Coral Bay

We left Ningaloo bound for Coral Bay today, about 115k south  from the campsite. A little rain presented itself today, the first we have seen since the day we left Brisbane. Only a spit here and there, but not sure we like overcast skies!!!

Coral Bay is a nice little town, reminds me of Sussex Inlet on South Coast NSW. Not much here but they do a lot of charters and tours out of here. They have a daily fish feeding thing at 3:30 which the boys loved. Spangled Emperors literally swimming between your legs taking the pallets they give you, and they are not small let me tell you....how much I would have loved to throw a line in amongst them....pity its a sanctuary zone, which funnily is where all the fish are....they are not dumb.

We couldn't get in at Peoples Park so we got an unpowered sits at Bayview. It is packed here, and the smallest site we have encountered so far. A tip, try People's Park first and book ahead, I have to say the men's shower block was the most disgusting I have seen anywhere yet. Even the Blue Heeler Pub was more enjoyable than these ones....I might as well have been standing in the urinal taking a shower. Not happy, $44 for a night and you get to enjoy that....no thanks....

Off to Carnarvon tomorrow.

Jase

Last day at Ningaloo Station

Our last full day in gods country was a little windy, but it didn't deter us from relaxing and having a good time.

Zander bagged a flathead and a sizable longtong which he was wrapped about. I had a trevally on the line just after Mav decided he had enough of "fishing daddy" and he missed it, only small and I threw him back in but it would have been his first fish.... Oh well, Steep Point might be where he gets a beauty.

We saw a pod or school (not sure) of Dugongs today also, just outside the campsite which was cool. Plenty of swims and doing not much from us today.

Had a large fire to get rid of the wood as you need to take the ashes with you, and your fish offal, and your human waste, and your garbage..... basically to keep the place pristine for future people. No issues from us although you can tell there are a lot of knuckleheads that don't follow the rules which disappoints us.

Jase

Another day in paradise....

Today we saw a pod of dolphins come right in front of us, maybe 10m away, the boys went bezerk...

We also saw a turtle close in, and a reef shark swam by also. I tried to land it with a lure, it took it and I had him on for a short while, then he spat it out. I was never a chance on the lightish gear I have on....all good fun for the boys however.

We dug a massive "bunker" for the boys to hide in, bloody hard work but they loved it, particularly when the tide came in and turned it into a "rock pool like in the Kimberley" as they called it..

Zander caught his first flathead today also which was good, but not much else. We kicked the soccer ball, played orbit tennis, made a big fire and did marshmallows and kangaroo tails, and Mum & I sat up until the last log reading.

Very relaxing....

When we were in the Bungle Bungles about 6 weeks ago, I was carrying Mav and I tripped over. I braced his fall and all was good but Mum & Z didn't see & I didn't mention it to save any adjustment in my pride. 

At lunch today we we're playing a game where we ask the boys what starts with the letter....??? This time is was B, Mav said "Bumble Bee like the bee hives at the Bungle Bungles - where Daddy tripped over!!!!" Mum said "What!!!"

Pretty impressive that he remembers that and can put it all together. They are growing up right in front of us and it is magical.

Jase....

Ningaloo Station

Today we departed Exmouth bound for Ningaloo Station which comes highly rated in terms of beauty and seclusion.

We can tell you this is one of the best, if not the best location we have been so far. It helps to have been brought up camping on beaches, so sand and ocean seems right and normal, but we are literally in heaven where we are.

Crystal clear turquoise waters surround us, which are 10 strides from the camp at high tide. A little wind but we don't have powerful waves crashing in given 150m out is the Ningaloo Reef - just small swell great for the boys to swim, and relatively shallow.

No power, no amenities, a few campers but not over the top and not in eye or earshot.

We once again snagged the best spot because we got here early, right on the Winderabandi Point - literally, so campers along the stretch to the point can't see us & more to the point, we can't see them.  We put the awning up and floor, plus side walls so a longer setup, but worth it. For $90 for 4 nights, this place can't be missed if you have the right rig and can be self sufficient.

Simply stunning.

I fished this morning and picked up a nice flathead & dart, the boys swam, played in the dunes, built mine sites & helped me fish. Mum got to go for a walk and had a fish too, plus spent some time in the sun with her book.

