7. – 10. November

Shark Bay

Next stop was Shark Bay – we actually followed the World Heritage Drive. In 1991 this area was added to the World Heritage Register und was the first area in WA. You have to meet several criteria's to be registered – these criteria’s are set by the UNSECO. Shark Bay meets 4 criteria of the category “natural beauty” like natural beauty, earth history, ecological process and bio-diversity. There are some more areas which meet 4 criteria like Great Barrier Reef, the Galapagos Islands and the Grand Canyon.

We stopped at Hamelin Pool which is famous for the Stromatolites, the oldest living organism on earth. These Stromatolites are still active – they grow around 0.3mm each year  (I don’t know how this would be possible to be measured). Some formations have grown to a size of over 1m and they live in salty areas. The Hamelin Pool is twice as salty as the ocean which means ideal living conditions. The water evaporates so quickly as the bay is really shallow and has only a narrow connection to the ocean.

Shell Beach is not a beach in the typical sense – you won’t be able to find  any sand only shells. The cockle shells formed this beach which is around 10m deep and over 100km wide. It is still possible to find the remains of the quarry – the shells were used for construction. The church in Denham was built with these shells. It was allowed to swim there but we resisted as the water should be saltier than normal (and we didn’t know if we find a shower in the evening).

The lookout at Eagle Bluff was our next stop. There are two lookouts connected by a boardwalk. If you’re lucky it’s possible to spot sharks, rays of other big fishes in the shallow waters. On clear days the view is fantastic – we could see the wharf facilities of Useless Loop. Additional to the lookout we found a nice camping area – just 50m from the bay. The bay invited us for a swim and it was easy to walk in – nice warm water. We finally managed to see some sharks and rays.  There were little ones which were curious about us and came close as 2m.

We found a spa as well – the Peron Homestead (start of the Francois Peron National Park) offers a hot bath tub. We relaxed in the warm artesian waters for quite a while. The National Park is on the top of Shark Bay and only accessible with a 4WD as all tracks are sandy – remember to deflate you tyres if you want to go in! We had a look at Big Lagoon, Gregory Coast and the Cape Peron. It should be possible to get the big catch but we didn’t even see any small fishes – just a lot of birds.

 Of course did we visit Monkey Mia which is the most known place in Shark Bay. You can only call it place as it has a hotel, caravan park and a jetty. The main attractions are the dolphin which should come in every morning. But we didn’t go there for the dolphins we actually booked a cruise – 6h. We were hoping to see lots of wild animals and we did! Some dolphins followed us out of the bay and said hello during the cruise but we saw one of the most funny looking animals – the mermaid. Ah no that’s the myth – they are called Dugongs. Around 10,000 Dugongs should live in Shark Bay which is nearly 10% off all living Dugongs. They are amazing and could swim fast. Sometimes they even swim on their back getting some sunshine on their white belly. We managed to see some scars on the Dugong that was how close they came to the boat. But I don’t know if these were scars from a fight with a shark or for a female. We also saw some turtles, lemon sharks, Eagle Rays and apparently a see snake.  On the way back a bit of wind was blowing so we could set the sails. Yes, we set the sail – K-Leun helped to get the front sail and 1.WO helped to get the aft sail up.

Then happy sailing,

Cheers, Tom and Anja

 

1. – 6. November

Blowholes and Carnarvon

Our next stop were the Blowholes close to Carnarvon. That was a great place including free camping and a lighthouse. We arrived and got out of   the car to watch the blowholes. It’s so amazing and beautiful in a strange way. The cliffs are quite rugged and high so be careful. There is even a big warning sign “king waves can kill!”. To get to the blowhole you’ve to climb to the cliffs edges over sharp rocks and then you’ve to be prepared to get wet. Actually there are more than one blowhole – I would say there are around 5. The brochures say that the spray can be up to 20m high depending of the swell. I guess they were lying – the spray was higher. The cliffs are not only high and rugged but contain several caves through which the water comes and then explodes out of the rock creating the blowhole. The  biggest hole contains of two – a big one and a smaller one. The big one is like a hot water in a pot boiling but the smaller one is the one which gets the biggest and highest sprays. It even makes funny noises so you can hear the big one before it actually comes. There are some further blowholes on the cliff plateau 10m below the edge and they can spray as well. We were lucky and saw all blowholes spraying at the same time. If that happens and the wind is coming from the “right” angle you  get drenched. Of course it happened to me! Suddenly there was a big spray and all the water came down on me. I was completely soaked with really salty water. Probably not a good idea trying to film the blowhole and getting the funny noises on film – too much interferences'. But nothing happened and my clothes dried anyway. Such big sprays must happen frequently as there were several water filled potholes on the main cliff. Although you could hardly say water filled as it was more a salt crust than anything else and it was really salty!

