18 - Exmouth, Coral Bay & Carnarvon 25th August 2012

25th August 2012

We arrived in Exmouth from Tom Price. Exmouth is on another peninsula. On the right hand side is the Exmouth Gulf and Exmouth, and you drive around the North West Cape and down the other side of the Peninsula to many beautiful spots where people can camp and place their vans. On this side of the peninsula is the Ningaloo Marine Park which runs as far as Coral Bay. There is no direct road out of Coral Bay to travel south, so you must drive back to Exmouth to get out. In the middle of the peninsula is the Cape Range National Park, which looked astonishingly dry with small shrubs and low dry grasses. 

However, hiding in there was Yardie Creek Gorge and we went for a lovely boat ride up the gorge to observe the rock wallabies and birds and the canyon. We thoroughly enjoyed this pleasant trip. Sometimes the water from the gorge connects to the incoming ocean and it is refreshed with fresh sea water.



       Cruising the Yardie Creek Gorge at Exmouth


       Rock Wallaby at Yardie Creek Gorge, Exmouth

Driving back up the road to Exmouth are many beautiful turquoise beaches including Turquoise Bay where we tried some snorkeling on the reef, but the current was a bit strong, but the colour of the water, beautiful. We also drove to the old lighthouse each night to watch the whales at sunset. They were easy to see, way out in the ocean and many were in close and were breaching. It was just lovely there. 

We also took a whale watch cruise to the outer reef and watched quite a few whales and babies close up. They often have an escort whale with them to keep them safe along the way, which was interesting to know. The caravan park we stayed at had a huge, luxury swimming pool which we enjoyed.


            Whale Breach at Exmouth

One day while looking around we found the Exmouth harbour. There was a very large boat there that we could not recognise and about 20 other smaller versions of the same type of boat. So, I asked the crew about the boats. One was the mother and the other were the children, so to speak. They were large as well. These are the ships that service the oil and gas platforms which are not far from Australia. They can reach the rigs and get back to port in one day. We were given the full tour of inspection of one of the boats, by a congenial young captain. Oh, it was really fun and astonishing to see how they all live on the ships - five weeks on and five weeks off. They have their own laundry, beautiful dining area and kitchen, the whole thing was fantastic. They can do all kinds of sea rescues, like choppers coming down, or moving staff on and off the rigs (40 staff on each). They even had a call the night before, where a man was stranded on top of an old ship-wreck called the Mildura (from 100 years ago) and he wasn't game to swim back to shore due to the sharks in the water, so they went in and rescued him from the part of the wreck that is standing out of the water.

           Baghwan Supply Ship  


      Graeme in Sabbath Best at Marina

We moved on to Coral Bay. Oh, it was heaven. It really felt like we were on holidays, so relaxing. No fresh water there (extremely little). You have to take all your own water in. Showers were bore water like diluted sea water. Coral Bay, like Exmouth, is surrounded by salmon coloured desert sands with some dry grasses on them. The sand hills just roll on wave after wave. A few sheep graze on the grasses and the new-born sheep have trouble keeping their coats white out there. The sheep seem to thrive. Of course 100 years ago, sheep were big business out in these parts. Unfortunately WA is in terrible drought, so not so many wild flowers. In Coral Bay we went on a glass bottom boat to the outer reef and did some snorkeling. It was so relaxing. We saw a turtle, an octopus, some saw sharks and other things. It was all lovely and snorkeling is one of our favourite things in the whole world to do.


     Coral Bay Snorkeling Cruise Aug 27  


        Turtle on reef Aug 27
    

            manta fonze


          Sunset at Coral Bay

We are now in Carnarvon where much produce is grown, fruit and vegetables. They have the big Gascoyne River here. It looks dry, but it flows underground to conserve its water (held in natural aquifers) and from this, the farms grow wonderful food for the Perth markets. The paw paws are monsters and there are tropical and subtropical fruits of every kind. I had a black sapote ice cream which tasted like chocolate. You can get all kinds of fruit flavours here and its real fruit. The strawberries are enormous. What a joy to see so much beautiful produce. The dish that helped keep track of the space trips to the moon is here, no longer used. Population here is 9,000 with 2,000 on the farms. Like Port Hedland, it is under construction and has a long history back to the late 1800s, The climate is 10 degrees warmer than Perth in winter and 10 degrees cooler in summer, so its great for winter holidays at least.

Wildlife has been abundant, 20 emus, dozens of goats, dozens of kangaroos, 2 big lizards - they look funny running across the roads with their tails and heads held high in the air.

                        The Dish - Carnarvon