Day 76: Denham

We arrived at Monkey Mia at 7:15 am this morning - the first ones there for the feeding. Eventually there were about 100 people there.

There were perhaps 10 dolphins there but they only feed 5 of the females that they know by name - they can tell them apart by their fins.

After the feeding we drove home and stopped at a bay to go fishing and have a BBQ. Unfortunately the weather was crap so we ended up heading home after an hour of fishing. I did catch a whiting and get a few bites, so I was satisfied!

After lunch, we visited the Discovery Centre in the main street of Denham - it was an excellent centre providing displays, etc. about Denham, Shark Bay and its history.

Tomorrow we head for Kalbarri where we are booked in for 4 nights.

Photographers on jetty at soon after sunrise waiting for dolphin feeding

Denham

Day 75: Denham

After waking up we drove to the Tourist Information Centre to enquire about the dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia. They do the first feed from 7:30am and then up to two more before noon.

As it was 9:30, we decided to drive straight to Monkey Mia (only 26km) but we were too late for the feeding. We have decided to get up early tomorrow and be there by 7:30am - it will be an early start.

After morning tea, we visited Little lagoon, 3kms north of Denham. The lagoon is fed by the sea via a tidal creek - the water is crystal clear - it would be great for a swim in summer.
We also stopped at a number of lookouts.

In the afternoon we visited Ocean Park Aquarium (shark feeding, etc.) south of Denham. It was not a huge centre but the guides provided an excellent talk. This cost $16 each.

NearOcean Park Aquarium

At Little Lagoon

Little Lagoon

Shark Bay off Denham

Day 74: Carnarvon to Denham

We woke up to overcast skies and from the weather report we knew it was a matter of time. We managed to go 200km before it started so that was pretty good.

We stopped at a lookout for morning tea and then continued on to Hamelin Pool (where we had lunch), home of the stromatolites. We walked out on a wooden jetty to view these but the tide was a bit high so they were difficult to see. If you are interested in what they are, read the paragraph at the end of this blog.

Also of interest at Hamelin Pool was a Shell Quarry where blocks of shell material have been dug out and used as building materials.

We arrived at Denham at about 3pm and setup in the pouring RAIN. We were however soon snug and dry.

Although it was raining, Denham is a very pretty little town and we should be able to fill in our couple of days here quite easily. This will include a visit to Monkey Mia.

Shell Quarry

Shell bricks up close with mortar in between

Walkway to view stromatolites - tides not good for photos.

STROMATOLITES: "These ancient structures are examples of what life on Earth was like 3.5 billion years ago and are considered living fossils. Cyanobacteria were some of the first living creatures on Earth and stromatolites are formed by these organisms. How? The cyanobacteria bond together and produce a sticky gel – trapping sediments and sand together and gradually building up layers. As the sediment accumulates, it forms flat algal mats or hardens to form stromatolites, which have an outer layer of living cyanobacteria. At first glance these don’t even seem to be living. Each structure is actually a very slow growing microbial colony that may grow less than 1mm per year"

Day 73: Carnarvon

Today we went sight-seeing north of Carnarvon - Point Quobba and the 'Blowholes'. The drive was approx 80km on mostly sealed road. Just before the point there was a light house which provided fantastic views of the rugged coast.

At Point Quobba there is a 'camping ground' which is basically an area behind the dunes where you can park your van. There is no electricity or water, Despite this, it was very pretty and would be a nice place to stay - next time we are in WA. In addition to caravans and motorhomes, there were numerous galvanised iron fishing shacks.


Half a kilometre from Point Quobba are the blowholes. The coastline here was quite spectacular - much of the coastal area of WA is made up of limestone which was once coral. When it erodes with the weather it is very rough & jagged.

We also drove into Quobba Station where you can also camp but Point Quobba looked better.

There was not a tree to be seen so we had lunch in the shade of the cars overlooking a pretty bay and some huge waves before we drove home - a good day!!

Tomorrow we head for Denham near Monkey Mia.

Quobba Lighthouse

Blowholes near Point Quobba

Adjacent to Blowholes

Adjacent to Blowholes

Point Quobba (Camp ground in top left)

Beach near Quobba Station

Beach near Quobba Station

Day 72: Carnarvon

Today we went sight-seeing in Carnarvon. First we went to the Flea market - purchased some avocados, a kilo of bananas ($5 - eat your hearts out!), and some pickles. I also visited the local hardware store. I think I can confidently say that I have visited a hardware store in every town we have stayed in except Exmouth - I like browsing and there's always something small I'm after.......

We visited the small boat harbour, the OTC disk (see photo with notes about disk), the One Mile Jetty, the Esplanade (which they call the 'Facine') and then we had a nice lunch at the Gum Tree Cafe on a sugar cane/mango farm.

We have been impressed so far with carnarvon. It is a tidy little town and seems quite prosperous. It has definitely had bad press in the past regarding crime - alcohol and drugs but it seems OK to us so far.

Tomorrow we are planning on a day trip to the blow holes and Point Quobba, north of here.

One Mile Jetty

We walked out on the jetty but caught the train back!

One Mile Jetty from track level

Carnarvon - from the esplanade

Day 71: Coral Bay to Carnarvon

We woke up with an overcast sky overhead then as we were driving, a funny thing happened - it started to rain - the first rain we have seen in over 12,000 kilometres or in the 70 days since we left Gatton!!!

