Ningaloo

From Exmouth, we went up to the tip of the north-west cape and around on to the west coast into Cape Range National park. There are several places to camp right behind the dunes, but we were informed that all camps were full. The system is that you go the the park entrance and wait in line, and if a site becomes available, you can go in. We were extremely lucky to get the last site available for the day, and in the camp we really wanted – Mesa – which had access to the water for the kayaks.

The day we arrived was quite windy, but had calmed by the afternoon, so we put the kayaks in and went for a paddle. The reef is quite close, the water between reef and beach is usually quite calm and the paddling was easy. We anchored and tried our hand at fishing. Caught a couple of small cod and put them back.

Next day, we fished from the beach. I caught a big bream and a 30cm dart which we kept and ate for dinner. Very nice, thank you! I also snagged a small MORAY EEL which fought like mad, biting and snapping. When Ian (my hero!) tossed it back, it was swiftly collected by a shark!!!

Mesa beach

Kayak entry point

I caught a fish!!!

Several of the nights were very windy and we had to tie our 'ensuite' tent to the van. Most days, the wind abated by afternoon, so we were able to fish and paddle in the perfect water.

There is no freshwater available at the park and halfway through our stay, we had to go back in to Exmouth to get more. It's amazing how clean you can get with a battery shower and half a bucket of water. You can even wash your hair!

The last day, we drove down to Turquoise Bay where I snorkelled the reef while drifting along. So amazing. The water really IS turquoise, just like the photos. After lunch we took the 'yaks out again. I anchored up over the reef, while Ian trolled back and forth. I caught five cod (kept one) and two parrot fish. One was a big beauty, but they were so pretty, I put them back in. Ian had a frustrating time losing rigs and catching nothing but one small cod on the way back in.

By this time, we so tired of the wind and lack of water that we pulled out a day early and went back to Exmouth to clean up, do some washing and chill out for a bit.

In our element

Turquoise Bay, where I snorkelled

Underwater at Turquoise Bay

Exmouth has some interesting history. It is the site for the Harold E Holt naval communications station which has a raft of towers transmitting a very low frequency signal for communicating with submarines. It was set up in 1967 and an American base was set up here, complete with baseball field, swimming pool, tenpin bowling alley, bar and grill. The buildings still remain (one of them has become the Best Western hotel). Some Americans are still here working on the base. Exmouth also has a memorial to the Krait – the boat that took Z-Force in to Singapore harbour where they sneaked in silently in darkened kayaks in the dead of night to set mines on Japanese ships.

Commuincation towers - Exmouth

Next stop – Coral Bay.

Tuesday, July 15.

We decided that, since we didn't think we'd get in to Exmouth until the school holidays were over, that we'd do some free camping – saving money as well, so we could afford to stay in a caravan park.

Our first stop two stops were at free roadside camps, with two short travelling days between. At the second camp, our friends Ton and Bev turned up and we spent several hours enjoying their company.

We had intended to go to Bullara Station from there to wait until Monday, but when we reached a crossroads and had a mobile signal, we rang Exmouth and scored a caravan park site for four nights, so continued straight through. Our site is right next to the amenities, so we have a virtual ensuite.

So nice to have hot showers, lots of water (even though it's hard water and tastes awful), and shops.

Free camp

A 'stone age' boomerang?
Ian doesn't think it caught on for some reason.

Dawn at Beasley River free camp

Saturday 19th

We hit the credit card for a day trip out to see the whale sharks. What a day! Not a cloud in the sky, no wind and perfectly calm. The tour organisers themselves were delighted with the perfect conditions.

First of all we were taken out over the reef (which is only about half a km from the shore) where we donned wetuits, masks and flippers and had a 'practise' snorkel over the coral. Six humpback whales cavorted around not far from the boat. Then a manta ray was spotted, so we swam along with it - me filming with the GoPro.

Happy (belated) birthday to me.

Spotter planes were up searching for whale sharks, and when one was spotted, some of the other boats let their passengers swim with it. When we had our turn, the whale shark was down fairly deep, so we didn't get much of a look at it. However, just as lunch was being prepared, 'our' spotter plane saw the shark again, so we were rushed into the water. This time, the whale shark was just under the water, and swimming straight at us. It passed just underneath us – so close I had to pull my flippers up out of the water. AWESOME!!!

What a perfect day! It was expensive, but worth every dollar.

See what I mean about the flippers!

