Port Hedland WA 09.07.2012 to 10.07.2012

After coming out to the coastline from visiting Tom Price and Karrajini inland we landed at Port Hedland late in the arvo.
 This town is one big bustle of road trains, rail trains and ships transporting different ores from different mining sites to different countries.
 After looking at one caravan park full of large temporary "dongas" for mining industry workers we decided to be a bit cheeky and camp in the Port Hedland cemetry car park. Now this was a great spot the cemetry had nice clean amenities and the neighbours were very quiet however we recieved a knock on the door at 7am  the next morning by the rangers informing us we werent allowed to be camping there in a nice kind of way so we slowly got up and moved onto the local port to have breakfast with a different view.
 A quick drive around part of the town, a stock up at Woolies and we were out of that big dirty shithole and off to Point Keraudren.The only good thing was a couple of old bulldozers in the local machinery musuem, what does that say about Port Hedland? Never mind, not every town can appeal to us.

Tom Price/Karajini National Park 07.07.2012 to 09.07.2012

Our first big inland drive towards Tom Price to visit the Karajini National Park ends up taking us two days to get there. It appears that long drives are something of the past for us and making sure we do not overdo it, we end up in a free camp for the night, about 60km West of Parabadoo. At this camp spot we end up meeting some lovely people and soon get comfortable sharing their warm fire, as do a few other free campers. At this spot I end up meeting up with a couple of people who I knew from my Merimbula days, yes it is a small world. The nights are cold here and Crowey and I definately are happy to use our body warmth and cuddle up for the night.
The drive is very interesting with mountains right along the highway, creating an interesting and scenic drive in quite a remote part of WA. Our first stop is Parabadoo, a mining town just 80 km's west of Tom Price. I have actually been here before when I was the area manager of the Credit Union whilst living in WA. Not much to see here really, but Crowey was quite excited to see a big mining truck, one of the first used in the mines here (no bulldozers though) which, with the car and van parked next to it, shows just how massive these things are.

typical scenery along the way

more scenery

can you spot Crowey the Ant?

Heading into Tom Price we stock up the van as we will be camping in the Karajini NP and there are no supplies available, including water. The cockatoos here are not white, but pink from the red dirt, quite a sight to see while doing your shopping and having a bite to eat in the park, though they are not scared to come up to you and beg for a bit of food.

We decide to camp in a spot called Dales Campground and nestle in for a couple of days to allow some exploration of the gorges around this beautiful area. That night we hear the howling of dingoes and Crowey quite promptly gathers a big stick for the front door as they are cautioned to be quite unafraid of humans and apparently like the taste of your thongs if left outside, needless to say our shoes were not left outside that night.

Our camp spot for the next couple of nights

The next morning saw us up early, after surviving what we thought was a -2 degree night, which left us holding onto each other all night with sequential turnovers to ensure no coldness got between either of us. We have not experienced such coldness our whole trip.
Lucky the days are beautiful and warm and climbing down into Dales Gorge was absolutely wonderful with rock formations, waterfalls and natural pools to see. We didn't swim here (yes we forgot to wear swimmers) but heard that the water was quite cool with some people wearing their wetsuit!! The walk in the gorge took us about 2 1/2 hours and we loved every moment. Plenty of picture opportunites presented themselves and I certainly loved taking the opportunity to photograph some gorgeous spots presented to us along our walk. Most the time we were alone and the peaceful surrounds were taken in by us at every moment. We now understand why people told us to come here and we are so glad that we did.

do you think I will lose Crowey in the Gorge?

crazy kids swim in cold cold water

time to reflect

beautiful rock cliff

another rock pool, note the wetsuits being worn though

can you see the cockatoos hanging on the edge?

nice water feature?

another enjoyable day

Exmouth - 02.07.2012 to 06.07.2012

Arriving in Exmouth around 4.00pm we had heard that there were no camping spots out at Cape Range National Park (right where the Ningaloo Reef is) and you have to line up early in the morning, only to be turned away it appears this time of year, so we decided to get ourselves booked into the local Caravan Park. Exmouth was primarily known for fishing, pastoral leases and oil exploration, however in the 60's an agreement was made between Australia and the U.S to establish a Naval Communication Station where this facility was mainly for passing messages between Australia and the U.S command centres, submarines and ships.  It is still used to this day, but Exmouth is primarily a tourist town where the Ningaloo Reef entices the snorklers, swimmers and if you have a cool $400 you get to go out and swim with the Whale Sharks and Manta Rays between March and June.

