Exmouth and Breaking Up at Nanutarra

A Beautiful Spot for Sunset Drinks

It was a slow first few days at Exmouth with me still sick with my cold. It managed to hang around for 2 weeks and made me very teary and miserable by the end of it. I’m happy to say it’s gone and I’m feeling much happier now!

Last Sunday night the park put on their weekly roast. It’s not a flash meal, but it’s cheap and generous. We were lucky to be seated with a NZ couple - Mike and Meg, who were just passing through and Hana and Rick from outside Mandurah. Rick and Hana will stay at the park for another 2 months.

Mike and Meg are from eastern North Island and they came to Aus where they bought a campervan and are travelling around WA sightseeing in between working on organic farms. They also own a B&B in NZ and are very interested in birds and bugs and are loving their time here in WA. They stayed on another night and Mike encouraged me to finally backup all my photos and they borrowed our snorkeling gear to go check out the reef.

The other couple Rick and Hana was interesting too. Rick is a Viet Vet and Hanna a Czech. She and her husband came to Aus in 1991 but he left her two weeks after arriving for his younger girlfriend he had also brought over. Hana is a physiotherapist but couldn’t practice here. She had to work in a factory to survive and read children’s books to learn English. Eventually she decided WA was a cheaper place to buy a house (well it was then) and moved here. 4 years ago she met Rick at a street party and they married 2 years ago. Her ex husband’s younger girlfriend left him for a younger man about 2 years after they arrived in Australia!

Anyhow, meeting these two couples and our nice neighbours behind s worked wonders cheering me up. I’ll be sad to move on now. Carl behind us is a Maffra boy, so we have spent a lot of time talking about Gippsland. When we move out, their daughter and family are taking our site.

Unfortunately, it is cooler and windier than we remember last year and it’s been a bit difficult to get the boat out fishing. We’ve found it pays to wait until about 2ish each day when we see the wind drop and then go. It’s been to cool to think about snorkeling which is a pity and the pool here is freezing. I’m looking forward to moving north to a bit warmer weather! Maybe we’ll leave all the moths behind too. We have been inundated with moths of all shapes and sizes-something I can’t remember from last year either.

We’ve managed to catch a few good feeds of fish. Mostly Charlie Court Cod, but they are my favourite fish, so I’m not unhappy. Most CCC are caught around 30cm, I caught a 37cm one the other day. They have a huge mouth which opens and fills with water when you bring them so he felt like a whale when I landed him in the boat. Last year the park had a CCC comp and he would have been right up there with the biggest. Russ also caught us an octopus on the same day. He brought him in with the landing net, and it was amazing to see him squeeze himself through the little holes in that and stick himself to the bottom of the boat. I think they are amazing creatures. It’s a shame for them they make such good bait.
Rick, Hana and Jesse

Wednesday night, we went over to the beach with Rick and Hanna and dog Jesse and had a glass of wine watching the sun go down over the reef. We spent a lovely couple of hours over there watching the little fishing boats come in and Jesse (who is 10) play in the sand and water like she was a puppy again. It really was a nice time. We sat on the beach by a huge sand dune and were the only ones there-it was beautiful.

Sunset Over Ningaloo Reef

Thursday was windy again, so we packed up at a fairly leisurely pace, then had a farewell drink with Rick and Hana. I almost wish we were staying on a bit longer now we have met a few people.

Yesterday we left Yardie Homestead CP and headed to Karratha. We made it as far as Nanutarra Roadhouse just before 3pm. I hate kangaroos and wandering stock, so we decided that was far enough for the day. We’ve stayed at the roadhouse before and really enjoyed it. Everyone is just staying for the night and always on for a chat-last night was just the same! Lots of friendly neighbors travelling north and south and all happy to talk. We met a nice couple Dale and Maureen who suggested we look them up on any Friday night at Broome RSL. They assure us the meals and drinks are all cheap and it’ll be a good night.

Hopefully better than our night at Nanutarra started out!

