Heading South

18-Jun-2007

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Heading South from the Pilbara in WA

Tuesday - 31st August

Headed for Exmouth, arrived there with little fuel due to gale force headwinds. Winds looked like settling in so back tracked south and arrived at Coral Bay.  Lots of desert scenery and the occasional emu on the way.  The wind at Coral Bay was much gentler.  Checked into Coral Bay CP.  Small sandy sites (white not red) and only salty bore water to sites.  Drinking water available from ablutions block.  We’ll use our tanks.  Set up then went for a walk around the village and a beer at the pub overlooking the bay, nice way to spend an afternoon.  Weather a little cooler than Broome.

Wednesday - 1st September

Day dawned nice and clear as usual with a gentle breeze, booked on a 2 hour kayak/reef snorkelling thing.  Arrived at the kayak departure point, picked up snorkelling equipment and kayak and paddled after Ian, our guide. About ˝ hour of paddling saw us at the outer Ningaloo reef.   Donned our gear and fell overboard, the coral and the fish were spectacular.  Fish of dozens of different types, colours and sizes were flashing everywhere.  The coral looked very healthy.   We saw a shark and followed a turtle for a while.  We then got back into the kayaks and paddled to “Snapper Hole” were a large school of relatively tame Spangled Emperor fish hung around for some food.  They looked very appetizing. Water was fairly chilly at 18C.  Arrived home to an enthusiastic welcome from Judy, who had elected to stay safe on shore.   After lunch we did a little 4WDing down the coast and got a bit bogged in the soft sand.  A bit of digging and lo-range diff locked reversing got us out.  Back at the village we watched a couple of amateur fishermen clean their catch.  They lost some fish and parts of fish to sharks.  Apparently you have to get your catch on board pretty quickly if you want to keep it all.  Later we walked along the beach and fed the fish.  A large school of mainly Spangled Emperor come right into the shallows and we fed them with Department of Conservation and Land Management approved pellets.  They were huge (the fish not the pellets) and looked delicious too.  Pity it was in a sanctuary zone and we weren’t allowed to net one.

Thursday - 2nd September

Packed up and headed on down to Carnarvon.  Countryside along the way is mainly red sand dunes covered in wildflowers.  They were beautiful.  Stopped a few times for photos.  Checked into the Plantation CP in Carnarvon then did a small tour of the town before heading back to camp for some rest and didge practice.  I can almost make the kookaburra sound with it now.  Must work on the circular breathing.  Mulloway that I caught in Broome for dinner tonight.

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