Sat 27 Aug 2011 Exmouth to Coral Bay

0945 (13169 km) Packed up and left caravan park. Went shopping.

1000 (13172 km) Filled up. Saw some birds nesting under the roof of the shopping centre with 3 little chicks - so cute!

1200 (13326 km) Coral Bay. Resort town, not much else besides accomodation and touristy shops. Bayview Caravan Park. Site 111. Had leftover pasta for lunch.

Fish feeding by the beach

1515 (13326 km) Packed snorkeling gear and drove to beach. Saw fish feeding. They were huge Spangled Emperor fish probably about 0.5 metres. We stood in the shallow water and they were just swimming around our legs. One fish could have fed a family a couple of meals. Also other smaller fish - parrot fish and stripey black and white ones. Went to Paradise Beach for a snorkel. Very nice reef and very close to the beach - don't even need to swim - just stand waist high in water in some parts. As it was low tide, some of the corals were a bit close when we snorkeled past - easy to see how they could be damaged - I'm sure I accidently kicked some. Saw cabbage coral, lots of fish, sea cucumber and a sting ray. MK getting the hang of the snorkel and gaining confidence. Other 2 don't seem too keen, just 1 snorkel, then off to the beach to create structures.

1700 (13228 km) Went back, checked out cruises to go snorkelling with mantarays.
1730 (13329 km) Caravan park. Water here is terrible - bore water which is very salty and hot, so there is special taps for drinking water (desalinated bore water). We can't even connect the water to the camper trailer as the water is too hot to use, and not very good for the pipes! Will put off doing the clothes washing till the next place.

Fri 26 Aug 2011 Exmouth

Night Fishing

1000 (13121 km) Breakfast of pancakes! Drove to Town Beach. Nothing much, hardly anyone around. Checked out the marina for our night time fishing.
1045 (13146 km) Pebble Beach. There were these amazing smooth pebbles all over the beach. It used to be part of the conglomerate rock in the area (still there) but as the conglomerate breaks down by the sea etc, the pebbles are released. People use to collect them by trailer loads for landscaping but it is protected now so we can all enjoy them. Collected some interesting shells and pebbles and the kids played in the sand. Saw some people fishing but they didn't seem to be catching anything.
1145 (13146 km) Left Pebble Beach. Went shopping. There is an IGA and an IGA Express in Exmouth. Why? Don't really know. Apparently the IGA Express used to be a Foodworks and it got bought over. Fuji apples $11 per kg!
1300 (13163 km) Caravan park. Toasted sandwiches for lunch. Went for a swim in the pool. The water was quite cold.
1730 (13163 km) Dinner of Meatballs on spiral pasta. We had been singing On Top of Spaghetti so we thought this was an appropriate meal, but we didn't have any spaghetti.
1915 (13163 km) Drove to marina for fishing. Drove around the marina, up and down.
1930 (13167 km) Finally decided to fish from the footbridge. Tried squidding, but there were no bites. As for fishing, MH caught the one and only fish. We took a photo and threw it back.
2045 (13167 km) Left the marina.
2100 (13169 km) Caravan park.

Thu 25 Aug 2011 Exmouth



See the water spout in the middle of the screen - that's the whale. Yes, really!



0845 (12995 km) Breakfast of toast. Drove to Vlaminngh Head Lighthouse. At the lookout, looking out to sea, we saw two whales! One was breaching and making huge splashes, the other was shooting water spouts into the air every few minutes. It was a very good spot for a lookout. Drove down to Jubari Turtle Centre. There was a display on the turtle's life and challenges to survive. Only one in a thousand eggs survive. The sex of the turtle when it hatches depending on the temperature of the eggs. If it is more than 29 degrees, it is female, otherwise it is male. The way to remember this is "hot chicks, cool dudes".

The beaches are amazing - so clear and fantastic coral reefs so close to shore

1015 (13052 km) Lakeside. It was a campsite as well as a snorkellling area. There were 7 campsites and it even had a camp host to make sure everything runs smoothly. Went to the snorkeling area. There was quite a strong current so the water wasn't as clear. Saw fish, sea cucumber and different types of corals, including ones that look like huge cabbages. We even saw a manta ray swimming past!

1245 (13052 km) Left Lakeside.
1345 (13101 km) Back at caravan park. Lunch of  bacon and baked beans and spaghetti. Check on bookings for tours. Kids went swimming in the pool.
1800 (13101 km) Dinner of chops and sausages.
1900 (13101 km) Left caravan park for a drive. Drove to marina. There were people fishing at the marina.
1930 (13121 km) Back at caravan park.

