Okeefereport: Exmouth to Carnarvon

The drive from Port Samson to Exmouth, was a long one for us traveling for 7 hours and covering 550klm. The drive was a continuation of WA desert landscape and easy traveling. Exmouth is located on North West cape and only came into existence in the 1970s when a US communications base was built there, so the town was established to support it. It has been interesting to realise that many of the north west towns are younger than me. However, Exmouth is a popular tourist destination now with the nearby Ningaloo reef and its turtles, dugongs, hump back whales and the huge but harmless whale sharks. The Ningaloo reef which is over 200klm long, is quite close to the shore and creates a haven for marine life so snorkeling and diving in the clear aqua waters is fantastic.

We stayed two nights at Exmouth and then went around to the ocean side of the cape and spent a week at “Yardie Creek Homestead Caravan Park”. It was a short drive from here to the clear waters of the coast where we swam with turtles, snorkeled the reef and walked Olly. The photos include “Turquoise Bay” which is a beautiful bay for snorkeling in the Cape Range national park. I am told that the aborigines consider the whole of the north west cape a bad place as a result of many of them being killed by a severe cyclone in the area before the arrival of European settlers, so they do not inhabit the area, which is quite different to most north west WA towns.

Next stop was Coral Bay which is a 150klm drive down the coast and also on the Ningaloo reef. It is another beautiful bay with crystal clear water and good snorkeling inside the reef. It is a marine sanctuary so teams with fish including the spangled emperor that are swimming around me in the photo as I enter the boat. The landscape at Exmouth and Coral Bay is very dry with Coral bay being located on sand dunes with the only vegetation being low scrub and small shade trees that look like silky oaks but they live on the salty subterranean water and drop this salty water all over any thing underneath them in the night, including cars and caravans, so ours was covered in blobs or dust and salt after a week there. There is no water available to connect to your van and you either buy bottled water from the shop or fill bottles from drinking water taps around the park. A large goanna (pictured) lives in the caravan park and gives the tourists a scare when he wanders under your car of van. Worse still there was no radio reception, no ABC or SBS TV and unwatchable commercial channels. I do like my luxuries so we were not unhappy to leave after a week. However, the beauty of the bay and reef make it a place well worth visiting. Coral Bay is the location of a shark "nursery", it is a shallow cove where sharks come in over the reef, give birth to their live babies and then leave the babies to fend for themselves. Walking along the beach here you have a great view of lots of reef sharks one to one and a half meters long swimming in the shallows only five meters away. We kept Olly on the lead here.

From Coral Bay it was about 250klm to Carnarvon, with a population of 8000, the largest town we have stayed in since Karratha. We crossed the tropic of Capricorn on the way and the temperature is now comfortable in the mid 20s, the first time we have had day time temperatures below 30 in four months. Olly is very happy to be in a cooler climate. Carnarvon is an oasis in the desert with a good clean water supply from under the dry bed of the Gasgoyne river, providing extensive irrigation for the fruit and vegetable farms that surround the river. The area provides 70 percent of WA’s tropical and subtropical fruits. We have bought beautiful bananas, capsicum, beans and tomatoes that are being picked at the moment. Unfortunately we are too early for the mangoes. The caravan park we are in is surrounded by paddocks filled with capsicum, tomato and chili plants. It is such a pleasant change to see green trees and gardens, instead of desert, the first since Kunnanurra.

Carnarvon is famous for its 100 year old jetty that is one kilometer long. Sue and I looked at it on our first day we were here, but as it is a recommended as good fishing spot we planned to return the next day with the fishing gear to walk the length of it. Unfortunately that night a section of the jetty was damaged by a fire apparently lit by vandals. It is going to be closed for at least a year so we missed or opportunity. There are some other fishing spots so we might try them tomorrow. We drove 70klm back up the coast to The Blowholes a scenic but rugged part of the coast as shown in the photo. Carnarvon is also home to a large satellite dish, not as big as the Parkes dish, but as it is no longer used it is lit up at night and looks like a big moon trying to rise over the town. It was last used to track Halley’s comet’s last visit to Earth.

We meet some interesting folks in caravan parks, as were our neighbors, a mid 20’s couple from Melbourne, who we have been chatting to over the last few days. Their tragic story was that last week they were traveling north from here when as a result of an argument they had causing distress to their dog who jumped out an open window in the back of their Toyota 4wd camper. They were traveling at about 100 kph and did not realise this had happened at the time. So all they know that their dog vanished from the van somewhere over a 40 klm distance. The window was not normally open as far as it was on this occasion but they did not hear or see a thing. They have spent the last week making contact with the relevant council authorities, property owners in the area, putting up notices, driving the route several times at 20kph calling the dog’s name, and stopping to investigate the many circling birds along the way. All with no success, as yet unfortunately. During their time here they palled up with a local fisherman who took them to some good spots but was a bit of a loose cannon and a feral with missing teeth etc. He had a few drinking nights with them celebrating their catches over a carton of bourbon, bottle of vodka and whatever else was going. As last night was their last night here he and his mate came around for a BBQ and a few more cartons. At about midnight Sue and I awoke to the sound of a revving engine as they left and were glad we were not on the road. We found out this morning that the feral and his mate had a fight over driving the vehicle which belongs to the mate, as the mate wanted to walk home and the feral wanted to drive. The feral took off in the mate’s vehicle, and proceeded to cut off a police car out the front of the park, in the mean time the mate reported his car stolen. Understandably our neighbors were pleased to leave this morning, getting away from the pair of them. The feral fisherman has promised to bring Sue and I a fish before we leave, but I don’t really mind if he does not deliver on that promise, that’s if he can make bail ? So Robert, you were right in some of your comments.

Well that’s all our adventures for now and we are off to Denman and Monkey Mia in Shark Bay on Friday.

Love, Sue Chris & Olly.