Around Oz with the Munchkins

Saturday, 1 September 2012

Snorkeling the Turquoise Bay drift, fishing for sharks, happy hour on the beach and swimming with the whalesharks

Finally we arrived in Exmouth, excited to finally be at the place where we could swim with whalesharks. Fortunately someone wise had advised us to book a campsite in the national park – most unlike us to book ahead but necessary at Cape Range which is busy at the best of times and full in school holidays. Before heading into the national park, we stocked up in the supermarket and went to the visitors centre for info on the whalesharks. Based upon advice from the visitors centre, we went to Whaleshark ‘n’ Dive to book our incredibly expensive but much anticipated day on the whaleshark boat. We booked for all four of us and then purchased and hired snorkeling equipment for all of us. We had five days to get the kids used to snorkeling before they would be thrown overboard to fend for themselves alongside a whaleshark…

We set up camp at Kurrajong camspite – a fairly flat and shadeless spot but right on a beautiful beach in the national park. We were welcomed by perhaps the most enthusiastic camp hosts ever (WA has a great system in many national parks which involves volunteers who do month-long stints looking after the campsites and visitors – thus allowing rangers to focus on conservation-based activities instead of listening to tourist complaints and cleaning toilets). We discovered that the rather social bunch at the campsite joined together for happy hour on the beach each night – sipping beers or cordial, eating the catch of the day, and watching the sunset. We balked at the thought of forced chit chat with strangers on the first night, but soon warmed to the idea and enjoyed their company the subsequent evenings – particularly as one couple had been busy catching sharks and served them up in delicious seasoned bite-sized pieces to all happy hour attendees.

Next day we woke to a dreadful wind. It took Kate approximately 1 hour to make her coffee due to the tussle between the wind and the gas flame. NOT a good start to the day. Kate and Bill struggled to put up the second room in the wind – in order to give us some shelter and prevent any further caffeine disasters. Finally we set off for Turquoise Bay – a well-known snorkeling spot with a drift (the current takes you gently over the reef with almost zero effort required from snorkeler) to the left and a sheltered bay to the right. We headed for the bay first in order to get the kids used to their snorkeling equipment. However in our panic to have the kids whaleshark ready we pushed Sash too hard and he decided that he didn’t ever want to snorkel or even enter the coldish water. Zara on the other hand was snorkeling like a pro in no time.

Inspired by our neighbours’ shark-catching prowess, Bill hit the beaches in the evening in order to haul in a big one. Although the shark wrestling was not so successful, he did discover that when the sun disappeared hundreds of phosphorescence came floating onto the beach. Hence nightly visits to the beach with the kids to cup our hands around the little glowing bits and hold them up in amazement.

We spent our days snorkeling, swimming and generally having a good time. Alas, Sash continued to refuse to enter the water – although he did have fun paddling around the edge and burying his shoes for us to find. The weather was nice and sunny and finally the wind died down which made it much more pleasant. We loved snorkeling the Oyster Stacks site and did a lovely walk alongside Yardi Creek where we spotted yellow footed rock wallabies zipping up and down the steep gorge walls.

At the campsite we met a friendly family from Melbourne – Katherine and Bruce and their four awesome kids Josh, Emily, Ollie and Abby. Ollie and Abby are Zara and Sash’s ages. The kids had a ball running around the dunes and hitting each other with swimming noodles. Bill and Bruce decided to join forces in order to catch those elusive sharks – still no luck but lots of fun had in the process.

