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Published: August 23rd 2009
We spent 7 weeks in Exmouth, working at Exmouth Cape Holiday Park. Staying still for a while was very good for us. It was great to just live a normal life again, albeit one in a tent. Having a base to work from, familiar things and a routine is necessary when travelling for long periods. It gave our minds time to turn to the little things, like what was for dinner, why that same little old lady is in the laundry EVERY day and how come the moon rises from a different place and at a completely different time every night?
The work was good. Our second and thirds weeks there we were flat out as it was the school holidays. The park was packed. We worked 8 hours a day with one day off in two weeks. It became a bit of a standing joke for a while every time we were scheduled to have a day off, we knew they’d come knocking on our tent that night asking us to work the next day. We weren’t complaining (well not too much anyway). We were just grateful to have money coming in again.
We worked with a great
bunch of people. There were between 4-6 cleaners working there at any given time including Mike & I, but we also mixed with the reception and maintenance staff and it was a really happy team, ever ready to take the piss out of each other which works well with our sense of humour.
Probably the best part of the job was getting to drive the golf buggy loaded up with cleaning supplies and fresh linen around the park. Probably the worst thing was trying to get a glass shower screen to look streak free!
Living in the tent turned out to be ok, even though we were on an unpowered site. Not having to put it up and take it down constantly allows you to get organised with just the essential in boxes in the tent and the rest in the car. It wouldn’t have been so bearable if it weren’t for the excellent facilities in the park. The showers were pretty modern and not too far away. The camp kitchen was the best we’d encountered with 4 sets of 4 hobs, 2 ovens, a microwave, 3 industrial sized fridges and a chest freezer. It also had heaps
of picnic bench type outdoor-but-undercover seating. No camp meals for us: we ate some awesome meals including mousakka, spaghetti bolognaise, mustard chicken, roasted lamb shanks and local prawns in a not so local Thai yellow curry.
In our free time (this came after the school holidays) we mostly sat outside the tent with a few beers (you could see the thirsty camel from our tent - the temptation was too much). A few nights a week they would show kids movies on a big outdoor screen so we always headed down with our camp chairs for that. Once or twice we went to the pub for dinner. The other evenings consisted of shower, dinner, sleep.
Amongst the few off-site activities we partook in (not including frequent visits to the IGA) was the whale shark trip I mentioned in my last blog. Unfortunately we chose the only week with really bad weather: it was cold and windy, so getting into the sea wasn’t too pleasant! We had to be up super early for it too which always puts me in a bad mood and we’d had hardly any sleep thanks to our neighbours the backpackers in the Wicked van.
We saw 2 whale sharks on the trip. The larger was 7m. Once the spotter plane has spotted it and the boat has raced over to it, everyone dons their snorkel & fins and jumps in the water next to it to swim along at its side. It was really great to see but after 5 minutes trying to keep up and constantly having people who can’t control themselves in the water bash into you it starts to piss you off.
Although it maybe is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ thing seeing these fish I still think it was a bit of a rip off. Although we did see some humpback whales in the middle distance from the boat. That was a bonus!
Once the weather picked up and we started getting days off work (or at least shorter days at work) we started making trips out to the Ningaloo Reef to go snorkelling. We went to this “popular” spot called Turquoise Bay. Popular isn’t really the same thing out here as elsewhere: there were maybe a dozen people on the beach. It really lived up to its name. The colour of the sea was incredible. It almost felt like
you were on an exclusive tropical island until you look back onto the land and instead of a rainforest you see the flat barren looking scrub of WA. The snorkelling here was excellent. It was a site called the drift because the current carries you slowly over the coral from one end of the beach to the other! The first time we went in the water it was freezing but towards the end of our stay in
Exmouth it was really starting to warm up. There were heaps of tropical fish down there - just metres from the shore. Turtles too. I love watching turtles swim, they look like they’re flying. At one section there is a rock with a big crack in it where a massive shoal of big yellow fish all hang out, all facing into the current, all watching you.
Our other major activity was a dive at a place called Navy Pier. People in Exmouth had the annoying habit of referring to snorkelling as diving so you never really knew which they were talking about. This was actual diving, you know with a tank on your back, at a site which is supposed to be
one of the top 10 shore dives in the world, i.e. you don’t have to get on a boat! That’s good with me and my queasy sea stomach! Unfortunately you have to jump about 3m into some very rough water. Not a gentle re-introduction to diving! For some reason I didn’t enjoy this dive as much as I did the ones in Thailand. It made me feel uncomfortable - I don’t know if it was maybe claustrophobia from having the metal structure of the pier all around you or what but I didn’t find it too pleasant. The air I was breathing didn’t feel like enough somehow. Each breath left me gasping for more and not quite getting what I craved. I wasn’t freaking out or anything, just was uncomfortable. To make it worse I felt really nauseous which is rather unpleasant when 15m under water!
Anyway, the sea life down there was really good good. Between the legs of the pier were solid walls of fish. In one place were big silver ones and another were the same big yellow ones from Turquoise Bay. We both found them fascinating to watch. They were moving against the current just
enough to be staying still. Watching them all move as one giant mass was amazing. There were also a few nurse sharks down there which only eat small fish but look really mean with their long noses and pointy teeth! They’re not small either!
We decided to leave Exmouth to try some WWOOFing. This stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. Basically, you go volunteer on a farm in exchange for your food and board. We were so desperate for money before we didn’t consider it but we’ve managed to save up a little bit working in Exmouth so we decided to go for it. We were getting a bit over being cleaners and living in a tent and felt the need to be moving on.
Before we left our bosses threw a staff ‘sausage-sizzle’ in our honour. They bought all the food and even cracked open the beer fridge. (This is the fridge containing all the confiscated alcohol from the camp kitchen.) It was a really nice evening - they even presented us with a gift bag full of bits-and-bobs such as postcards, stubbie coolers, Auzzie flag hats and best of all sweets and chocolates! We really
Underwater photography: very hard
Especially when you can't see what you're takingweren’t expecting any of it and we were really touched. No one has ever given us such a nice send off.
To top it all off, on our second to last night in Exmouth, just as we had finished work and were sitting outside our tent, one of our colleagues comes running over with a key to one of the motel rooms! For us to use, gratis, for our last 2 nights! I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited. These rooms are really nice: they have a lovely queen bed, air con and an en-suite bathroom. It was paradise. We really did have great bosses! We were sad to be leaving a place we had been so happy and had become a bit of a home to us but at the same time excited to be moving on to new adventures. Staying in Exmouth rescued our trip: reminding us why we love Australia and renewing our excitment in travel.
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The Howsons
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We'd all love to come cleaning in Exmouth, what lovely sunshine! And lovely people! Have fun on the next installment of your adventure!!! x