Day 94

A peculiar thing happened today, no sunshine at Pilgramunna until lunch time.  It was really overcast although still warm.  We took the opportunity to go and explore the Gorge which is just across the road from here.  Well it was worth it, we saw lots of Black Footed Rock Wallabies, they were so tame and we got lots of good shots of them.  We spent about 1½ hours in there. 

Later in the afternoon we decided to go back to Turquoise Bay, we waited until we knew that the tide would be well and truly out.  It was really good and we snorkelled for about an hour.  We saw lots of different fish.  It is amazing how each day that we go there we get a bit more confident.

On our way back to Pilgramunna we decided to have a look at Bloodwood Creek, very pretty.  The reef is a lot closer and the water very turquoise. 

We had drinks and played cards with a couple of the neighbours.  Then after dinner we sat chatting with them, one of the latest nights we have had but it was most enjoyable.

Day 93

Once again we said goodbye to another set of neighbours, Graeme, Karen and their three children.  They are from Brisbane and have been travelling for about three months, he is on his way back to Brisbane after having worked in Perth for some time.  He repairs cars after they have been damaged by hail and travels all over Australia and even overseas at times. 

We then went back to Turquoise Bay, the tide was out and it was much easier to get in and have a look around.  We snorkelled for about two hours, it was really good.  We saw a lot of different fish, most of which we do not know the name of but we did see a couple of big Emperors and Dart fish.  It was much nicer today and I really enjoyed what we did.  Couldn't get any photos they were too fast.

Tonight at sundown we had a kangaroo come into the camp ground.  It was a wonderful sight, the kangaroo was up on a rock with the sun at the back of it.  Made for a really good photograph.  

Day 92

Graham went for a drive with our next door neighbour, Graeme, and his son, Jayden, up a four wheel drive track about a kilometre from here.  They were gone about 1½ hours and took some really nice shots from up on the ridge over Ningaloo Reef.  We then had a bit of a lazy day until about 2-30 when we left to go on a whale watching tour.  This left from Tantabiddi Boat Ramp.  We drove in, it took us about ¾ of an hour and we were on the boat for about two hours.  We saw lots of whales and one of them came up about 1 metre from the boat it was all very exciting.  It doesn’t seem to matter how many times you see whales they are still fascinating creatures.  We got back to the boat ramp at about 5-45 and had to drive back to Pilgramunna, what an experience.  It was dusk and we had to manoeuvre the Kangaroos, we saw about 130 in all.  Graham had to drive really slowly so that we did not collide with them.  Some of them were just sat in the middle of the road so we had to stop and wait to see which way they were going to go.  

View from the 4 wheel drive track

Day 91

Said goodbye to Nick, Rebecca and their two boys this morning, a young family we have been socialising with since we have been here.  They had only booked four nights here and Nick went to the gate this morning and was able to get another three nights at Tulkie Beach, not my favourite spot but at least they got a spot.  He left at 5am this morning to go to the gate, got there at 5-45 and there we already 3 cars in front of him.  One had been there since 1am.  It is quite incredible, we have met more young families this time than grey nomads.  Yesterday there were four young families here with children, three of them moved off today and I have to say that not one of the children were annoying.  They all played well together it is amazing how soon they make friends with each other. 

We went to Turquoise Bay again and it was much calmer today.  We had a bit of a snorkel, saw some fish but I was a bit afraid to go out too far.  I enjoyed what I did and tomorrow I will have another go, I seem to get a bit more confident the more I go there.  The drift was quite strong today but the water wasn’t too deep.  We used the underwater camera that we borrowed from Shaz and Day and we did get a couple of photographs but the fish are very quick.

This afternoon we decided we would go to Mandu Mandu Gorge, which is about a 5 km drive from here.  It was a very hard walk, it took us about 1½ hours but the scenery was worth it, lots of rock formations and beautiful colours.  The view from the top over Ningaloo Reef was beautiful and we once again saw lots of whales.  

Back at camp we had another beautiful sunset.  They are all so different I don’t think we will ever tire of them.

Needless to say we are both tired tonight and had an early shower before dinner and will probably be in bed pretty early. 

Mandu Mandu Gorge

Mandu Mandu Gorge

Fish at Turquoise Bay

Another fish

Day 90

Up early this morning as we were going into Exmouth once again.  We left the park at about 8am and were in Exmouth for about 9am, we had to avoid quite a few kangaroos and wild horses on the way in.  We had lots to do, mainly paying bills.  We had to ring Telstra and Origin Energy as when we tried to pay the accounts on B-Pay it would not work.  Then I decided to try and book a few more nights here at Pilgramunna so I logged on to the DEC Website and I have been able to book another six nights so that will save Graham queuing up at the gate to try and get a spot.  We are quite happy here at Pilgramunna.  We then rang Shane and Jodie to see where they were and they were just coming into Exmouth so we waited a little while and caught up with them at the Information Centre.  We had coffee with them before returning to camp.  They were just staying in Exmouth for one night then moving on.  When we got back to the camp it was so hot that we decided to go to Sandy Bay for a dip, it was beautiful and brought the body temperature down.  I bought a cooked chicken for dinner so it was an easy dinner tonight.