Wed 24 Aug 2011 Exmouth

0930 (12863 km) Breakfast of toast. Left caravan park.
1000 (12867 km) Exmouth Visitor Centre. Filled up.
1045 (12920 km) Cape Range National Park Visitor Centre. Saw information on whale sharks, manta rays, dugongs, etc. Lots of snakes preserved in jars.

Turquoise Bay - the dark patches in the sea are coral

1130 (12931 km) Turquoise Bay. We went snorkeling and drifted along the inner lagoon of Ningaloo Reef. There was quite a strong current. We went around to Turquoise Bay and it was calmer. We saw lots of marine life - sea cucumber, red starfish/seastar (had 6 legs), giant clam (40 cm), bright blue fish, zebra fish, schools and schools of fish. It was amazing that all these started just a few metres from shore and some were very shallow. It's clear how they would be damaged by careless people standing on them etc. Lunch of Ritz and Cruskits, dips, cabanossi.

1545 (12931 km) Left.

1640 (12995 km) Caravan park. Had dinner of the kids' favourite honey chicken and rice.

Tue 23 Aug 2011 Tom Price to Exmouth

0845 (12085 km) Breakfast of toast. Did some last minute shopping (no Coles nor Woolies for the next week or 2)
0900 (12089 km) Left Tom Price.
1245 (12451 km) After a long drive, we got to Nanutarra Roadhouse. Stopped for lunch.
1315 (12451 km) Left.
1600 (12710 km) Due to miscalculation of fuel consumption, we had to detour to Coral Bay to get some fuel and to check out the two caravan parks. We still had not decided on which one to book yet. Filled up.
1745 (12863 km) After a very long day of driving, arrived at Exmouth. Exmouth Cape Holiday Park. Site 47. Dinner of chilli con carne.

Mon 22 Aug 2011 Tom Price

0915 (12047 km) Breakfast of toast.
0930 (12051 km) Tom Price Visitor Centre. Went on Iron Ore Mine Tour. Took us around Tom Price. Started as a single men town and grown to a family town of 5000 as of last census. At the mine, we saw huge dump trucks with tyres the height of the tour bus and costing $60,000 each and 3.7 metres in diameter. We were shown the mine where the ore came from. The mine was a huge pit in the ground, 1 km wide and 3 km long. The ore is taken to the crushers where it is crushed to "lump" form or "fine" form. It is then filtered to improve the quality and then sent by train to the port. The trains have 3 locomotives and 230 wagons. That is a long train. The mine produces 25 million tonnes of ore a year.
1200 (12051 km) Shopping. Checked out the local library while HM got some fresh food from Coles. We were at the stage where we judge the size of the town by whether it's got a Coles or Woolies.
1300 (12056 km) Caravan park for lunch. Had roast chicken rolls.
1430 (12056 km) Went for a drive. Drove around Kings Lake. Nothing much. Went on a 4WD track up to Mt Nameless.


Mt Namesless - see the tiny posts on the right top of mountain - well, they are huge tall towers of 30 m

 1515 (12070 km) After a real low range 4WD drive across rocky steep terrain, we got to the top of Mt Nameless and had an amazing scenic view of Tom Price and the mine. It is also the highest vehicular access point in Western Australia. Slowly drove down the mountain again. Went to take some pictures in front of the big dump truck.
1615 (12080 km) Filled up.
1645 (12085 km) Caravan park. Had sausages, falafel and hash brown for dinner.

Sun 21 Aug 2011 Karijini National Park to Tom Price

0900 (11919 km) Breakfast of cereal. The kids worked on the Junior Ranger sheet.

Fern Pool



0940 (11934 km) Dales Day Use Car Park. We walked along the top of the Dales Gorge towards Fortescue Falls. We saw lizards along the walk. Then we walked down the steep steps to the falls and further to Fern Pool. There were bats hanging on the trees. Very nice large pool. Water and small waterfalls look very tempting. We could see fish from the platform. As we were walking back from Fern Pool, we came across a Brown Snake! Notice how many animals we have seen already?



At Fortescue Falls



We got back to have some photos of Fortescue Falls. The falls had lots of steps.

Then we snaked along the gorge to Circular Pool. Had to cross the creek several times. When we got to Circular Pool, we found that the pool water was really cold. We only stepped in up to our waist and then back out again. There were some people who were brave enough to jump in.

View of Circular Pool from top of the gorge.

1300 (11934 km) Lunch of biscuits, cheese, cream corn, cabonossi.

1400 (11934 km) Went to camp check in to show the Camp Hosts the kids Junior Ranger sheets. The kids got badges, stickers and a book on marine animals. Quite impressive.

1545 (12047 km) Tom Price. Tom Price Tourist Park. Site 96. The swimming pool was cold. Had dinner of pasta with tuna and champignon. Just learnt that potable water means drinking water.