This coast area is called “Quobba coast” and is famous for the surf and fishing in the winter months. We had a look at the coast but didn’t see any surfer – it was not winter so the currents don’t favour this place. Several ships got wrecked at these cliffs so you see some memorial plaques. Some mining and salt companies use this area to ship their goods. We saw one big truck crossing the street – their road was wide and completely sealed – the track we used was narrow and sandy. We met one guy who loves to fish there and he said that you’ve to be careful if you would fall into the water – be careful of the swell washing you into the cliffs. The sharks are too well fed to recognize or go for a human. He said that they have a big fight with the sharks when fishing. Quite often the shark wins and gets the fish already on a hook.

We stayed a while at that place – the bay next to the blowhole was calm and filled with corals so swimming and snorkelling was perfect. It felt like being in an aquarium! While snorkelling we had a swarm (or school) of small fishes around us. I think they were really curious about us as they were coming so close. It was like the stories one little species of fish fights against a big one by forming one big colony. The fishes were all colourful we saw black and white striped, yellow and black striped, coloured like a rainbow, just blue, ranging from just a few centimeters to 1.5m. The corals seemed to be intact as they were in colour – we saw purple, green, blue and some looked like they had flowers. Of course we saw several clam mussels which closed the closer we got to them. I liked to swim above them getting them to close and open up again. At night we enjoyed sitting at the beach looking at the night sky and checking for shooting stars and wondering how far the light of the lighthouse might travel.

 In Carnarvon we walked the One Mile Jetty which was built in 1897 and it is one of the longest in Australia. It took me 15minutes to go from the start to the end. It’s possible to take the tram (called Coffee Pot) for the  Jetty walk. The jetty is constructed of wood and around 3m wide but the head is even wider but unfortunately not accessible. They had more railway lines at the head to deal with the cargo load. As the jetty is made of wood the head is badly damaged and half is already eroded. At the start of the Jetty they have a little historical museum featuring an old hammer, some old buildings like a water tower and old carriages.  Carnarvon owns a satellite tracking dish which is not in use anymore – but it was a big help in the space race of the 1960’s and 1970’s as well as in the Halley’s Comet tracking in 1987.

The main industry in Carnarvon is fruit and vegetable plantations and fisheries. We saw several food and vegetable stalls along the road and it’s possible to go on a plantation tour. This region produce most of the winter vegetables available in WA. From May till October they have a growers market where you could buy the freshest products but it was not running when we arrived. So we had to buy our vegetables the standard way. And of course fishing – we got fresh shrimps and fresh pink snapper.

Bye, Bye

Cheers, Tom and Anja

28. October

What came first – the chicken or the egg?

We have our little own story to this long discussed issue!

We had a look at the Jurabi Turtle Centre just 20km north of Exmouth. This centre is dedicated to educate people about turtles. There are some species which come to these beaches to mate and nest – the green turtle, loggerhead. It was a nice information centre oh actually it was more an information hut – just some signs, pictures and display boxes under sunshade sails. Unfortunately we didn’t see any turtles at that beach nor in the water but there were more beaches to explore. Next we had a look at Jansz Beach and we saw many turtles swimming.  Actually it took us a while to recognise the turtles as they looked like big stones but they were going from one side to the other and sometimes something popped out of the water. K-Leun thought there are other submarines looking  through their periscope. But it was a turtle breathing and orientating. The turtles were really curious, they came really close while we were swimming as well (I guess she came close as one meter).