Day 89

Happy birthday Maureen

Went to Turquoise Bay to try and do some snorkelling but it was very choppy so we could not really do anything.  We will try another day.  We then came back to the van and had some lunch then we decided to go for a dip at Sandy Bay, which again was very choppy but at least you could get in.  We found a spot in the sand dunes where we could get out of the wind and it was quite nice.  There’s not much to do here except for laying around soaking up the beautiful weather.  

Day 88

Had a very lazy day today.  We did go for a big walk first thing then came back to the van and Graham cooked egg and bacon for brunch.  We then went down to the beach and read our books for a couple of hours.  After that we came back, used our outside shower for the first time and then chilled out for the rest of the day (it’s a hard life but somebody has to do it).  Had a few drinks with the neighbours at sundown then had a steak for dinner.  

Day 87

We drove into Exmouth this morning and sat it the park to bring the Blog up to date, pay some bills and get a few things  – I think because we do not get reception at Pilgramunna I will just type up a daily report and then publish it once we leave, or next time we come into Exmouth.  It is a 140 km round trip for us so we will not be coming in to often

Finally finished I think it has taken me about an hour.  Enjoy.

Spent most of the day in Exmouth, we drove in so that we could pay some bills.  On our way in we looked at a few of the other camp sites here.  On our way in we saw the most magnificent Eagle – there was a dead kangaroo on the road and we think this was going to be part of the Eagle’s breakfast.  We got some good shots of it.  We also saw some beautiful Sturt Peas on the roadside.

We are hoping that when our 9 days are up we will be able to move into one of the other sites.  Because we pre-booked our site we have to go back to the gate and queue up so Graham will have to go down there at about 5-50am on the 31^st July and see if we are lucky enough to get another spot.  The weather is still very warm but it was very overcast.  

Bought myself an in car charger for the computer which is great now we can charge the computer whilst we are driving along as most of the time previously we have been turning on the generator just to charge the computer.

Day 86

Left Warroora at about 9-10am and it took us an hour to drive out onto the main road. The dirt road certainly was no better than when we came in. 


Well I think we have seen just about everything now.  We passed three tractors on the road to Exmouth towing Coromal off road caravans.  We thought that maybe they were miners but when we stopped at the Big Prawn they pulled in after us.  They are a Tractor Club with caravans and had driven all the way from Perth.  They all wore head phones to abate the noise.  Normally when they travel they collect funds for the Flying Doctor or some other charity but this time it was just a holiday.


We drove through to Exmouth and picked up some mail from the post office.  Then we drove through to Pilgramunna camp ground on Ningaloo Reef.  As you are probably aware we stayed here when we did our last trip and have some very fond memories.  We have booked in for nine nights at the moment but we are hoping to extend this if we can.  We had drinks with the other campers at 5-00pm then had dinner, fresh prawns that we bought on the way in from the “Big Prawn” they were delicious.  Enough left for dinner tomorrow night. 

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Day 85

Thought we would get up early this morning and go for our walk so we were up at about 7-30 and walked for about an hour.  Unfortunately we did not see any Dolphins or Turtles but it was lovely seeing the sun come up.  Shane went out in the boat but didn’t have much success.  One of the fishermen caught Chinaman’s Fish – which was massive but is apparently not good eating it can cause you to become very ill apparently.  I made a late lunch today ready for when Shane came in.  We have decided that when we are static in places we are going to have dinner at lunchtime because when we have happy hour and nibbles we don’t feel like eating an evening meal.  Went up the hill to make a few phone calls and once again we were treated to a show of whales.  One of the ladies brought in a Rankin Cod which was quite large. Whilst we were having happy hour tonight one of the other ladies brought round some Spanish mackerel and trevally which she had cooked, it was really nice.  We are getting used to all this fresh fish.  

Chinaman's Fish

Rankin Cod

Day 84

Happy Birthday George

Had a bit of a lie in this morning then went for a long walk down on the beach.  Jodie and Shane had seen Dolphins and Turtles this morning on their walk but needless to say they had gone by the time we got down there.  We had a lovely lunch down on the beach with Jodie and Shane, fresh fish and salad.  Graham helped Shane to take the boat of his trailer, apparently this is the first time it has been off the trailer since they left Victoria in November last year.  Shane is quite excited about taking the boat out on Ningaloo Reef and doing some fishing.  It was one of the guys birthdays so we had a big get together and a BBQ for dinner, once again down on the beach.  We left at about 9 pm but I think the party may have gone on for a lot longer after that.  