The next morning we thought we would explore the local beaches and also the Charles Knight Gorge. Along our discovery of the local beaches we came across Pebble Beach, obviously with thousands of pebbles on the beach, which created quite a unique sound when driving on them or walking on them. Along the different 4WD tracks we came across a couple of beaches where I found the most amazing shells, but Ranger Crowe (my new name for Crowey as he is like "Dudley Do Right" when it comes to my seashell collecting) told me I could only collect one of each shell.

Pebble Beach

Pebble Beach

Some great shell collecting today

and some more

Moving on from exploring the beaches we decide to go and check out Charles Knife Road Canyons where the road takes you up and along the range and provided some awesome views into the multicoloured gorges.

Canyons (note ocean in background)

Crowey, the king of the world, well his own any way



This is not my best side you know!

The next day we head off to explore the famous Ningaloo Reef, a place Crowey and I have been excited to visit for the snorkelling. Turquoise Bay is known for its easy to reach snorkeling and is a place where you let the current carry you north over colourful coral, beautiful fish before you exit via the sandbar. Boy, you have to be careful though as the current can be quite strong and before you know it you can be carried away to the ocean if you are not a strong swimmer/snorkeler. Quite a beautiful beach though with the water the colour of turquoise as the name suggests. Crowey and I were lucky to sight a green turtle once again whilst snorkeling in this spot.

Murph happy as, in the warm water of Ningaloo Reef

Crowey checks out the scenery

how good does that look?

The tide leaves it mark on one of the beaches

Another snorkel spot we tried was the Oyster Stacks, a spot where you can only snorkel at high tide. So up we get early the next morning to ensure we get there at high tide. The shoreline is rocky at this spot and a little more difficult to enter, especially with flippers on. There had been quite a lot of wind and the water was fairly bumpy, not that great to snorkel away quietly, with the water bumping you around. Getting tired of this after half an hour or so we decide to go into the shore back up the rocks, however the waves were crashing against the rocks and proved to be quite difficult to get back onto land, I did end up having an argument with a couple of rocks, of which my cuts and bruises showed that perhaps I lost that fight?. Blood is never a nice thing to see, especially your own. With a bit of TLC from Nurse Crowe I was soon rinsed off and patched up. We decided to give this section a miss from now on and stick to Turquoise Bay from now on for our snorkeling. On the way back to town we decided to go up to the lighthouse where a lot of the locals gather to sip on wine, dine on cheese platters and watch the sun go down over the ocean.

The sun sets over Ningaloo Reef

Sun Set over the lighthouse with the moon poking through

We both really enjoyed Ningaloo Reef, however after five days here decided the time was right to move on. Along our travels in North WA we have come across a lot of people who have told us that Karajini National Park was a must visit. The only thing is it has always been our decision this trip to stick to the coast and with Karajini NP being some 600km+ inland (just before the town of Tom Price) we were hesitant to go there. Crowey's brother Pete told us it is a must and even my mum and dad strongly advised we should take the trip. So we decided to break away from our coastal tour and head towards Tom Price to experience the gorges in the Karajini NP,where our next adventure continues.



Coral Bay 30.06.2012 to 01.07.2012

Coral Bay was our next destination but we didn't set off from Point Quobba until late and ended up free camping in a little designated area about 50km south of Coral Bay. Mike and Alana were with us too and we set up a nice little possie for the night with quite a gorgeous sunset to complete the day.

