Exmouth - Fishing to Paradise

14-10-09 Well what a morning, Corey rang at 6.30am & we had a chat to him & then I rang the fishing company to confirm our trip & she said it was on & did we know anyone else that wanted to go. I said I did , but we had no one to mind the dogs. She offered to mind them for the day, so split decision we took it. By this time it was 7.20am, we had not had breaky, I was still in my PJ’s & we had to drop off the dogs & be at the Marina by 7.50am. Poor dogs got chucked in the car, had not even been for a walk to be good girls, got dressed, had a banana for beaky grabbed what we had to & out the door. We eventually found the ladies house & left the girls with her, they went off quite happily with her & I hoped they would behave. Got to the Marina just on time & on the boat we went. So I was going deep sea fishing too. There was a nice crowd on the boat, there was the skipper & Gary a young guy that was the helper, he helped with everything. There was 5 adults & 3 kids (really well behaved). We set off & it was a great day, as the weather was for 35 deg & not too windy, we were just out of the harbour & we started to see whales, they are magnificent , why anyone would want to hunt & kill them is beyond me. We saw heaps of them, we even saw a shark attacking a poor dead turtle in the bay. We must have travelled about 1 hour out, once out of the bay & the reef it got rougher but we were ok & then we anchored off the coast & started to fish with big hand lines. One of the kids only had his line in for 5 minutes & pulled in a big Trevally Fish & we thought this was promising, it did not last long, I lost my hook 3 times to a shark & Den twice, but he did catch a smaller fish. We kept on moving but those buggers would not jump on our line. There is an old superstition that you don’t take bananas onto boats, guess who did, me !!!! By lunch time I threw them overboard cause I had been teased, they reckoned it was bad kama. Anyway, there was a few more fish caught after that. We had lunch , prawns, salad & buns , & by 2.30pm we started to head for home. Gary filleted our fish & added some more the skipper had caught so we came home with a couple of feeds. We had a great day & Den enjoyed himself & I was thrilled to have been able to share it with him. We got back to the harbour & went to pick the dogs up, they had a great day, in the back yard & in the ladies house, chicken for lunch & were thoroughly spoilt. I think they were happy to be off their leads & in a backyard to explore things again. Annie even found a lizard to chase. I did not think she was going to give them back, they were so well behaved & she wanted to keep them. We got back to camp, exhausted but happy. We had fish & salad for tea, yummy, & an early night. I woke up at 9.30pm (yes that’s right) & back to bed at 2.30am.

15-10-09 Well another day, we are going to the Cape Range National Park today to do a cruise on the Yardie Creek Gorge which cost $25 each. We booked in at the Info Centre & we got some bread rolls & took ham & salad for lunch to have a picnic. The lady over the back is going to check on the dogs for us, which is nice, so we left then in the air con & left. We set off on the 90 km trip & purchased our park Permit ($11) for the day at the Ranger Station & called in at Turquoise Bay . Well talk about paradise, the colour of the water was magnificent , it was like being in Fiji or Hawaii , but better because you are in Oz. People were swimming, snorkelling & having a great time. The water was so still because of the reef & you could see the fish swimming around, spectacular. We then headed for our cruise of the Yardie Creek Gorge & just made it time wise. It was great & our guide Jet was new at the job & very enthusiastic. We then walked to the Yardie Creek Beach & was amazed at the colour of the water & the white sand. We headed off back up the road & went into Sandy Bay where you could snorkel & fish, there were only 2 couples on the beach & it was beautiful. We then called in at Bloodwood Creek , North & South Mandu where the beaches were all rocks & not that good for swimming. Off to Oyster Stacks where there are 6 large rocks in the water that are covered in oysters & exposed at low tide. We then went to Trealla Beach & it was also rocky & the tide was very low.. We called into the Milyering Visitor Centre & looked at all the wildflower photos & the large info on the reefs, Gorges & habitats of the park, we invested in some snorkel gear as there are lots of places in Oz to do it. We then headed for Mangrove Bay to have lunch, a swim & snorkel. Wrong, it was low tide & you would have to walk a km over the reef to get a swim, a bit disappointing but there will be more days we can go. We saw evidence of the turtles laying eggs on the beach, whish was kind of neat. We headed back to the van as it was 3pm , the girls were very pleased to see us & sue had taken them foe 2 walks & they were very good all day, no barking & were pleased to see her ( a perfect stranger) they really are good. We took them for a walk & took some pics of the park & pool & then Den went to get fuel & I got tea ready & made shopping list. We then went & thanked Sue & we had happy hour with then & I made some damper as a thankyou gift. They have a Heritage van too & they bought it 2nd hand & did not have any instructions , so Den helped them out with a few things . We came back & got tea, I downloaded photos & caught up with my diary & watched TV.

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