, colourful wonder. The countless species of fish, coral and shells leaves you reeling. The backdrop to the reef is the mountainous national park which is dotted with basic campgrounds and other places of interest along the way.

We went to Torquoise Bay a couple of times which is famous for it's snorkelling. The water, as the name suggests, is a beautiful turquoise and incredibly clear on a still day. Because of the way the currents work within the reef, there is a drift snorkel that you can do which starts at one part of the bay and gently carries you towards the point of the bay where you are encouraged to swim to the shore before the current becomes a lot stronger. It is a really peaceful self-guided tour above the reef which requires little effort as the gentle current does most of the work for you.

So off we all went, suited up in masks, snorkels and fins with a noodle for Oscar as he was more than happy to bob along the reef whilst we all checked out the underwater world. It must have looked rather funny from the shore with a very small person out on the reef floating along with the rest of us bigger people. Oscar, as always, was off in his own little world and as long as he's in the water, he couldn't care less what else is going on around him. Reef surprised us all how well he snokelled and for the lengths of time he was under the water. The sealife was amazing and Alex and I were lucky enough to see a very big loggerhead turtle which must have been pretty ancient judging by the size of it.

During our time at Cape Range National Park, we also drove to Yardie Creek where we did a walk through the bush and down to the creek. It was a great view down Yardie Creek looking out onto the reef and we saw some kangaroos (one with a joey) on our walk back to the car. We stayed at the Kurrajong Campground but we checked out all the other camps and spent some time at the Visitor's Centre which is a bit like a museum and full of interesting things and information. We visited all the beaches and bays along the national park and spent time fishing, swimming, snorkelling and beach combing at our camp's beach as it was only a few metres away from the campground. We watched the most amazing sunsets we've seen so far on this trip and on our last night went and had happy hour in front of the sunset with the rest of our campground. Kurrajong only has about 10 campsites so it was quite private but also pretty friendly as the camphosts got everyone together for happy hour most nights. As the only facilities at Cape Range National Park's campgrounds are bush loos, we got the solar shower out during our stay. Mum took advantage of the child labour and got Reef and Oscar shampooing her hair one night while poor old Pete was left to hold the (very heavy) shower over mum's head whilst balancing on a table. Needless to say, there was much laughter coming from their site.. Most of the nights were spent cooking, drinking, eating and playing cards - in that order!

One of the most memorable times of the trip so far was when Alex and I were able to experience swimming with the whalesharks. We received an unexpected call from our friends Em and Benny who informed us they had bought a voucher for us to swim with the whalesharks on Ningaloo Reef. We were ecstatic beyond words and also very lucky that mum and dad were willing and able to look after the two rug rats for a day. So we set off early one morning drowning in excitment where a boat picked us up from Tantabiddi boat ramp. We had the best day! We stopped off just inside the reef to go snorkelling, which was insane. We were then split into two groups of about 8 people of which Alex and I were in Group 1. The tour boats all chip in for a seaplane who flies up and down the reef and radios through the coordinates of any whalesharks in the area. Some days there are no sightings at all and other days they may sight one or two whalesharks. We had more luck and excitement in store for us on our magical day though - we sighted and swam with seven or eight different whalesharks and our very first experience was a rare opportunity. We happened to jump in the ocean between two whalesharks which is very rare as they are lone travellers and are rarely seen close to one another. When we jumped in for our first swim, there was one whaleshark on the left side a couple of metres from us and another one on our right side about the same distance. It was momentary madness as there were people yelling and screaming out of excitement at the situation. In the couple of minutes lead up to that first swim, there was another moment of madness as there was talk about a tiger shark in the water (apparently the crew saw it), yet in the midst of all the excitement Group 1 was ordered into the water! We all looked at eachother in disbelief and there was a lot of "shit, are they serious? I'm not jumping in with a tiger shark" going around. However, as the orders from the captain became louder and more demanding, we found ourselves clambering to the back of the boat, pulling on mask and snorkel and jumping to our slaughter. We had no idea what to expect but, like a pack of sheep, we jumped in after our group leader. It really was chaos to the extreme and people were landing on top of each other in the water and there was so much commotion in and under the water. Thankfully we were met with with two six metre long whalesharks and no tiger sharks. The rest of the day was much the same - so much excitement and many opportunities to swim with these divine creatures. It was like swimming with underwater dinosaurs; they are so very graceful and mystique. Their mouths are about one metre wide and at one point just after Alex and I had jumped in, there was one heading straight for us coming up from the depths, mouth coming straight for us. We urgently scrambled out of it's way as we knew we weren't allowed to swim in front of them for conservation reasons. We also knew it wasn't interested in tasting us, but their sheer size can be a little daunting.. The whole day, including the delicious spread they put on for lunch, was made up of so many memorable moments and was just perfect. We didn't want it to end but at least we got one last snorkel in on Ningaloo Reef before being dropped back to the boat ramp. What a day to remember!

Ningaloo Reef - what a place to remember! We will be back, we will definitely be back.

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