Advertisement
Point Quobba
Sams Big Golden Trevally Quobba Station provided some welcome isolation and a break from the school holiday crowds. Max, Sam and JoJo adopted Ginger and Peggy, the station horses, who received many treats of apples, carrots and green grass from our boys. Day trips snorkeling, fishing, visiting blowholes and bluffs kept us busy. At Red Bluff we met a fellow called Dave, who shared his freshly caught Tuna sashimi with us and then pointed out a beach shelter that he had made, hammock included, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Marshmallows were on the dessert menu again, with fires lit nearly every night.
Warrara Station was our next stop and we camped on 14 mile beach. The kids were happy to see some other instant friends and we hardly saw them for the next few days. Paul and Linda and their kids were next door and we all hung out, sharing the gorgeous views, watching the kids crabbing and playing hide and seek amongst the dunes. Without power or toilets, our portaloo came out of retirement and I commend Adam on his well built Kornies5 ablution block. It was amazing to see some of the set ups
Coral Bay Fishing trip
Spanish Mackrel for dinner ...thanks Max at this site; there were some couples who stay for four months and even bring their projector and big screen to watch the footy under the stars.
Coral Bay was next on the destination list and was definitely up there with our favourite places. The caravan park was on the most beautiful, calm beach where we snorkeled and swam each day. We met some wonderful people there and the kids were out catching butterflies with a tribe of other children. We loved spending time with Matt and Judy and their daughters Tilly and Lucy and shared dinners and conversations most evenings. Sam, Max and I were lucky enough to spend the day with Matt on his boat, catching Mackerel, Black Snapper and Spangled Emperor as well as many undersized fish that were thrown back into sea. We were pretty impressed with our haul until Matt returned the following day, after fishing with a buddy, and had enough fish to fill three families’ freezers and provide entrée (fresh tuna sashimi…I think Adam ate about half a kilo) dinner (mackerel steaks) and more cryo-vaced sashimi for our fridge. We provided the hot chips!!!!
We were all very sad to leave
Coral Bay and the community-like atmosphere there, but Lakeside camp spot in Cape Range National Park, Ningaloo has transformed into a mini kibbutz (without the work!) We have met up with the Devines, Lyn, Simon and kids and have met some new friends. Days are spent snorkeling and lazing while kids play on the beach until dark. 5.30 p.m. is Happy Hour and all campers (there are 7 sites) gather with a view to the beach, to chat, drink and watch the sunset over the silhouettes of happy children running along the sand. Max brought along his guitar one evening and we all sang along to “Every Breath You Take” and an old favourite” House of the Rising Sun”.
Sam and Max are keen snorkelers and are excellent at identifying all the fish species we see, including white-tipped reef sharks (nana I promise that they are friendly) various rays, sea-turtles, sea-snakes, giant trevally and cods etc. Jojo is also a champion snorkeler. He has his own mask and comes out to the reef with floaties on. Adam takes the boogie board out so that he can have a little rest when he is tired. He loves taking a breath
Carnarvon
Toot Toot and having a good look at all the life under the sea.
Max is going to write about his and Adam’s trip to swim with the whale sharks:
“We got on the boat and set off on our journey to see the whale sharks. First they took us to have a practice snorkel at a little reef. There were all types of fish including clown fish, angel fish, bat fish, wrasse, cod and lots of other amazing and beautiful types of fish. We spent forty minutes at the reef until it was time to look for the whale sharks. We went out a bit further. The spotter plane took ten minutes to find the first whale shark. When they found it the spotter which is a team member jumps in. once they see the shark they say go go go go go go and we all jump in and swim to the spotter. Once you get to the spotter the whale shark is coming right towards you. There mouth was enormous. We swam to the sides of the whale shark. It was so wonderful to see such a creature that most people will never see. The white spots
Quobba Station
3 happy chappies made it look so unreal. We swam with another four sharks. It is amazing how big they are when they’re only filter feeders. We saw false killer whales and a big sea snake which was another superb sea creature that we saw on our whale shark trip. It was such an experience to see such wonderful animals. It was one of the three highlights I had on our trip.”
The challenges at the moment are how to conserve power and water as we have none out here in the National Park. We are using our outdoor shower, gas stove, plugging into friends’ generators when we can and hanging out in the dark a lot at night. It is so special here that we hope to stay a little longer and savor the experience. I just hope there is an industrial washing machine at the next stop…and mobile range (we had to drive for 45min to be able to send the blog!)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0762s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 3;
; mem: 1.2mb
belinda
non-member comment
what a great time!
Kathy, you look fantastic. You will never want to come back to work and the boys certainly won't want to go back to school after snorkeling and swimming all day. I am so jealous. Reading about your adventures is fabulous. Adam certainly looks relaxed with his beard! Travel safely. Looking forward to teh next installment.