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Published: April 24th 2011
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Tuesday 19th - we were still aware of the ant problem but felt helpless in that we had to leave the blocks to work and were encouraged not to take any other action as the blocks could fail to work if other repellants were used – difficult to resist when you can see the little things taking over the place!! Nevertheless, we resisted temptation and made our way to town to do some shopping. Traffic was busy but moved well so we were there and back in no time. Our purchases included another set of ant killing blocks in case the first set of four weren’t enough. Then it was time to make our way to the jetty again to be in time to catch the midday train for our tour in the underwater observatory. We were early but passed the time talking to a girl whose father worked for the company that had renovated the jetty. She was delightful and it transpired that she was born and brought up in Whakatane in NZ where we had spent some of our holiday within a holiday. Soon the train arrived and, fully laden, trundled along the jetty which, because of the jetty’s
length took about 15 minutes before we disembarked at the far end. Tours are limited to about 40 people at a time which was an ideal number to explore the three levels of the observatory and for everyone to get a good view. It starts with a guided tour lasting about 15 minutes and then we had about 30 minutes of free time to explore at our leisure.
It’s described as Australia’s greatest artificial reef with more than 300 individual marine species of corals, sponges, fish and invertebrates. The observatory is a brilliant concept and will no doubt help fund future maintenance of the jetty and of course it enables non divers and snorkellers to see the amazing life around the pillars. This remarkable phenomenon is brought about by the Leeuwin current which brings a band of warm water to the bay in autumn and winter.
On the first level, the large viewing window is set at surface water level with the tide rising no more than a meter up and down the window. Today, at just after midday, the water level was exactly half way up the window so we had an excellent view both above and
below the water of the coral growing on the wooden pillars and the fish that have a liking for near surface feeding. The second level had several windows completely under water through which you could see a myriad of fish of differing colours, shapes and sizes and the coral was much more intense. The lower level also had several windows set on the sea-bed where yet more fascinating fish and coral existed. An old anchor and an old flight of steps, remnants of years gone by, were deliberately left on the sea-bed to attract coral and fish and this had worked very well. With plenty of good signage, there was lots of information explaining what could be seen and it proved to be an excellent display for young and old alike. Our guide was a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable lady who was only too willing to answer any questions and spend time with the children. It was fantastic to see the beautiful coral and so many lovely fish but I struggled to take clear photos through the glass and it didn’t seem to make much difference what setting I had it on - my SLR camera might have coped slightly
better but I'd left it in the caravan.
Soon our allotted time was up and, with the train rapidly approaching the observatory with the next load of eager punters, I just managed to do my usual tour of the shop. We had decided that, after our tour, we would try to have a snorkel and had identified a spot just a few hundred yards from the caravan park where a “Snorkel Route” was advertised. So we went back to the caravan to collect our gear. It was only then we began to realise how the atmosphere at the park would change when the school holiday makers began to arrive. It had been relatively peaceful up to now but families were setting up huge tents, much bigger than our caravan, taking up every possible inch of their site, adding gazebos and barbecues – we were slowly being hemmed in. At the same time, hoards of kids careered around the park on bikes, scooters, skateboards etc making as much noise as they could – and the park wasn’t even full yet!!!
We escaped the bedlam with our snorkelling gear and found our way to the beach – not far away
but we took the car as it was easier to carry everything. We experimented with our wetsuits – actually getting them wet for the first time – and with our flippers which we hadn’t yet used on this trip. It was fairly successful although Graham struggled to get a seal around his goggles and, when he did, he said he couldn’t see much through them. I thought I was following the snorkel trail but couldn’t see anything special – just a few quite small fish. As an experiment, it worked well and the wetsuits were excellent both as protection against the cold water (which when we got used to it was actually very comfortable) and as buoyancy aids. We drove the short distance back to the caravan, still in our swimming kit (though obviously without our flippers and goggles), had showers and dried off there. More and more families had arrived and the park was now near full and the bedlam level seemed to have increased but at least we were on the outer edge of the park and not stuck right in the middle! To be fair, we knew that this was not a “transient” caravan park catering for
“grey nomads” like us. It was a holiday park - a great place for friends and family get-togethers and of course all the CP’s in the UK will no doubt be jam-packed in the same way over the holiday period.
After settling back in we strolled the short distance back to the beach to watch the sunset which, although not setting directly over the sea, was still magnificent. Apart from one or two rowdy kids, things calmed down reasonably as the evening went on and come bedtime all was quiet.
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