We left Karajini at some ungodly hour of the morning as we had a long drive ahead to reach Exmouth at a reasonable time. We made our vegemite sandwhiches for breakfast the night before & brewed a coffee in the morning to have in our thermal mugs along the way. From memory we set off about 7am..... freezing morning (6 deg) so felt like we were back in Adelaide.
The further we drove the more we started to take our layers off and eventually changed into shorts again at Nanutarra Roadhouse where we decided to stop & have lunch. A rare occasion for us.... only the pies were $7 each, Rolls $11.90 & Sandwhiches were $9 each so we decided on a salad wrap (in the van) & a bucket of chips.... Unfortunately they can charge these prices as there is nowhere else to go! Even the coffee was instant @ $4.50 a cup..... Ice coffee in the van was sounding good too!
As we entered Exmouth we came across a Seafood outlet so decided we would buy some green prawns to cook for dinner. We stayed about 17 kms out of Exmouth as it was closer to Cape Range National Park where all the great snorkelling beaches are. The temperature for that day went from 6 deg in the morning when we left to 33 deg at Exmouth!!!!
We stayed at the Lighthouse Caravan Park & if you look closely you will see our Caravan Park at the bottom of the hill where the dark green clump of trees are...... no service or internet here so we had to go up to the Lighthouse (with our computer & phones) to check emails and make a few calls. I was also hoping for a long hot shower, but they only have salty water for showering & cooking in so had to use what water we had left in the van. They did have tanks of "drinking water only" scattered over the park so we had to "cheat a little" (as did a lot of other people) by taking containers over to the tank to fill up the van so we could continue into Cape Range National Park.... as there is no water, power, service or internet again!
While we stayed in the Lighthouse CP we decided to take a day trip to Cape Range National Park to see if it was worth going into one of the camps. Tony is pictured here at Turquoise Bay which is absolutely as it is on the postcards. Beautiful green turquoise water & great for snorkelling. This is one of the most popular beaches along Cape Range.
Where I am "bobbing" in the water there is a small current which they call the "Drift". We left our towels etc on the beach & walked up to the end of the bay & slowly drifted back down with the current. Tony snorkelled & I drifted down in my new "noodle" which has a chair on it as well. The beach and water here are sensational & hard to leave!
No fish caught yet so Tony shouted me Fish & Chips for lunch after stocking up on food & alcohol again at Exmouth!
CAPE RANGE NATIONAL PARK - OSPREY CAMP
To be lucky enough to get into a camp at Cape Range National Park you have to line up at the Ranger's Station anytime from 5am (or before) to secure a spot - so Tony left me at the Van packing up and drove 25 kms to the Ranger's Station to see if we could get in. He was 4th in line on this morning & only 6 managed to get in. The 2 vans in front actually slept there the night which you can get a fine for if caught! The rest had to leave. He then had to drive another 40 kms to Osprey Camp & pay the Camp Host and then drive all the way back for the van & me of course. He managed to hit a Kangaroo on the way back as well but fortunately it bounced off the bull bar onto the hard part of the mud guard and didn't damage the car at all...... the Kangaroo didn't go quite so well!
Here we are finally at Osprey...... All the caravans had a view of the beautiful Bay and your own path leading down to the fishing area and snorkelling beach.
The small building in the background is the "Bush Loo" These are different from what we had seen so far! It looks like a normal toilet but is a long drop.... they leave a bucket of water with disinfectant in with a large toilet brush (which is attached to the building by wire so it doesn't fall in the toilet). The idea is to wash the bowl out first, go..... then use the brush again. This seems to stop the toilet smell which some long drops have (& we have smelt a few!!)
Funny when you finally use a "flush toilet"..... it is easy to walk out without flushing after using so many long drops!
After driving for 1/2 hour dodging quite a few kangaroo's & emus, we finally met the Ningaloo Dreaming Tour & boarded the tender to take us out to the Dive Boat for the "Whale Shark" dive. Lucky the day we went was perfect for boating & snorkelling. After quite a few instructions on how to get in & out of the water & what to do when you are in..... they finally spotted a Whale Shark! Tony's was on the Awsome Team....