Boat coming off

Lunch by the beach

Day 83

Went into Coral Bay today for lunch.  It is about a half hour drive from here.  We stayed in Coral Bay on our last trip but Jodie and Shane had not been there.  It is a very pretty spot but boy is it expensive in the supermarkets.  I think Diesel was $1.86 per litre and when Shane priced a bottle of Brandy at the bottle shop it was $48.  They only had one brand St Agnes, which is one of the cheapest bottles at home.  Needless to say he did not buy any.  He paid enough for a slab of beer ($42 for XXXX cans).  Anyway we had a nice lunch and a walk around and an ice cream (luxury for us as we can’t buy them here) then we drove back to Warroora.  Coral Bay was absolutely thronging with people, it is still the school holidays over here so there were children everywhere.  The beach is beautiful and there is a nice spot not far off shore where you can snorkel.  

Coral Bay

Day 82

Found a secluded spot along the beach where we could get out of the breeze and sit and read our books for a couple of hours.  It is quite cool sometimes in the breeze even though the sky is clear blue.  Came back to the van for lunch and Jodie and Shane arrived at our van at the same time.  They have a camping spot down on the beach. Quite lucky to get a spot on the beach somebody had just moved off as they arrived.  We met quite a few people down on the beach sites and were invited down for happy hour, most people here are from Western Australia and they come here for six months every year.  It is a nice spot but I don’t think we could do six months here.  We watched a couple of videos tonight, no TV here.

Sunset at Warroora

Day 81

Not a lot to do here.  We went for a long walk along the beach and read our books.  I have read two books since we have been here.  We are certainly enjoying the warmer weather.  We have had some beautiful sunsets but they are all very different.  Clear sky tonight with millions of stars and a big moon.  

Day 80

Travelled from Carnarvon to a place called Warroora (pronounced Warra) Station.  The weather was once again very warm.  We were told that the road in here was very corrugated but we decided to give it a go anyway.  Graham did very well with the van, it was about 15 km of sandy corrugated road off the main road to get here.  Nothing moved in the van and even when I opened the cupboards nothing fell out (Graham thinks it’s because of his good driving).  It is a nice spot here, very isolated once again and no power or facilities at all.  They do not let you come in here unless you have a chemical toilet.  It is not as cheap as Quobba ($37.50 p.p.) for seven nights, you get two nights free if you stay a week.  We will probably stay here for six nights.  The beach here is once again beautiful and when we were up on the hill making a few calls last night we were treated to another show of whales.  

Road into Warroora

View from the road into Warrooora

Day 79

Left Quobba this morning and decided that we would spend a night in Carnarvon, once again to catch up on washing, shopping, fuel etc.  We booked into the Big4 Caravan Park and it was nice after nine nights without power and facilities to be able to have a long hot shower (as much as we love our shower in the van you have to be cautious with how much water you use when you are not on mains).  I washed the sheets and towels, and it was nice to get them dry on the line.  We then went into Carnarvon and got our supplies.  Whilst in Carnarvon we had a quick drive around the Gascoyne River.  When we got back to the van we had a call from a couple we had met in Smoky Bay who come from Narre Warren, Frank and Dee, they are also in Carnarvon and they came round for happy hour.  Needless to say we didn't need dinner tonight after all the nibbles we had.

Gascoyne River

Gascoyne River

Day 78

Had a quiet morning but then we decided to go for a drive after lunch to see if we could find the Korean Star ship wreck which is supposed to be about 30 kms from where we are camped at Quobba.  Well we drove down some pretty ordinary tracks, but we could not find the ship wreck.  We got as far as Gnaraloo Beach, which is reportedly one of the cleanest and whitest beaches in West Australia.  We must have driven for about 50 kms and we did not find the wreck, the signage was not the best.  When we got back to camp and were talking to our next door neighbours they told us that we had been down the track where the wreck was but it is hard to see as it now disintegrated quite a lot and there is not much left of it.  Anyway we did not see the wreck but the drive was well worthwhile, we saw some beautiful scenery and we drove on some very scary tracks.  The car was filthy because a lot of the road had not dried out properly from the rain we had on Sunday night, at one point we had to go through the bush because the water was so deep over the road.  We came across an emu on the road who decided he would just run along side of us.  Once again the weather was really warm but they care forecasting rain over the next few days again.