Crowey entertains on his uke at the free camp site as the sun sets

A firey sunset in panoramic

Crowey doing dishes duty the next morning

a new friend called Whiskey

Off again the next morning bright and early, we thought we would head to Ningaloo Homestead (south of Coral Bay) where the snokeling was meant to be great on the Ningaloo Reef. We ventured about 1km down the dirt road but thought better of it due to the condition of the road with all of the corragations, we wanted our caravan all in one piece . So we took off for Coral Bay instead even though we had heard that the caravan parks were full but thought we would try our luck. We were lucky enough to get a site for the night and quickly set up camp and took off for a snorkel at the local beach. Coral Bay is a small town, where clearly lots of families enjoy holidaying in the area and also is on the south side of Ningaloo Reef, so popular for snorkeling as well. The weather was fairly good, the water warm and the snorkling at the main beach was pretty good, especially as we saw our first turtle of the trip. Wow, what a magnificient creature, we loved just slowly following the turtle as he gracefully swam along the bottom, keeping his eyes on us all the time but happy for us to follow for a short time.  

main swimming/snokeling beach at Coral Bay

entry at main swimming/snorkeling beach Coral Bay

Venturing out to the boat ramp I discovered a little beach where the tide was out but there were little rock pools where some wonderful creatures could be photographed in their natural habitat.

Pic of boat ramp

small jetty off boat ramp

a crab captured by surprise (he soon scurried in his hole)

The edge of the rock pool

Giant Clam

a starfish hangs on to his home

sea urchins

Coral

The next day Crowey and I decided to leave the caravan park (they had this bizarre formality that if we wanted to stay for another night we had to pack up, go and park outside the caravan park and re-check in for another night, bugger that!) and park the caravan at the boat ramp for the day (yes we are getting as cheeky as the grey nomads) and go four wheel driving to a spot called "five fingers", aptly named as the rocks reach into the ocean from the beach and there are five of them. This time Crowey let down the tyre pressure and off we went over sand tracks and onto the beach to find our next snorkeling spot. Once again the fish were there to swim amongst, with some beautiful varieties to view and we were the only two there.

coming around the corner on the beach

tyre track upon tyre track, a popular spot with the locals

our snokeling spot for the day

Crowey pumps the tyers back up after our 4WD adventure

After our snokeling adventure we thought we would head off to Exmouth, another great place for snorkeling and where the majority of Ningaloo Reef is situated and a place we have heard of right from the word go. Can't wait!!

Carnarvon to Point Quobba 25.06.2012 to 29.06.2012

As we headed out of Shark Bay we stopped at Hamelin Bay to view the stromatalites. You may remember that the town of Cervantes also had this attraction but the one's at Hamelin Bay were much more impressive and the viewing platform was very well set up to ensure great view points and photo opportunities. Not something you see everyday but interesting just the same. 

Off North we head towards Carnavon this time and got into town about midday. Crowey and I both agreed Carnarvon to be a good spot to stock up on groceries (fresh fruit and veg grown locally) and essentials, but another town that did not have that much to offer so we decided to head towards a camp spot north of Carnavon called Point Quobba. Getting a little bit on the dark side and with another 60km or so to go, we decided to head into a Parking area (free camp as we call it) for the night and take off for Point Quobba in the morning. We arrived at Point Quobba the next morning at about 9.00am and soon found the ranger there who charged us $5.50 per night (cheap as chips) and we promptly set up camp fairly close to the beach and by the looks of it a great looking snorkel area.

Our campsite (note ocean in background)

Crowey settles in

Once camp was set up we headed down to the beach with our snorkeling gear and were amazed at the temperature of the water, making it the warmest we had experienced on our trip so far. Diving into the water we soon found ourselves amongst some beautiful coral and the amount of fish varieties, colours, shapes and sizes was fairly amazing. Crowey and I were in absolute heaven and could almost compare it to the same standard of snorkeling in the Whitsundays. We so wish we had that underwater camera to show you what we could see under that water for those of you who have never experienced such delights in the ocean. It is totally another world under the water and I never get tired of gently moving along and enjoying the escapades of the fish. Some follow you (hoping for a feed), others turn on their side and look at you with one big eye, some get on with their everyday life flitting in and out of the coral feeding and others will scoot back into their hiding spots watching your every move. Please, if you haven't done snorkeling before, do yourself a favour and put it on your bucket list.

the tide is out, the fish are waiting

looking from above the water

Murph after a snorkel

One morning I got up, opened the door and looked outside to check the weather and what I saw sitting on the tow bar of the Prado touched my heart, a little kestrel sheltering himself from the wind, all feathers fluffed up. I snuck back inside to get my camera, I even got Crowey out of bed to see it. Nature is beautiful.

Awwww, how cute is that!

Crowey and I ended up staying four nights in this wonderful little spot and would gladly return. One of those areas that touched our hearts and will be forever remembered I think.