I decided quite early that this dive was definitely not for me...... & after I saw how far they swam and how quickly you had to get in & out of the boat for the other team to get in I knew I wouldn't be able to manage it (Tony agreed!) I chose to go on the top deck and sit with the skipper (who was also the "spotter" for the whale sharks). He was a great character & I actually saw a whale shark before all the others who were diving. From up here I saw at least 10 turtles, couldn't count how many whales I saw breaching, dolphins and of course the whale-sharks!
Here is the whale-shark....... I think (I know!) I would have been so scared swimming up next to it, but Tony thought it was the best experience & managed to swim up near the head. Divers are not allowed to approach them from the front and have to keep at least 3 metres from them. He managed at least 4 dives (about 10 mins each) with the whale-shark. They also had 2 dives inside the reef looking at the coral, fish & other species.......
They supplied morning tea, lunch and aftenoon tea .... so I was able to mingle with the rest of the divers while they weren't diving.
The last dive everyone seemed to be quite tired from the whale-shark dive but still entered the water for their last dive. As Tony went in he realised there was quite a current so stayed close to the boat, but 1 couple didn't realise and found they had drifted quite a distance & couldn't get back to the boat! Myself & another girl noticed them struggling so the crew had to go out and rescue them! We had a great day!
After much planning Tony finally left on his fishing expedition in the kayak.... This particular day he caught 2 rock fish (one of which a shark chased) & decided it would be better to get rid of it! He threw the other one back as well thinking they were not a good fish to eat, but when he returned to camp everyone said they were great for eating.......
After no luck fishing from the rocks in front of our camp (where someone actually caught a huge fish in front of our van the day he was kayaking for fish) he decided to walk along the beach to try his luck........ finally we have fish for dinner........2 beautiful Dart Fish...... very tasty!!!
Tony on Father's Day sitting on a beach near the Visitors Information Centre in Cape Range National Park eating an Ice-cream.... we had driven 40 kms from camp to phone Rochelle & Nikki & of course my Dad for Fathers Day. With no reception at camp we decided we would drive in....... some days we miss the family more than others.... and Father's Day was one of them!!
We did have a good Father's Day though..... Tony fished in the afternoon & we had Happy Hour drinks at the picnic area at camp with about 20 other campers followed by a nice Scotch Fillet for tea and a few more wines! The Camp Host arranges drinks everynight so you feel you know everyone there after a few days.
Tony regularly fished here which is right in front of our camp (didn't catch anything though but have to admire him for his persistence) and just to the right of these rocks is the swimming area. While the men were hunting and gathering for our dinner I was swimming with 3 other women (or at least standing in the water chatting........ when one of the men yelled out "SHARK".....
The 4 of us (or I should say 3) just about walked water out of the bay, but one of the women's legs literally turned to jelly and she couldn't stand up to get out of the water. One of the others had to drag her out & then she crawled the rest of the way. It really was a shock for all of us as we didn't know how close it was! We did laugh about it later and thought it would have made a great "Funniest Home Video"
The shark managed to get hooked on one of the men's fishing lines, jumped out of the water twice to get free & then headed to where we were swimming! It was at least 2 metres long.....
This is where the campers gathered for Happy Hour every night and watched the beautiful sunsets. We would all watch as the sun set to see a "green flash" as the sun went down. Some saw it and others didn't (I think it depends on how much you have to drink personally)...... but this particular night as we were waiting for the "green flash" a whale breeched right where the sun had gone down. It looked absolutely unbelievable..... no one managed to get a photo!
The last few nights we were at Osprey Camp it blew a gale & most of us didn't get much sleep from our flapping awnings and the gale force winds, but the days turned out to be beautiful. However, the morning we left was the worst!!! The whole camp became one big dust bowl & everytime a car or van went past everything got covered in dust! It made packing up very hard and in this picture you can see me hiding behind the car from the dust!
Next camp - Coral Bay
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