Sunday, we drove around the tip of the Exmouth Gulf and down the west side to see all the National Park campgrounds, to see which ones would be suitable for launching the kayaks. Several have been closed due to the freak storm in April which dumped 400mm of rain in 24 hours and washed away several campgrounds. We loved Turquoise Bay, where the reef is very close to shore and you can swim out with your goggles on and snorkel along it. However, all the rest of the grey nomads have been waiting, like us, for the holidays to be over, and the campgrounds are showing 'full' signs. We have to do the line-up thing at 8 am and wait for someone to leave. First in line gets first pick of campsites. A funny system, but they say we'll get in if we wait in line.

Monday – our friends Peter and Pam have arrived and we spent the day driving around sight-seeing and learning about Exmouth's history.  

Pardoo Station / Karijini National Park

June 30

PARDOO STATION

After leaving Barn Hill, we travelled to another station – Pardoo Station. The road in to this one was a well-graded sandy road with very few corrugations.

Pardoo campground has plenty of water, so is beautifully-grassed and has several sets of 'donga-type' ablution blocks made up of 12 separate ensuite bathrooms with shower/toilet/basin. Very neat and clean and plenty for everyone. There is a pool, a camp kitchen, a cafe, a restaurant and an outdoor communal campfire. What a contrast to Barn Hill!

We stayed two nights and spent the day in between driving all over the station and down to the numerous fishing spots. We went down as the tide was approaching and watched it come in towards us over about half a kilometre, rising more than four metres, until there was enough water to fish in. We didn't catch anything, but had a very enjoyable time walking the amazing beach, which had masses of shells and pieces of coral littering the shore. It is obvious that there is a very healthy coral reef offshore which has been recently battered by a storm.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Pardoo, which was a pity, as they were mustering on the day we left and we would have liked to be there to see it.

The station is up for sale for a cool $23 million, if you're interested.

Red bluff beach, Pardoo Station.
We watched the tide come in right to our feet.

Wed July 2

KARIJINI NATIONAL PARK

Into the Pilbara! Iron ore country.

It is awesome to see the hills topped and banded with hard, dark red rock and areas of black where bits have broken away and the surface not yet rusted. The rocks are in plates, blocks, rectangular chunks. It is so inspiring to see an area so old – 3.5 billion years old! So old, there are no fossils of any living thing. It makes our lives seem so insignificant.

Into the Pilbara - iron everywhere you look.

Hands off, Gina!

After a long day's drive, stopping on the way at Port Hedland for fuel and supplies (and Ian trying to sort out the Telstra headache on the mobile phone in the carpark!), we arrived at Karijini only to find that the park was full and we had to stay in the 'overflow' until morning. As it turned out, it was fortunate because it gave us a chance to fill up the water barrels and to be at the head of the line next morning at the park entrance. The deal here is to get in line and wait until someone leaves, then go and pay, and a park volunteer then allocates you to a camping spot. The volunteers do a wonderful job here – all were most pleasant, helpful and welcoming. We managed to get the perfect spot for us, with our annex facing north and the solar panels catching the sun all day. This was a tryout for us and our power and water usage. We booked for four nights, and for the first two we were very conservative with our power usage. When we found that we had battery power in abundance, we booked for another four nights and were even able to watch an episode of Downton Abbey every night. That makes nine nights using only solar power. We set up our 'ensuite' tent for our loo and camping shower and were very cosy and self-sufficient. Nights were chilly, but days warm and cloudless.

This was also a chance to try out our cooking techniques with the DreamPot and the Weber. We made fruit cakes, scones, bread (Yes – perfect!), pizza and a roast dinner. Gourmet meals in the Pilbara. How lucky are we??

Red dirt everywhere - and iron filings.

You wouldn't want to ride your motorbike
flat out towards THAT!!!

View from hill above our campsite.
The line above the trees is the gorge.

This is a magic place. There is very little indication of any gorges anywhere when you drive in through flat country with the occasional rocky outcrop. Then you head off to one of the walks and suddenly you are peering over the edge of a huge rift in the landscape. 

Entry to the bottom is by rocky steps and some serious clambering, but you are rewarded with spectacular rock faces, swimming holes, waterfalls – all beautiful; all different. 

Fortescue Falls pool - Dales Gorge

Fern Pool - Dales Gorge

Our favourite was Kalamina Gorge, where we walked along the floor of the chasm for nearly two hours, just revelling in the beauty of nature. We didn't swim – the water was freezing!

Circular pool. The swimmers had to rock climb down
the perpendicular slope on the left to get there.
Needless to say - we just looked from above!

After our nine nights, we had run out of water, gas, bread and milk (and I am NOT drinking UHT!!!) so we headed off to Tom Price to stock up and washed the dust from absolutely everything.