This afternoon I went for a run, the boys & I started the fire, we had porterhouse steak and veges for tea ......... and Tim Tams for desert.

I don't think it gets any better and we have another 3 nights here......

If I could complain about something, there is no shade or shelter at this point, so if it blew we would know about it. There are other areas to camp (the station is massive) so there could be better sheltered areas. There are also these little lady beetle type bugs that come out at night attracted to the lights that like us but otherwise this is spectacular.

Jase....

Exmouth

The boys are obsessed with whale sharks now!

Exmouth - day 3 and 4

Yesterday we awoke and Nat suggested I go for a fish for a couple of hours, so who was I to argue….

Another patchy night, this time Maverick had the opposite to constipation at 1am, so there is a whole other story best left unsaid.

Exmouth is a funny sort of town, it’s not really directly on the beach as such, it’s about 1klm inland. There is a new Marina where the Novotel is and it’s pretty nice, but that is it. Basic essentials in town, IGA, bakery, butcher etc. The weird thing is that if you want to fish or go on any tours, you have to drive to them, and it’s not just around the corner, it’s up to 60klms. There are a few fishing beaches within 10-15 minutes, but most of the good stuff is a bit of a drive. The Town Planner must had been drunk when he decided where to put the town…..

Not much luck with the fishing at Bendegi Beach, but a couple of hours was nice to fish Exmouth, not too many people from the east coast can say they have done that.

Late morning we headed to see a couple of lookouts in the ranges south of the town, and spent some time making sand castles on the eastern beaches and relaxing. I threw some lures in but it was low tide by then and very shallow, nothing again.

We decided to have fish and chips for tea (because I am an amateur at catching them I am told) which was a hit, then read a few books to the boys before bed after which Nat and I sat up for a while and had a couple of wines.

A good day all round.

Today we booked a glass bottom tour of the reef and the boys went bananas. It was really a great thing to do given they are a little young to grasp the snorkelling thing. They got to see what we had been trying to explain to them up close, & again, the cheap admission price of $100 for the family was worth every cent particularly when you see the impression it leaves on your kids. I was a bit dirty I couldn’t get any fishing charters due to not booking early enough, but seeing their smiles made me think I know where I’d rather be anyway.

Off to the nudist beach after that to do some more fishing, although I couldn’t convince Nat to get her kit off. She still thinks we were too far south to be at that beach, but I just wanted to make her think we were anyway….it was worth a try and I was up for it…...

No luck again although there were plenty of fish out there following my lures in every cast, they mustn’t have been on the chew today. It is definitely more exciting fishing with lures and keeps you moving, so I enjoyed it and the boys were by my side the whole time pointing out the fish and telling me to catch them. Priceless. Another good day.

Having 4 nights here unfortunately doesn’t mean 4 days, by the time you get here, set up, wash vomit ridden sheets and get settled, the first day is gone. This afternoon we had to stock up and make sure everything was in order for our Ningaloo Station holiday so essentially given we moved site the second day, we really only had 2.5 days here but we still managed to get a fair bit in.

Pleasingly, when we were loading up the car and the pantry/fridges etc this afternoon, a gentleman from across the way came over for a chat. He said “Hi there, I am not a stalker or anything but I just wanted to say that we really admire the way you are bringing up your two boys!”

It was nice to hear but a little strange…. He said that they had been watching us for the last few days in terms of how we let them do their own thing (to an extent) then reel them in when they try to cross the line. He watched me finally get Maverick to start riding by himself on his bike without a push and commented on how far he has come in a couple of days…(we don’t see him now, true to his name!!) Whilst I was on the same page I didn’t have the heart to tell him that part of it was that it was just good to get them out of our hair for a little while!!!

He has 4 boys who grew into respectable young men from parenting a similar way and way too many times he sees parents not letting kids be kids and regulating everything they do. He had no idea where we were from or how long we were travelling, but when we told him it sealed the deal. He did this with his kids and he says what we are doing is building a bond with them that will never be broken, and they will be our best mates for life as a result of it….as his boys are with him today. We told him he was lucky and that we have just had a few good days here. They have their moments – big moments – which he agreed and expected, but for him to say those things was just what the doctor ordered and made Nat feel particularly special. It certainly was what we needed because we think we are too harsh on them sometimes and feel like we are always finding negatives rather than positives, especially on this trip because we can get too concerned about what others think when they are noisy or disruptive.

