Here we are!

 18/06/16 Day 22 (Sa). This morning we got up nice and early to get down to the water’s edge by 0745 so we could watch the Park Rangers explain the protection and history of the dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia. What started as an accident when a holidaying family started feeding one dolphin turned into a catastrophe as dolphin mothers were no longer feeding their young and they were losing about 12 out of 15 calves. So sad. These are wild animals and now better protected. The number has increased to keeping 12 of 15 calves which is in line with survival rates in the wild. I highly recommend everyone puts coming here on their bucket list. It is an amazing experience in a truly beautiful part of our country.

Dolphins @ Monkey Mia

After that we headed back out to the highway and on toward Carnarvon. Tonight we are camped at New Beach, approx. 30 south of Carnarvon along a highly corrugated road 10 km’s out to the beach from the highway. Bess didn’t like it very much and lots of Lib’s “Dash Board Dudes” took a tumble. Beautiful spot though and only a few people here.

Dolphins @ Monkey Mia

19/06/16 Day 23 (Su). Today was another pearler of a day. After we slept in we travelled back out the corrugated road to the highway and continued into Carnarvon. We took the alternate route into town via the HMAS Sydney II Memorial Drive to Boat Harbour. Not much to look at but plenty of palms lining the road. Once in town we stopped in at the info centre to get the low down on local caravan parks and also saw that the yarn bombers had been at work in the main street.

Dolphins @ Monkey Mia

Dolphins @ Monkey Mia

After checking into the CP, getting our washing done and having lunch, we then went and took a drive through the local produce plantations which line both sides of the Gascoyne River. The water must be under ground in the river here because it is very wide (maybe 200m across) and there isn’t a drop to be seen. We stopped in at two fresh produce stands and bought fruit and veg and some treats. The best of these being Chocolate Coated Frozen Banana’s! Yummo! Then we went out to One Mile Jetty which is approx. 1400m long. It is in a serious state of disrepair and a wonder that it is still open to the public. But we took the dogs and the fishing gear with us and with success we are dining like kings tonight on Threadfin Salmon. First time I’ve ever caught or eaten one. I also caught 5 or so yellow fin bream.

Sunset @ New Beach

20/06/2016 Day 24 (Mo). Today the weather was a bit drizzley at times. We decided that today was a stock up shopping day so we went to Woolies and had a big shop. We also picked up a snorkel set for me and some other bits and pieces for the van. With our late start and our shopping fest that took up most of the day. We took the dogs for a run down at Pelican Beach and were back at the CP by about 5 pm.

Tomorrow the forecast does not look pretty with 70 mm of rain being forecast for the region. We will decide tomorrow if we are moving on to our next destination, the Quobba Blowholes.

22/06/16 Day 26 (We).  The forecast yesterday was for 100% rain up to 70 mm so we hunkered down for another day in the CP and wouldn’t you know it, Carnarvon got 2 mm. Murphy’s Law really.

Today we departed Carnarvon and headed out to the blowholes which were disappointing really. I guess when you come from NSW, the Kiama Blowholes are the standard that you measure all other blowholes by. And so far all the rest fall short. We did try and drive Bess up to the lighthouse but to do that we had to pretend she was a 4X4 and we managed to get ¾ of the way before we had to concede defeat.

Dolphins @ Monkey Mia

After driving back to the highway we continued north to Minilya and are camped for the night by the river listening to the songs of a massive flock (at a guess 400) of Corellas.

I took Charlie for a walk and found a rotten cow carcass from which I took the skull and am going to mount on the back of Bess. Cool!

Crowds @ Monkey Mia

23/06/16 Day 27 (Th). We headed on to Coral Bay today. We were going to spend the next few days to a week at a station stay but after getting the low down at the information centre from a very friendly man named Bill, we decided that Warroora Station and Ningaloo Station were not places we could get Bess into.

Sunset @ Monkey Mia

I booked into a full day fishing charter on Saturday and then we spent the remaining day checking out the local marina and nearby beach. We met some fellow holiday makers and looked at the rock pools with them for an hour or so where I saw sea cucumbers, coral and live little cowrie shells. We also ran into a nice Italian couple (Steph and Jimmy) we had previously met in Monkey Mia who we clicked with and tonight are camped about 20 km’s out of Coral Bay on the highway with, in a gravel pit. We shared quite a few drinks and many a story til way after the sun went down. It was a really beautiful night especially as we were so far from a town and when we turned all the lights off the stars we so bright and so many. The moon rise was pretty awesome too as it is still almost full. It was a great night all round.

One Mile Jetty @ Carnarvon

Tomorrow we are looking forward to snorkelling in Coral Bay where the Ningaloo Reef literally meets the beach. The temperature here is in the low 20’s so we will have no drama leaving the dogs in the van.

Gascoyne River @ Carnarvon

24/06/16 Day 28 (Fr). The weather today has been mainly overcast and so we decided to forego the snorkelling in favour of Lib finishing the painting on the van which she may well have done had it not started raining this afternoon. I spent the day exploring and at 1530 they had fishing feeding right in the shallows of the main beach here at Coral Bay. The fish were Spangled Emperor’s and they were huge. The big ones were easily almost a metre long. It was quite an experience to have these huge, beautiful fish swimming around your legs. The only rule was to bury your toes in the sand.

Humpty

Banana Plantation @ Carnarvon

Tawny Frog Mouth @ Carnarvon CP

Gascoyne River @ Carnarvon

Coffee Pot Train, One Mile Jetty @ Carnarvon

One Mile Jetty @ Carnarvon

One Mile Jetty @ Carnarvon

One Mile Jetty @ Carnarvon

Fishing on One Mile Jetty @ Carnarvon

Big Banana @ Carnarvon

Corella's@ Minilya Free Camp

Coral Bay

Termite Mound on the way to Coral Bay

Clam Shell @ Coral Bay

Minilya River

@ Quobba Blowholes

Woo Hoo

Coral @ Coral Bay

Marina @ Coral Bay

Minilya Free Camp

Coast Line @ Quobba Blowholes