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Published: November 9th 2009
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Day 193 - Coral Bay to Point Quobba
This morning we woke to the joys of packing up and getting back on the road! There was no rush and we made the most of the bright, early start by having one last walk along the beach as far as the shark nursery.
Before we left we said goodbye for now to the Reeves family as today they leave for Karijini National Park. We hope they love it as much as we did as it’s a long way to go back if they don’t but we’re sure that the adventure of the place will bring them lots of fun. Fingers crossed it won’t be too long before we all meet again!
Our walk along the beach was lovely, today is by far the stillest day since we arrived in this part of Western Australia. There isn’t even a ripple on the ocean and the water is so clear we get to see plenty of stingrays as we walk next to the shoreline. In contrast to our previous visit to the shark nursery when it was brimming the beauties, today we found it was empty, probably too early and the
wrong time in terms of the tide. It was beautiful nevertheless and a nice way to leave Coral Bay.
We’re heading off to Point Quobba which is a bit further south and on the same road as Gnarloo Station which we were offered a WWOOF opportunity at. We declined because of the gravel road going up there, it’s a bit too rough for the caravan unfortunately but Paul the manager has said we’d be welcomed another time if it suited us. You never know and we do so want a WWOOF!
Added 12th November - thanks for the prompt Mum, I'd forgotten I hadn't explained what WWOOFing is all about! It stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms. There are thousands of WWOOF hosts throughout Australia, they range from cattle stations to private homes with large acreage to ocean parks to bush camps so there's plenty to choose from. In exchange for 3 to 4 hours of work per day the WWOOF hosts provide accomodation and food plus in most cases you become an extension to their family, it really depends on the type of environment you are WWOOFing in though. Anyway, fingers crossed we get to do this (which is allowed within the terms of our holiday visa as it's unpaid work) before we come hom in April!
We’ve had an excellent time in this area, it’s been so much fun so on the journey out when we reach the final right turn which will take us back out to the highway we ask each other if we’re really sure about leaving!! We make the turn, for this trip we have no more time to spend up here.
There’s nothing much on the highway save for a single roadhouse shortly before the turning for Williambury. We give the Elliotts a wave from the end of the road and think how ironic it would be if we’d unknowingly got the ok to head up there but just didn’t realise it because we had no phone reception! We keep a watchful eye on the phone as we trundle on towards Carnarvon, you never know when it might spring back into action! Our final quandary of today is whether we should go into town and stock up with food before going up to Quobba. We pondered as we drove but decided to check Quobba out first as although it’s
not listed as a free camp spot, the charge would probably be minimal and therefore we’d stay a few days.
The drive to Point Quobba is 49 kms off the highway along a decent sealed road which is infact the service road to another Rio Tinto mine so it’s in very good condition. The sign ‘King Waves Kill’ greets us when we reach the Quobba blowholes and we turn to follow the detour taking us to the campground. It’s more like a shanty town when we arrive with lots of beach shacks all over the place, it’s got a rough and ready look about it.
There are a few toilets scattered around, they’re pit toilets and unfortunately the one I picked nearly brought my lunch up. It was full to the brim and a pretty grim sight. I peed behind a bush instead! There are plenty of camp spots to choose from and it could have taken us a while to decide had we not gone with our first instinct which was to have others close by and joined the row near the entrance over looking the ocean. I popped to say hello to our potential next door neighbours and to ask how much it was to camp here. “You can give me as much money as you want love” came the reply from the gent whilst his wife laughed and corrected him by telling me it’s actually free outside of May to September! Result, we’ll be camping here then!
We wandered off for a walk over to the impressive blowholes for an initial quick look, the weather here is lovely and the sea breeze is keeping it at a nice temperature.
When we got back to camp we thought we’d check the internet coverage and for a split second it looked as though we had some, there were 4 bars at one point but then it all disappeared so it must have been a fluke. That’s us cut off from the outside world again then as the mobile phone coverage on a pay as you talk phone is about as useful as a chocolate teapot in a microwave!
There was a holler from outside the door and we were invited by our fellow campers to join them for nibbles! What a laugh that was and we quickly made friends with everyone else in our little row. Harry and Shirley are on their long awaited and much planned trip around Australia from their home in Port Hedland, they’re an absolute scream. Our next door neighbours are Brenda & John who are also on a big trip but heading back towards Perth for Christmas. Then there’s Rick and Carol both from Yorkshire originally but have lived out here for 44 years. They’re travelling in a Coaster motor home and having a great time with their dog Jake. There are also three young people in a Wicked van who I first met in the laundry at the Coral Bay caravan park only yesterday but I still didn’t get to know their names!
We chat on for ages, telling and listening to stories about one thing and another. Everyone has something to bring to the group and it’s a lovely atmosphere and really is a good laugh. These nomads, they do know how to spin a yarn!
The sun sets in front of us all signalling time for dinner and Darryl cooks up a great Thai Curry and we go to bed happy to be camped at Point Quobba with no quibbles about whether we found the right spot or not! We’re looking forward to some snorkelling tomorrow on the new stretch of reef right outside our front door! Beautiful!
Dar and Sar
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Jan Kettle
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WWOOFing
Hi - we've had to look up on the internet exactly what WWOOF is all about and now we understand - we hope you get the opportunity to experience this to go along with all the other fantastic things you have done. xxx Mum & Dad K