One thing he is right about however, there are a lot of clowns around so if what he says eventuates for us and the boys, it will bury any reservations – if we had any – about touring the country.

Bring on Ningaloo private station camping – our own patch of Ningaloo Reef and 4 days of self-sufficiency.

All good…Jase…..

Zander spew, Maverick poo & asshole teenagers - Exmouth

After Nat’s post on Friday about the free camp…let’s just say it was an interesting overnighter….

To cut a long story short, Nat gets car sick on the unsealed roads where it is windey and bumpy, straight and bumpy is not too bad, as soon as there are corners her complexion takes a whole new look.

She has invested in the travel sickness pills and they are all good, but the boys have started saying they are sick too, and whilst Mavvy does get sick, Zander just thinks he is sick when he is hungry. Anyway they both say every day now, numerous times, that they are sick…sealed or unsealed road.

On Friday night for about 90 minutes Zander was saying he was sick because I fed him too much, we kept just saying to go back to sleep and be quiet because we hear it every day. Needless to say he spewed all of last night’s dinner all over the bedding and himself at 2am in the morning when it was pushing 4degrees. Great stuff, He had another spew in the morning outside so we just tried to wash what we could with the trailer water and get to Exmouth ASAP.

When we arrived we sent most of the day washing sheets and clothes that were vomit ridden, and just basically setting up for 1 night as they were moving us today to another site for 3 days….(school holidays, it was our only option.)

I tried to get a game or sport fishing charter but they are all booked months in advance, which would have been handy to know because that was the main reason I wanted to come here.  A quick look around town and a coffee and buns, then back for tea and an early night for all. I managed a run also which is about my 7^th run now, so starting slowly to get some loading in my round plump legs.

Early in bed, then I am awakened by two idiot teenagers trying to steal beer out of my pull out fridge. I woke up and said Oui!! They took off across to the opposite car port, I got outside quickly and just walked around a bit. I saw one of them and sort of quietly moved over there then saw both take off over the fence up the road. Jase is now after them…..

I was in my socks so couldn’t mow them down and yelled at them if they came back I would break their necks… They had too much of a head start and it’s probably a good thing I didn’t get one of them, I was cranky…..

I then grabbed my book and stayed around the corner from the trailer for an hour or so reading - hoping they would come back, but they didn’t. A couple of hours lost sleep….

Maverick then decides he wants to get constipated an hour after that so another 2 hours of screaming in agony from a 3 year old until finally he popped leaving the sweetest of scents in the tent for us to try and get back to sleep on…..Our camping neighbours must have been cranky - me up chasing teenagers yelling at them and a 3 year old trying to get a hard stool out all night, legendary stuff.

This morning we decided to go snorkelling and have a look down the west coast of the peninsular. A magical part of the world this is, do yourself a favour as Molly would say……

I’m not sure if there is anywhere you can see a reef like this so close to the shore, literally 50m out and accessible to anybody. Nat and I both had a good go but the boys couldn’t quite grasp the breathing through a hose thing, but they will get there. We have 4 nights at Ningaloo Station next week in a private camp with our own reef to teach them, so no harm done there. It was really a great afternoon and we all had a blast.
We also saw Gill from Finding Nemo today, which the boys were pretty stoked about when I brought the camera back. Some photos attached.

Tomorrow I am going to try my luck with some land based fishing off the eastern beaches, then we might try some lure fishing off the west side in the afternoon. I won’t bother with a charter here, I can chase bottom feeders anywhere, I wanted the bigger species but it wasn’t to be….much like the Barra I wanted…..

Red wine and Boags beers tonight, Nat and I have the boys asleep already and its 7:15. I think the “no electronic devices” works…and it makes us read to them more also, which can’t be a bad thing anyway. It is just so easy to give them a DVD player when we want some “US” time……All good with The Mann Clann today….

Jase.