Day 119 - 121 11th June - 13th June 2012

Day 119 Monday 11 June 2012.

The weather around this part of the world is certainly making news. Bit crazy for this time of the year.  Last night about 4.00AM I thought our caravan was going to take off like a kite and take Vania and myself with it.  The wind blew up very, very quickly, got under the open awning and shook the caravan vigorously. Vania and I quickly got up and managed to take down the awning and roll it up without any damage. Only damage was some lost sleep.

Morning came and the weather was fantastic. Vania and I got up early as we were driving to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins being fed on the beach. We arrived about 7.30AM and the dolphins came into feed at 8.15AM.  Although feeding the dolphins is now very commercial it was still fantastic to watch. Some of these dolphins and their offspring have been coming to Monkey Mia since the mid 60’s.  The “rangers” only feed the mature females. The males and juveniles miss out. The dolphins are only feed about 1.5 kilos of fish over 3 feedings. A mature dolphin eats up to 8 kilos of fish a day.

After feeding we walked around the Monkey Mia resort and then along a fantastic quiet beach. The water had hardly a ripple and the sunshine was “magic”.  Hawk eyes (Vania) spotted many large sea snails washed up onto the beach. They were still alive and when I put one back into the sea it simply washed up again. We both wondered if they have somehow lost their shells and are “floundering”. We will have to Google these.

Rest of the day was spent further sightseeing, laundry, housekeeping, shopping and most importantly “fishin”.  We fished for about 2.5 hours of the Denham jetty. Caught about 7-8 fish, mainly baby pink snapper and bream plus a couple of unknowns. Unfortunately we believe they were all undersize and being the good citizen we are (ha, ha, ha) we threw them back.  Despite the fact we did not catch a “feed” it was great fun.  We were encouraged by others to come back and try our luck catching “squid” in the evening but we are far too busy editing our photos and writing blogs.

Tomorrow we move further north.  Yet to decide if we stay in Carnarvon or move closer to Exmouth. Regardless further north as we believe there is another “storm” heading towards areas south of Geraldton. So far we have managed to stay ahead of these nasty storms.  

One of the large sea snails that beached themselves. Should they have a shell?

Swallow, waiting for a feed as well.

View across to "still" bay at Monkey Mia

One of about 10 dolphins that come in every morning to Monkey Mia to get feed.

Many different sea birds on the beach at Monkey Mia.

View onto Monkey Mia beach

Storm clouds building.

Jetty at Monkey Mia with rainbow.

There were about 150 people. Sometimes they can get up to 750.

We believe this is a sea cucumber.

View from Monkey Mia Resort.

WDU564 almost having a swim.

Boats in bay at Denham.

More Dolphins.

And more.

The beaches are full of all sorts of Creatures.

Day 120 Tuesday 12 June 2012.

Last night Vania and I decided to move further north. We couldn’t find a “free” campsite near Carnarvon; however we did find a campsite right on the beach where it was only $5.50/night. This campsite was about 72k’s north of Carnarvon called Quobba.  We intend to use this as a base for a couple of days.

We spent most of the day travelling, however we did stop at Hamellin Pool where there were stromatolites (Google them).  Stromatolites are living organs that look very much like mushroom shaped rocks. It was high tide so we did not get a great opportunity to see them close up. Personally, I believe it is just a way of getting the “grey nomads” to visit the campsite where the stromatolites are hoping the “grey nomads” would stay or purchase from the store.  Besides the stromatolites they also cut building blocks from the compressed tiny shells. These blocks were used for buildings around Denham. Now, they are only cut whenever they are needed for emergency building repairs.

The terrain around this part of the world is very flat with small scrubby vegetation. We arrived in Carnarvon around 2.30PM. We stopped and had lunch, had a “pit” stop, bought petrol and topped up our wine provisions. After this we headed out to Quobba campsite. The campsite stretched for about 1.5k”s along a much protected bay. Obviously a very popular spot as there was no room to park our caravan.  I chose to ignore a “No Camping” sign at the end of the stretch and found a very private flat spot. Just as we were about to unhitch along came Mr Ranger and his wife.  We were told in no uncertain terms we could not camp here and there were spots further back virtually on the beach. Well, when we went back there was minimal room to camp. Grey Nomads and permanents everywhere as well as many fishermen’s humpies.

After I got over the stress of manoeuvring the caravan in a relatively tight spot Vania and I went for a walk along the beach with refreshments in hand. Hawk eyes (Vania) spotted “fins” in the so called quiet protected bay. Sure enough it was at least 2, maybe 3, sharks circling around obviously feeding. A large part of this “bay” is protected and no recreational “bait” fishing is allowed. Obviously this does not apply to sharks. The real funny thing about this is all the books advertise this as a great spot to do snorkelling.  Vania and I have borrowed snorkelling gear from Lester (Vania’s brother) and we intend to do some snorkelling along our trip.  We subsequently found out talking to people where it is safe to do snorkelling. Just hope the sharks realise this.

Day 121 Wednesday 13^th June 2012. 

It’s all very nice to camp by the sea / ocean and the views are spectacular. However, it is impossible to have a quiet night sleep. The continual pounding of the waves against the rocks plus the strong wind that blew up make for a restless night. The joys and tribulations of outdoor camping.

We decided to look around Carnarvon. To be a bit honest we were both disappointed. Carnarvon looks “unloved”.  Shops and streets a bit messy. Sad to see.  The great thing about Carnarvon is that it has many fruit / vegetable orchards. In a good season Carnarvon supplies 70% of total WA fruit / vegetable supplies. The soil is very rich, possibly from the richness of the Gascoyne river, when it has water in it.  Vania and I indulged in having a chocolate banana. Hmmm, yummy.

Just near where we are camped there are “blowholes” along the coast. These are very spectacular as some can get as high as 20 metres. Very treacherous coastline.  Just up from here however near our campsite is a much protected bay.  This is a very popular spot for people to snorkel. The day before we had spotted at least 2 sharks swimming in this area. Vania and I spoke to several people and noticed that other people were snorkelling so we decided to overcome our fears and took the plunge. Well it was absolutely fantastic. We saw many varieties of fish in many different colours and of various sizes. The coral and the vegetation were very interesting as well. Apparently this area along this part of the WA coastline is the second largest reef outside the barrier reef off Queensland.

Tomorrow is another travelling day. Heading towards Exmouth.