After our swim we stayed at the beach – it’s calming just to watch them. Sometimes we just saw one, other times three at the same spot and several times two on top of each other. Of course it was mating time. It looked like a real pain and struggle to get onto a turtle and stay on it. But they didn’t give up – after  falling down they tried again and again and again. The water movement dragged them onto the beach and back into  the water. The even tried to climb onto each other in the ocean. We could see the light coloured tummy when they were pushed off each other. As there were so many turtles swimming close to shore trying to get onto the beach we decided to come back in the evening and keep watching.

So we arrived at 6.00pm again, had our dinner at the beach and were  waiting for the night to fall. Unfortunately nothing happened that night or to be precise not on the western end of the beach. We waited and after two or three hours we decided to leave and head back to the caravan park (and to warm up again). But walking back to the car we saw some  sand flowing in the air so of course we had to have a better look and walked to the eastern end of the beach. There was a turtle in the dunes digging a hole or maybe closing it. We don’t know as she was slowly moving back into the water. Maybe she was already done, maybe something was not right (I don’t know if the like full moon, or not). But this meant we would come back another night and fingers crossed might have more luck.

Another night another chance… We arrived early to check if the turtles are still at the beach trying to come ashore and there were plenty around so we got our hopes up. Actually it’s said that the adult turtles live in that area- no wonder we saw so many. That night we were not the only couple to watch, there were two others hiding in the dunes hoping for something special to happen. And after a long waiting time one turtle managed to get ashore and started to dig a hole. As long as she was  digging we kept our distance to not disturb her. After a while she stopped digging and we crawled closed. Unfortunately she didn’t lay eggs she moved out of that hole. Maybe she decided it was too close to the water as she moved further up into the dunes and started to dig again. But she abandoned that hole as well and moved back into the water.

At that time we could come close and take pictures (at least it was written at the information centre). The turtle was big (probably around 120cm) and she looked devastated – really as if it was hard labour and sad that it was not successful. We imagined to actually see some tears in hear eyes. So we decided to check if any other turtle was digging somewhere but we only found some tracks.

Next morning we came back to the beach and had a look at the holes and  tracks. There were three different tracks leading into the dunes but only two had some diggings in between the tracks. One hole was halfway up the beach and we could lay comfortably in it. The other two holes were directly in front of the entrance to the beach where the sand was quite rocky.  We can really appreciate what effort it must be to dig these holes. Just imagine to dig a hole with your flippers! I tried to use my arms as flippers and gave up after 5 minutes but no hole was to be seen.

Now to answer the big question “what came first…” we must say it’s the hatchling (or the chicken)! When we were in Bundaberg we went to the turtle rockery in Mon Repos and saw several hatchling coming out and reaching the sea. But we didn’t see any adult turtle coming ashore. We just had to wait 10 month and travel to the other side of Australia to witness an adult turtle (or two, three, four or even more) on the beach digging a hole.

Happy digging!

Cheers, Tom and Anja

23. – 31. October

Cape Range National Park

We arrived in Exmouth and headed to the tourist information to get further updates on this area and then we headed to the beach for a swim, lunch and of course reading ;-) We decided to camp close to the lighthouse maybe it guides us through the night. Our first excursion took us into the eastern side of the Cape Range NP to the Charles Knife Gorge and the Thomas Carter Lookout as well as to the Shothole Canyon. Unfortunately these areas were not really impressive – the only remarkable thing is how Shothole Canyon got its name; shotholes were left when some companies explored the region hoping to find coal or iron-ore but as there are no mine sites they were not successful.

The next day we discovered the beaches; first stop was Bundegi beach where snorkelling is possible. But we didn’t see much. We drove to one wreck site, the SS Mildura ran aground and sank just 50m offshore. Luckily it’s still possible to see something of the ship but in some years the wooden structure might be completely rotten away. Then it was time to have a look at the northern beaches which offer a break so we were hoping to see a surfer. But no luck so we went on and drove up to the lighthouse. As it was on a hill we had 360degrees views onto the caravan park, the ocean and the inland.

Now we drove to the Cape Range National Park which covers the western side of that peninsula. It is also the place of the Ningaloo Reef which is sometimes just 50m offshore. This meant we could go snorkelling and snorkelling and of course snorkelling. There were so many different beaches to choose from so we had to decide. And the decision was easy; just stay several days so every beach could get its own day!