I’d packed our wine glasses away in their box in an overhead cupboard, so when Russ went to get them they fell to the floor and broke. Then I sat in one of our much used chairs and it broke, last I moved the TV off the bed where it travels into its normal spot and it fell to the floor and fell to bits! We bought a new one today the minute we got to Karratha and when the sales assistant was carrying it to the checkout, the box broke and the corner off it hit my leg, breaking the skin and giving me a good bruise!

On arrival here and as he was making up the boat trailer, Russ stubbed his toe and ripped back a huge chunk of skin-talk about a sad pair. Now we are here for 4 nights with my sister and BIL arriving tomoorw.

Yardie Homestead CP

Yesterday we travelled from Coral Bay to YHCP 33ks outside Exmouth. It's an old cattle and sheep stationbetween the Cape Range and the Ningaloo Reef. The stockman's quaters are converted to cheap accommodation and the old wool shed is quite near our van. It's got a pool and tennis courts, but it's sandy. Lots of people play bocchi in the sand though which is good to watch. We bought a cheap set after Christmas and might have to take them out and have a try!

Last year we stayed back at the Lighthouse CP-it was closer to town, but we spent a lot of time driving 16ks down and back to the boat ramp at Tantabiddy. Now we are 3ks from it which is much easier.

When we arrived, the guy at the office asked if we had been told about the electricity when we booked in. No, we hadn't! It's available 24hrs a day, but you can't use anything with a heating element, so no toaster, jug, elecric frying pan and hotplate, sandwich toaster and no aircon. We have really had to rethink the way we cook and are finally happy we bought a portable BBQ. Once again like Coral Bay, we have to go get our drinking water from a tank, but the bore water here is much less salty than it was there.

Today we went out fishing. It's easy to catch a feed quite close to shore which we did-a nice feed of cod. We hooked half a dozen other fish that seemed like they would be good, but had them bitten off by a shark. He was about 8 or 9 feet and seemed to wait until we had a bigger fish then took the lot. We shifted three times, but he seemed to follow us. Eventually we gave him the slip or he gave up! He would grab the fish, then throw himself in the air sideways like they do, sending up a huge spray of water! Apart from him, we saw so many turtles I couldn't believe it, and a dugong who stayed about 30 metres from the boat sunning himself for about an hour.

A Cold in Coral Bay

As planned, we headed out fishing on Monday morning. Conditions weren't quite as good as promised, s we didn't go as far as we initially planned. I woke with waht I thought was a bit of hay fever, but by the time we came in from fishing, it had turned into a very nasty cold which I am almost over today (Friday). I spent a couple of miserable days just sitting in the van with the aircon on when it all got too much for me and only once managed a swim in the pool. Lucky for me that Russ is such a good cook and looked after me so well, I think I got better much faster. I also think the luxury of not having to drag myself to work sped things up too.

I loved this park the last time we were here, but being sick has made it feel noisy, crowded and sandy-not the same place I remember! It has sort of isolated us a bit from neighbours we might have got to know too. Last year we had the best time with Kath and Ron and then James and Beth (who we'll be meeting in Broome in a month!).

Today, Russ informs me looks like the best fishing day so far, so we are off to try our luck at catching a few spangled emperor. A nice neighbour has given us directions to his "secret spot" so we'll see how that goes.

I've been very saddened to see the new marina being built and a couple of wind generators laying waiting to be erected. This was such an unspoiled and remote place and it seems a tradgedy to change that and turn it into a rich person's playground.

Coral Bay Hooray!

We spent a couple of very quiet days in Carnarvon stocking up on fresh fruit, veg, groceries and a few other things like new undies, pillow and fishing gear. We stayed in the Big4 there and although the park was really quite OK, management was so laid back they were almost comatose. They just didn't seem to care much about anything. The biggest entertainment of our stay was the couple who had started packing to leave just as we arrived and pulled out about 15 minutes before us after our 2 day stay. It took them about 4 hours to tie down a load under a cover on their roof rack and about 20 minutes this morning to hitch the caravan to the car.

Today we drove on to Coral Bay. It's only 220ks and last year it was dry and barren looking. This year they must have had more rain as it was looking very lush today. Although after lots of places, that wouldn't be difficult.

