Day 75 - 77 Tuesday 28th June - Thursday 30th June

Our Granddaughter Alexa in her Kimberly Turtles shirt

We awoke this morning to a beautiful, sunny day and packed up our van and left for Denham at about 8.30. Unfortunately as we travelled further south the weather deteriorated quite rapidly. We stopped at a Lookout along the way and got a remarkable 360 degrees view. By the time we got to Hamelin it had started to rain and by the time we arrived in Denham it was pouring.
We stopped at Hamelin to see the stromatolites. These are colonies of micro-organisms meant to be about 3000 years old. The water here is very salty and no other life is found in the water.

Coquina Shell bricks

Stromatolite jetty

Stromatolite

There is an old Telegraph Station here as well with buildings dating back to the 1880’s.
There is also a shell quarry. The coquina shell has hardened and many old buildings in this area are made from blocks of this. The ground at the caravan park is made from shells. We arrived at Denham in the afternoon and set up camp.

Distance travelled today 342 kms
Total distance travelled 11845 km

Day 76 Wednesday 29th June
The weather has improved today and we have sunshine. We drove out to Monkey Mia and saw some dolphins swimming around at about 11.00 but they didn’t feed them as they weren’t the right ones. They only have 5 feeding dolphins. Apparently the males were getting too aggressive and some dolphins were relying on this food instead of foraging for themselves.
We drove back via Little Lagoon and the lookout. There are a number of tracks going off to the water and these are good areas for fishing, especially whiting.

After lunch we went to the Ocean Park Aquarium. This was excellent. Some young rangers provided a guided tour of the aquarium where they had sharks, fish, squid and a loggerhead turtle.

Little Lagoon

Shark Bay

Day 77 Thursday 30th June
This morning we woke very early and left here at 7.00 to get to Monkey Mia to watch the dolphins. Unfortunately the weather was not as good with very overcast skies.
The dolphins came in very close to us and swam up and down for about half an hour.
There were a lot of people there but we still got a good look.
Then we went fishing but it was very cold and windy and we left when a rain squall came through.

Sunrise at Monkey Mia

Day 74 Monday 27th June

Once again the weather today was beautiful, although the wind did pick up a bit this afternoon.

We drove about 75km north of Carnarvan today to the Blowholes and Point Quobba. First we came to a lighthouse and the view was remarkable. It showed long, flat areas as far as the eye could see. Rio Tinto has a salt operation up here on Lake McLeod.

The coastline is made up of limestone and coral and shells. There are flat ledges where the waves crash onto.

The Blowholes were amazing, shooting gusts of water into the air.                               

Point Quobba looked a great place to camp as there were a few shacks and vans there. There was also a lagoon, with great snorkelling.

Point Quobba

Days 71 - 73 Friday 24th June - Sunday 26th June

We had a lovely sleep-in this morning and then went fishing after lunch. We didn’t catch anything but it was very pleasant on the beach. We went to the local hotel for happy hour as the sun was setting. What bliss!

Day 72  Saturday  25^th June

Happy holidays everyone.

We woke up this morning to very grey, overcast skies and some rain. We left Coral Bay at about 8.30 and drove off through the rain to Carnarvon. Landscape was very flat with trees and scrub and only one roadhouse. There are so many long, desolate stretches of land in this part of Australia.  

We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and got wet taking photos. There is a bit of blue sky this afternoon so hopefully it will be fine tomorrow.

Distance travelled today 244 kms

Total distance travelled  11297 kms

Day 73  Sunday 26^th June

The rain has gone. Thank goodness. We awoke this morning to blue skies. We have been exploring Carnarvon. Carnarvon sits on the Gascoyne River with a number of inlets all around it. We drove around the town and looked at the boat harbour and the fascine. This is the area along the foreshore which has been designed to withhold floods..

Then we went to One Mile Jetty which the Heritage Society are preserving. We walked out along the jetty and rode the tram back. It was a great idea but the jetty needs some repair.

Then we drove around some of the farmland where they grow pumpkins, bananas, mangoes, grapes and tomatoes along the Gascoyne River.

We went to see the OTC dish which is not in use at all.

The Fascine

The tramway on one mile jetty

Gascoyne River

Days 69 - 70 Wednesday 22nd June & Thursday 23rd June 2011

We left Exmouth this morning at about 8.00. It was a beautiful morning with none of the wind of the previous days. We drove to Coral Bay and got a site for tonight. We have to go back in the morning to see if or where other sites will be available. As we drove into Coral Bay we were hit by a swarm of locusts.

We had lunch and then went down for a swim off the beach. We ended up hiring a snorkel, mask and flippers and snorkelling on the reef just off the beach. The coral wasn’t very colourful but the fish were fantastic. We then went for a walk and ended up having tea at the pizza restaurant. Doug is still raving about the gelatos he had.

Distance travelled today  156kms

Total distance travelled 11041 kms

Day 70 Thursday 23^rd June

This morning we had to shift sites, as there are lots of people coming into the park for their holidays and you need to book ahead here.

Then we went snorkelling off the main beach again. It was great. The coral is good but not colourful. The colour of the water is fantastic  and it is warm enough to swim. There were quite a few fish around, some of which are quite big. Unfortunately you can’t catch them here as this is a protected area. 

Later in the afternoon we went for a walk along the beach to watch the fish feeding. Many large snapper came in to swim around everyone’s legs and eat fish pellets thrown to them. It was weird having fish brush up against your legs but still amazing. Doug and Geoff were more interested in the beach scene than the feeding of the fish.

Day 68 Tuesday 21st June

Today, after buying some beautiful whale shark ear rings, we went on a trip along the coast from Exmouth to Yardie Creek, at the end of the Cape Range National Park. Last night was very windy so we didn’t think we would snorkel anywhere but the wind died down in the afternoon and we could have swum.

We left Exmouth and went to the Vlamingh Lightouse which had great views of the beach. This lighthouse was built in 1911 but decommissioned in 1969. On the way to the lighthouse we saw the Naval Communication Station. This station passes messages to submarines and surface ships. One of the towers, Tower Zero, is the second tallest structure in the southern hemisphere.

On the reef off the coast, you can see waves crashing. It is quite spectacular.  We called in to some beautiful beaches. The Tantabiddi boat ramp was where our whale shark tour had left the previous day.

Then we called into the Milyering Visitor Centre at the beginning of the National Park.

When we got to Turquoise Bay, we realized we should have gone snorkelling there. It was the nicest of the beaches and there were heaps of people there.

We continued on to Yardie Creek where there was a huge river coming down from the gorge.

On our return we noticed many kangaroos and even emus crossing the road.

It was a great day.

Australian Naval Communication Centre

Oyster Stacks

Tantabiddi Boat Ramp

Turquoise Bay

Turquoise Bay

Yardie Creek Gorge