Aaron & Lib's Australian Adventure

Bess Facelift

Hi All, another blog update for your enjoyment. Included in this week’s update are photos of Bess’ new paint job. Enjoy!

26/06/16 Day 30 (Su). Damn and damn! The fishing charter I was booked into yesterday was cancelled due to wind. It was a beautiful sunny day but it was blowing at 20 – 25 knots and the charter company deemed it too unsafe to be out on the water. Now I’m booked on Friday’s charter and the forecast for that day looks more promising. I can’t go out any earlier because today’s charter is fully booked and then the boat is booked for four days thereafter for a private charter. They are the only charter company operating in Coral Bay at this time.

So we spent the morning finishing the paint job on Bess. And now the tape is finally off!

The rest of the day was spent exploring the beaches and rocky out crops. We did see a sting ray in the shallows.

So we are spending our days in Coral Bay and our nights back out on the highway to try and mitigate our costs. We are travelling 50 km’s in and out each day but it is cheaper to pay for the fuel than to stay in the CP as it is $45/night for an unpowered site. But it’s all good. Our plan was to spend a week driving from Carnarvon to Exmouth and then stop for a week there. We had planned to do a few days at each of the station stays but with the roads in not being Bess friendly we have modified the plan and will spend the bulk of that time here and then a couple of days in Exmouth. The wind is up again today so we will probably try and find a spot to get some fishing in. Time to chill and relax.

29/06/16 Day 33 (We). Sunday morning I went fishing down at the town marina and had some minor luck catching two wrasse (reef fish). They were very pretty fish and the first was lucky enough to get my sympathy. He was returned to the water but the second was not so. He was lunch the next day. Mmmm, fish burgers! In the afternoon we went snorkelling for an hour or so. We had many problems with the masks fogging up but google came to the rescue and now we are better prepared for our next outing.

Monday was spent just hanging out in Coral Bay as it was a bit brisk and breezy. We did take the kids for a run on the beach and did some grocery shopping but mainly we just hung around the van. We went down at 1530 to see the feeding of the Spango’s again which is really amazing.

Yesterday (Tu) we made the decision to drive up to Exmouth to have a look around because we were starting to get a bit stale trying to fill our days in Coral Bay til the charter on Friday. When we arrived we checked into the Ningaloo Resort CP. Then we went and checked out the town and the new boat harbour. We did some shopping and Lib got in some retail therapy.

We did have one minor hiccup though. After returning to the CP I was ducking under one of the arms on the awning I didn’t go low enough and smacked into it with my head. I’m fine but the arm has a big bow in it now and is hard to put away. Somewhere down the road I’ll have to try and remove it and straighten it out.

Today we went out to the lighthouse and checked out a few beaches. Exmouth’s history is quite something as there was only a radar station and anti-aircraft guns there in WWII and no town there prior to the 1960’s. It was originally built to support the Harold Holt Naval Communication Station. Now they also have a thriving fishing industry with prawns being the major catch as well as a huge tourist industry with the Ningaloo Marine Park and Cape Range National Park.

This afternoon we did some fishing at the boat harbour with no success and then headed out of town and are spending the night in a road side rest area on our way back to Coral Bay.

I really look forward to returning to this part of the country to have a better look when we have upgraded to a 4WD. You really need one to properly explore this part of the coast line as we are quickly discovering. Also a pocket full of cash would help too because everything is super expensive. Today we filled the van and LPG was $1.40/L and petrol was $1.54. It probably doesn’t help that we are here in their peak season either but we didn’t want to visit when it was scorching hot or blowing with cyclones.

02/07/2016 Day 36 (Sa). The last two days here in Coral Bay have been totally fantastic. Thursday the weather was beautiful and after arriving and getting a bit of fishing in at the marina, we headed into town. After lunch we donned our snorkelling gear and after treating the masks with anti-fog we had a great time. The coral was amazing as were the fish. The colours were many and included florescent blues, bright purples, vivid greens, bright yellows and all colours in between. We stayed in the water as long as we could before we were absolutely spent.

Yesterday was the day for my fishing charter and what a glorious day it was. I couldn’t have asked for better. I caught plenty of fish including Rosie Job fish, Golden Job fish, Red Emperor, Trevally, Robbo’s and even two small sharks. We saw Minky whales, Humpback whales and a Bronze Whaler or two. We fished down to 130 metres of water and it was tough work getting the fish up from that depth. Plenty of fun was had by all and heaps of fish were caught. All told I landed about 15 fish, if not a few more. At the end of the day after arriving back at port everyone grabbed a beer and gathered around the fish cleaning station where the crew from the charter company filleted and skinned everyone’s fish for them. Doing it this way instead of on the boat is really good advertising for their business as plenty of passers-by stop for a look and ask plenty of questions. It is the first charter I’ve been on where they clean the fish for you and it’s awesome as I didn’t have to try and butcher my beautiful fish myself.

Lib had a great day too. After leaving me to get on the bus, she returned to the van and took the dogs for a swim at the beach. Afterwards she did some sorely needed house cleaning. After the previous days successful snorkelling she decided to go back in and had another great time duck diving down amongst the coral and schools of amazing blue fish. She even saw a few Spangled Emperors too. A great day was had by all and for dinner we dined on Red Emperor freshly caught and grilled on the BBQ. I can certainly see why it is such a prized catch and am glad I caught one on my time on the water.

Today we left Coral Bay and are now on our way to Karratha. It was a long days driving and tonight we are camped at the Onslow turn off in a road side rest area.