On arrival, the girl at the desk looked very blank when I said we had booked and paid a deposit for a week. In the end, she found us arriving tomorrow for 8 nights (which was right I found on checking my diary!) so now we are here for 9 lovely nights.

Our site is quite large and right beside the pool and resturant and not far from the tiny shopping complex. It's very hot today and there are more flies than I remember from last year, but the notice on the office door says tomorrow at 8am will be good conditions for small boats. So I guess it is fishing in the morning and snorkelling in the afternoon.

Denham to Carnarvon

Russ and I left Denham this morning and headed to Carnarvon. It's just over 300ks and we only have two days here, but it's the best shopping we'll have for 2 1/2 weeks. We arrived here, st up the van, drove up North River Road, back down South River road and got a car load of beautiful fresh veg and herbs. Then we hit Woolworths! This morning, we used our last two teaspoons of coffee bought in Perth for $12 per 500g can. In Denham, that can was $24! Tonight we paid $13 at Woolies Carnarvon for another two!

It was so very sad leaving Denham this morning. We've had 2 weeks and two days there with Brice and some lovely neighbours. I cried when we left as they are all quite elderly and we can only hope they will still be there when we get back in two years-particularly Brice who is really quite sick with bone cancer.

It's been a lovely couple of weeks that have flown by. It's amazing how much happens when you are supposed to be doing nothing. We have done lots of fishing in our tinny and managed to go out 4 times with Brice in his boat. The first two days in it (Brice's boat) were a bit lean fish wise, but the third and last were great. Our second trip out was really just a sightseeing tour-over to see the salt works and the private town of Useless Loop. It's 121ks in from the road to Denham on dirt all the way, or about 25 nautical miles from Denham. It was a lovely day and great to finally see the place. On our third trip last Saturday, 4 of us caught 21 quite large fish, and yesterday (our last) was the best.

Just the 3 of us headed out and the sea was absolutely "boiling" with tuna feeding all over the place. Brice doesn't like tuna, but knows we do, so stopped the boat and we started to trawl with lures. Brice caught a fish, but lost all his gear-a few minutes later a tuna circled the boat with his bright orange lure in its mouth! Then Russ caught a nice one which we got into the boat so we were happy! Russ filleted it and we have 6 feeds (inclding a big one to share with my sister) in the fridge and freezer. We ate one tonight and I reckon it is the best feed of fish I've had so far.

We left then and went on to catch a couple of good black snapper, a big pink snapper, 5 red throated emperor, 2 big Charlie Court cod, and just as Brice said we should head home, Russ caught a huge Morwong. A shark (at least 3 metres) spent a long time circling the boat grabbing fish we caught and released, we saw sea snakes and dophins and all those schools of tuna feeding-it was a wonderful day.

When we got home, Russ and Brice filleted and packed the fish while I went down to the butcher and picked up a ROASTED leg of lamb I'd ordered for our dinner. All I had to do was cook some vegies, make some gravy and we had a wonderful dinner.

The night before last, Brice bought 10 green crabs and I cooked him his first ever chilli crab which he loved. We really have had some wonderful meals together!

When we weren't out fishing with Brice, we would take our boat to Monkey Mia and target Flathead. We've got very good at finding enough nice sized ones (about 50cm) for a good feed. Or we would take the boat to Eagle Bluff where we could catch ourselves a feed of snapper.

Last time we took the boat to Monkey Mia, Russ headed off without the lights and rego attached to the trailer (something he often does!) A cop passed us going the other way, then next minute I saw him in my side mirror with the lights flashing. I told Russ he better pull over then asked if he had his licence "NO"! I said he better act dumb (not real hard to do I think!) anyhow, the nice boy gave him a warning on both counts, talked a lot about fishing and sent us on our way-how lucky was he!!!!

I've decided that Denham is the place I have enjoyed the most on this trip so far and I'm looking forward to coming back in the not too distant future.

Tomorrow, we are off to the farmer's market in town here,then Sunday we will travel to Coral Bay (only about 230ks) where we will spend a week swimming, snorkelling and fishing. Then it's on to Exmouth for more of the same.