Salt Mine

Gnaraloo Beach

Piece of driftwood

Old man emu

Day 77

We got up and went for a bike ride today it is quite hard because the roads here are very sandy.  You have and try and stay in the tracks made by all the four wheel drives.  We spent some time down on the beach (21 – 22 degrees today).  After lunch Jodie and I went for a walk.  We went down the blow holes in the afternoon, they were certainly blowing today but the wind was taking the spray before you could get a good photograph.  Once again there were whales and Dolphins off the shoreline.  It is great when you go down you only have to wait a few minutes before you spot whales.  Shane was out fishing this morning and he also spotted a Dugong, not much luck on the fish side of things though but we do have the Wahoo for dinne

Another beautiful sunset

I thought today that I would take a couple of photographs around Quobba Blowholes camp area, and show you what some people use for their stay.  Apparently these are old fisherman dongas and are passed down through the family, and Carnarvon Shire cannot take them away from the family as long as there is somebody with a fishing license to pass it down to.  I would hate to see inside some of these, they are literally tin shacks and most of them are rusted out.    Fortunately these shacks were away from where we were camped.  

Donga

Donga

Our camp at Quobba

Day 76

Clear blue skies today and quite warm (about 21 degrees).  Jodie and I went for a long walk with the dog.  It was quite funny on the way back to the van Mac decided that he had had enough and lay down under a bush we really had to encourage him to continue.  The rest of the day we spent reading our books (what a life but someone has to do it).  We have decided to say here for at least another two nights, it is a really nice spot and very relaxing.  We went up to the lighthouse to catch up on a few phone calls, and whilst we were talking to Catherine we spotted a couple of whales breaching.  Had fish again for dinner but this time Shane had caught Gold Spot Trevally.  We are getting very spoilt, the guy next door caught a massive Wahoo – it was at least 1.2 metres – and after he filleted it he gave us about six fillets, so I guess we are having fish again tomorrow.  

What a whopper - Wahoo

I have had enough - Mac not going any further

Day 75

Well at least it has stopped raining and is a bit warmer than yesterday.  We spent most of the day in Carnarvon catching up on washing, getting water and supplies.  It is about 78 kms from here to the town of Carnarvon so you have to be sure that you don’t forget anything.  I wrote out my shopping list, but of course as usual I left it on the table.  Shane went out fishing and he caught some Dart fish which he filleted and we had it for dinner.  Nothing nicer than eating fresh fish which was only caught on the day.  I will get a photo of the fish sometime and post it here.

Day 74

No photographs today - the rain may have held off yesterday but my did it rain during the night.  I think it must have started at around midnight and it did not stop.  When we got up this morning the rain had filled the awning.  We think it may have damaged the roller and stretched the skin a little but we will have to see when it dries out properly.  It has rained all day today and we have been collecting the water in our 20 litre bucket, we have filled the bucket three times and siphoned it into our water tank.  I agree with you Gail, I think the drought in West Australia has certainly broken.  When we did our trip four years ago we had one day of rain, this time we seem to get one day of sunshine and six of rain (slight exaggeration but that is how it feels).  We have been inside reading our books all day today. 

Well this is the blog up to date - we are going back to Quobba for a one or two more nights so it will be a couple of days before I will be doing the blog again.

Hope you are all well.

At least the sun is shining today - Monday 11th July.

Day 73

The sky was very overcast today and we thought we were in for some thunderstorms but they did not eventuate. Despite the sky we decided we would pack a picnic lunch and go for a drive with Shane & Jodie.  We went down past the Quobba homestead.  We had sausages in bread for lunch and it was very nice.  The weather got warmer but the sky still looked threatening.  Whilst we were walking on the outcrop near where we had lunch we were told that there were a couple of whales coming through, well low and behold we looked out and therer were a couple of whales about 200 metres to the right off the shoreline.  Well of course we stood and watched them for ages and once we had seen these there were more to our left.  We then came back to the blowholes which were blowing quite well today and as we came to the edge we saw a pod of dolphins quite near to the blowholes.  Then we saw another couple of whales, and one in particular decided to show off, it breached and rolled and at one point the whole body was out of the water, we were absolutely enthralled by this.  This whale was only about 100 metres of the shoreline so between Shane & Graham we were able to get some good photographs.  Jodie cooked garlic prawns for dinner, they were yummy.

Shoreline where we had lunch

Blow Holes

Love this picture of the crab Jodie

Day 72

We woke up to clear blue skies and warm weather.  Went to the lighthouse to make a few calls and we rang Shane & Jodie who were in Carnarvon on their way here so we rushed back to reserve a place for them.  Fortunately a van just down from us moved off so we able to put our car in the spot and reserve the spot for them.  The weather remained good all day and we had a bike ride down to the front to meet Shane & Jodie and then we had a long walk along the beach.  It is really nice to take off the winter clothes and put on some shorts for a change.  We watched footy in Shane’s unit (West Coast & Geelong).  The people next door to us are West Coast supporters, so they were really pleased with the win.

View of the Caravan Park from the lighthouse