Along the way we stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn sign and took photos. It's hard to believe that we were across the country on the same line of latitude as Rockhampton.  One thing we have noticed is that the Spinifex grass is now gone - it has been our constant companion throughout the northern part of WA for many weeks but now it appears to be gone. The other thing we noticed is that there are now more gum trees. For much of the north, the gum trees have been sparse except along creek banks, no doubt due to the arid conditions.  We are seeing the country at it's best. It would be a very hard country in summer.

We continued on our merry way (listening to audio books as usual). It was still raining softly but the drive was only just over 200km so we didn't mind.

Carnarvon has a population of 6,000 but it looks bigger than that - probably because it is a fair distance from other centres. Driving into the town was like driving into Innisfail - lots of bananas and mangoes. Carnarvon is a big food producer for WA and has a 'Gourmet Trail' which we will investigate.

It continued to rain softly while we were setting up and then all afternoon.

We were short of grocery supplies so we visited Woolworths and $200 later had stocked up on the groceries - the mundane things like grocery shopping, washing, etc. do still continue while on holidays.

Our van

Tree-lined van park

Day 70: Coral Bay

Lazy morning - slept in until 8am and spent couple of hours doing nothing.

After lunch we went fishing. The setting was fantastic - crystal clear water at a beautiful temperature (particularly when we know how cold it has been in the eastern states).

I caught two fish - the first was a big Parrot Fish - it put up a great fight and then when I landed it I didn't know whether there was a minimum size or whether they could be taken at all in WA. I rushed up to the car, grabbed the fish book and couldn't find parrot fish. I let it go - s/he was too pretty to eat and we still had fish in our freezer anyway!!!! Sue did find it in the book after I had released - you can take 4 and there is no minimum size - I wasn't worried. I then caught a long-tom or garfish - not sure of name - he jumped out of the water a number of times and turned like a gymnast - it had very sharp teeth and I released it as well. They were the only fish caught unfortunately but it was an enjoyable day. As I have said before - it sure beats work!!!!

Lorelle snorkling - from the day before

Geoff - reeling them in!!!

View north from where we were fishing

View south from where we were fishing

Lorelle fishing - note the clear water

After our fishing expedition and a shower we attended the Happy Hour at the Ningaloo Resort Hotel/Motel where we also had hamburgers & chips for dinner.

Tomorrow we leave for Carnarvon - only 238 kilometres so should be there just before lunch. We plan to stay there for 3 nights, followed by Denham for 3 nights then Kalbarri for 4 nights then Geraldton for 4 nights.

Total distance covered in 70 days: 12,227 km.

PS - The caravan park we stayed in (Bayview) was very basic - no grass - all sand. Also there was drinking water which you could put into water containers but no water to connect to the van - the water in the town was all salty bore water which we showered in.   Our caravan park was also very crowded - small sites.
The other park in the town, although a lot smaller in terms of number of sites, looked a lot better - lots of green grass and bigger sites (plus closer to the water).   

Day 69: Coral Bay

Doug & I got up early to be at the caravan park reception by 7:30am so that we could get new sites for the next two days. We then went back to the vans, had breakfast then packed up so that we could move 30 metres to our new sites where we would be for the next two nights.

We were all settled into the new sites by 10:30 so after morning tea we went and hired snorkling gear ($10 per set from the beach borrowing van) and went snorkling on the inner reef. We had a great 90 minutes snorkling then returned to the vans for a late lunch.

This afternoon we walked back to the beach to watch the fish feeding. Doug & I chose to sit on the beach but Lorelle and Sue braved the knee deep water to watch someone feeding fish pellets to the fish. There was a small crowd of 50 or so people.

We had fish for dinner (caught by us at Exmouth) and then played cards. Tomorrow we are planning on going fishing.

Fish swimming around people's legs at fish feeding time

Day 68: Exmouth to Coral Bay

Had a good couple of days in Exmouth - it is a really unique place with the reef so close to the shore. In retrospect, we could easily have spent a week there as there were quite a few places we didn't get to see. Can't see everything - ownlo on leave 22 weeks altogether!

Anyway, today we drove the 155km from Exmouth to Coral Bay. Not a bad drive but we did come across locusts swarming in a few areas - had to slow right down so the van & car weren't covered in dead insects!!!

When we arrived at Coral Bay, we went to the first caravan park but there were no vacancies. Went to the second park and they could give us a powered site for tonight and possibly powered on a different site for the next two days or definitely non-powered. As a result, we have now booked our accommodation for the next two weeks as we move closer to the south-west corner.

Coral Bay is a small village catering for people who enjoy fishing, snorkling and relaxing - similar to Exmouth. Again, Ningaloo Reef is right there off the beach and you can snorkle on the reef off the main beach in the town. Lorelle and I hired goggles, snorkles, etc today and we spent a couple of houers this afternoon snorkling. The coral was not that colourful but the fish life was great. Tomorrow we will snorkle in a different location where hopefully there is better coral.

Day 67: Exmouth

Today we visited the places on the western side of the peninsula - that is where all the beautiful beaches are located. They are absolutely fantastic and excellent for snorkling.  We did not go snorkling today but tomorrow we move on from Exmouth to Coral Bay where we hope to snorkle on the reef.

Yardie Creek Gorge

Yardie Creek

Day 66: Exmouth

Today we went on our charter fishing trip. Left at 10am and back at 4pm. We brought home 7 well-sized fish but had to throw back several others. We had a most-enjoyable day and would like to do it again, but it is very expensive.

Golden Trevally caught by Geoff

Blue-striped Emporer caught by Lorelle