Yardie Creek was our first stop – this is the furthest camping area in the park. If you want to travel on along the coastline you have to cross the saltwater creek and go for miles through sand and military land before you finally reach Coral Bay. The camp area was just a stone throw from the water – just go over the dunes and start swimming. We also walked  into the Yardie Creek. Actually not into the creek but on top of the cliff with views into the gorge carved by the creek. This area is inhabited by black-footed rock wallabies but we saw one at the Tulki beach area.

 Sandy Bay was on our agenda as well. Actually we really liked that place and returned several times. Sandy Bay is used by several water-sport enthusiast, kite-surfer, swimmer and snorkelers. We watched the kite-surfers for a long time, there were around 10 surfers. It looked like they had a training class or surf lesson on. It was interesting to see them preparing their kite, then surfing and what a hassle it can be to get the kite back to the ground. But we got our snorkelling gear out and went into the water. And it was awesome – we saw so many different fishes (species, colour and size). Our first encounter was with a big sting ray. It was laying on the ground and didn’t move. Ok it started to move when I tried to get a close-up. I think the tail was around 2-3m and the body another 1.5m – it was big and still swam away quickly. Then we saw a lot of other fishes, clam shells and corals. But after 15min we had to get out of the water to warm up again.

On our next trip we saw more and other fishes and once again one you don’t really want to get close to. We saw some white-tipped reef-sharks. But luckily they had their mind on finding a place to sleep and were not hungry. Although they were quite interested in us – they circled around us and came close as 3m. I guess that the one shark was around 3m long and the other 1.5m. One curious thing was that we noticed the shark as all other fishes suddenly swam away. They must have sensed the shark but they returned shortly and found their place to sleep as well.

We snorkelled at Oyster Stacks as well. This area was not as nice as Sandy Bay so we only visited it once. Oyster Stacks is an area where oysters grow really close to the beach. Actually you have to climb over them to reach the water so you have to head the warning “only swim at high tide 1.2m or higher”. Otherwise you risk injuries to yourself as well as you can damage the reef. The oysters have such sharp edges it would really hurt if you cut yourself. And I’ve heard that such a wound would heal slowly and might get infected easily. Although we swam at a tide of over 1.2m it felt there was only 5cm between us and the coral.

At the area Turquoise Bay we had also two opportunities to snorkel – to snorkel in the bay or in the drift snorkel. We opted for the drift snorkel. Should be something different! The current in that area was so strong you really were drifting. The warning here says “only experienced snorkelers should use the area and still be aware of strong currents! also don’t go further than a “special marked” sandbank”. We went in and came out 100m away from our entry point but hardly noticed it while in the water. One of the highlights was that we snorkelled with a turtle. It suddenly appeared underneath us, looked at us and swam away fast. It’s unbelievable how quick they move and how elegant it looks. The parking area was also worth noting. They had nice shade covers and some information about the marine park and the animals.

The last area we snorkelled in was called Lakeside which is close to the visitor centre and has a camp area just some meters away. This is probably a reason why this area is so popular – we couldn’t get any spot at that place. But there was enough space to park the car and then we just walked some meters to the best spot to enter the water. Of course we saw corals and fishes but nothing really spectacular.  

Coral Bay was included in our trip as well which is around 200km south of Exmouth on the other end of the Ningaloo Reef. Coral Bay is famous for its marine life. It’s possible to spot Manta Rays all-year and whale-sharks in season. Unfortunately the whale-sharks season was over (it’s only between April to June, after the coral spawning) and the Manta Rays are not seen (or rarely seen) in the bay. The safest way to see a Manta Ray is by going on a cruise but none was scheduled and they are quite expansive. So we just snorkelled in the bay but we were disappointed. The reef looked damaged – not many colours to see and they just looked dead. The bay is also a shark nursery and at the right time of the day you can see them swimming around. This area is on the other side of the bay and normally they don’t venture into the swimming and snorkelling area.

Time to say goodbye to the Ningaloo Reef, hopefully we find further nice snorkelling place along the coast.

Keep safe,

Cheers, Tom and Anja

PS: I’m sorry that you didn’t hear from us for such a long time but we had friends with us and not time to blog. I hope to be on time soon ;-)