We spent four nights in Tom Price, where we met up with Peter and Pam, who we keep meeting at nearly every place we go, and we had our meals together every night. (We particularly enjoyed going to the Rio Tinto workers 'mess' for dinner. $25 each for a sumptuous buffet. It was more like a 4-star restaurant!)

We went with Peter and Pam for a 4WD trek up Mt Nameless (actually has had an aboriginal name for millenia – Jarndrunmunha) 1128m high. Spectacular views from the top in all directions, including a view of the Tom Price iron mine, busy loading one of the 3 km long trains.

Our new friends - Peter and Pam Stewart

Tom Price mine

We still haven't run out of things to talk about, so will be meeting up with Peter and Pam again at Exmouth when we have all wandered around avoiding the school holidays. No vacancies there until Monday.

JUNE 25 - BARN HILL STATION

We arrived at Barn Hill station around 9.30 Wednesday.

Barn Hill is situated overlooking the sea and is part of Thangoo station – 450 000 acres, 85 km of coastline and running 8000 cattle. It is managed by a diminutive woman who has three sons, and who also manages to keep a campground running as well. Many of the campers are long-time regulars, who come every year for a few months and have the place organised with roast dinner nights, lawn bowls competitions (yes!), BBQ nights, Scrabble tournaments... The ones in the 'front row' have well-tended lawns and even little veggie gardens!

The beach is lovely, but the facilities are very rustic indeed, the power provided by generator, so only 6 amps, the sites are just dirt spots in the bush marked out with tyres, and the water coming from a bore through poly-pipe.

Ian had a great time fishing on that beach. He went every day, and caught a small shark and a small rock cod, both of which he released. He's proud to say he has perfected his casting technique and has rekindled his taste for beach fishing.

We had some memorable walks along the beach in the morning and late afternoon, experimented with cooking techniques using the Weber (fruit cake – yep, got it right this time) and the DreamPot (corned beef – perfect!), watched Season Two of 'Downton Abbey' in the evenings, read, relaxed.

On the last evening, we joined in the communal Roast Night ($15 each). We sauntered down in the same clothes we had on all day, and found tables set up in rows with tablecloths, candles, serviettes, and the ladies in 'nice' clothes, makeup and jewellery! We were invited to join one of the tables and had a very enjoyable time over our dinner of soup, roast dinner and salad/ice cream dessert.

JUNE 20 - BROOME

Arrived at Broome and set up at the Tarangau caravan park, then went for a drive to see the famous Cable Beach. We were prepared to be unimpressed by the hype and advertising. The approach to the beach is up a sloping path, and when you get to the railing – there it is! - a stretch of perfect white sand curving away into the distance in both directions and the blue-blue-blue calm ocean.
OK – yes, it's beautiful. Surprisingly – no waves, just a little surge or two close to the beach.
We had an ice cream at 'Zanders' on the beachfront, went back to the campground, and walked back in the evening for fish and chips on the grass while we watched the sun go down over that lovely view.

Next day, we did some food shopping, went to the library to do our emailing, blogging and e-book downloads. In the afternoon we took the kayaks down to the boat ramp near the jetty and spent a couple of hours paddling around and tangling up our fishing lines (:/). We are amazed at the calmness of the ocean. We expected that the Indian Ocean would roar in to the coast, but so far it has been like a millpond everywhere we've been.

On Sunday, we just had a 'day off' (if you can say that when you're a Grey Nomad travelling around Oz :) then went for a long walk to the beach in the evening with our wine, cheese and bikkies to watch the sunset once again. It is a communal event. So many people doing the same thing – sitting around on the grass, having 'drinkies', taking photos, just waiting together to see Nature turn on the show for us.

The following morning we had to move to another site in the campground.
After settling in once again, we drove out to a bird sanctuary. Lots of dirt road, tide was way out and birds minuscule in the distance. Watched a few finches splashing in a bird bath (duh!) and gave it up as a lost cause.

Tuesday morning, we did some packing up, then in the afternoon and evening, we went out on a whale-watching boat trip. Unfortunately, it is just the beginning of the season, and because we got the trip for half price, all we got to see was two dolphins. Never mind. Any day on the water is a good day, as far as we're concerned, and the sunset on the water was just stunning.

Cable Beach - we were prepared to be underwhelmed

...and then...yes, it IS beautiful!

Sunset at Cable Beach

How's this for a nifty craft? It took us out to
 our boat for the whale cruise.
The wheels fold up when the motor is engaged.

Sunset from our whale cruise boat.