We were sorry to pack up and leave Cape Range – a lovely spot. But we were excited to head into Exmouth for our whaleshark experience. Early next morning we were out on the boat with about 15 others and a very friendly and entertaining crew. They told us a lot about whalesharks and then kitted us up with snorkeling gear. After a while we were able to plop off the boat to snorkel over the reef in order to get used to our gear. And then began the wait for the spotter plain to spot a whaleshark somewhere outside the reef. We had morning tea, lunch, saw lots of whales and a hammerhead shark. Still waiting waiting. The kids skippered the boat, watched a movie, played with some other kids. And just when it looked like the day was going to be an enjoyable anticlimax, we had action. We were all crowded on the front of the boat watching a group of humbacks breaching not far from the boat when the crew started yelling ‘whaleshark, whaleshark’. We jumped into our gear and stood shivering at the back of the boat. It was all very adrenalin fueled. Soon enough Bill, Kate and Zara were in the warm water for our first glimpse of these incredible animals. We basically jumped into the water and awaited instructions from the crew member, then when the shark appears from the dark, we turned and snorkeled alongside it, keeping at least 3 metres from at as per DEC regulations. We managed to get in with the shark 5 or 6 times – and each time it got better as we learnt how to avoid getting stuck behind other people’s flippers and how to swim fast enough alongside the shark to get a good view. Not a lot is known about whalesharks and although they appear apparently unperturbed by the group of people swimming frantically alongside them, the swimming is closely regulated in order to protect the sharks from harm. However we have a bit of a hunch that swimming with whalesharks may not be allowed in the future. It was truly an incredible experience – a crazy pumped up adrenalin rush before and after the swims as we rushed around the boat and jumped in and out of the water –but as soon as you disappear into the silence under the water and watch the enormous creature gliding towards you out of the gloom, it really is an incredibly peaceful and calm experience.

Setting off on one of the lovely Cape Rage gorge walks

Zara the human tripod (with the Go Pro camera)

Snorkeling at Turquoise Bay

Getting briefed on the whaleshark boat

Captain Sash

Zara and Sash and the other kids on the boat

Heading to the Kennedy Ranges – just because…

Kate insisted on heading inland to visit the beautiful Kennedy Ranges as it seemed only appropriate – particularly having been given such a good time in Perth by the Kennedy Clan. Fortunately the Ranges were particularly beautiful – a little shady campsite nestled in amongst spectacular cliff faces, which reflected the morning sun. Next morning we walked and scrambled and stumbled up onto the Escarpment to be rewarded with amazing views of the ranges. After lunch we headed to Honeycomb Gorge which did indeed look like a great wall of honeycomb. Next morning Zara and Kate wriggled out of their sleeping bags at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise from a perfect vantage point called ‘sunrise lookout’. After the sun was up we did another gorge walk - lovely in the cool of the early morning. Back at camp we found the fellas still in their pyjamas but we all managed to get packed up pretty fast and hit the very bumpy road north in search of Exmouth.

Unfortunately we had underestimated the distance we needed to travel to read Exmouth. Bill and Kate started glancing nervously at the petrol gauge. And despite having had our bike rack welded back together it had started to sag alarmingly towards the road. So this journey was altogether a little bit stressful and we were almost panting with relief when we slid into Coral Bay having driven the last 60kms with the petrol light on – not to mention the bikes dragging along the road behind us (Kate’s bike wheel seriously stuffed). But our troubles were not over because it was still school holidays and the little coastal town of Coral Bay was jam-packed. Unable to find even a penthouse apartment let alone a humble campsite, we left town to try and find a roadside campsite to no avail. As dark descended we eventually just pulled over the side of the road, set-up in a rather lopsided manner, made spaghetti and tumbled into bed exhausted but keeping half an ear out for police.

At the top of the escarpment

Playing at Honeymoon Gorge

Zara watching the sunrise

Sunrise reflecting off the cliffs

Zara at the end of Temple Gorge

Frozen mango and heavenly strawberries in Carnarvon

School holidays were approaching and the crowds were closing in on us as they flocked into Denham and Monkey Mia. So we waved goodbye to beautiful Shark Bay and hit the road to Carnarvon. We hadn’t heard anything particularly exciting or bad about Carnarvon but when we arrived we were pleased to find plenty to see and do. We checked into a caravan park in order to do our washing and, see the sights and prepare for a bit of an inland adventure. After setting up we were in need of a feed so we went to the Old Post Office for what they claimed were ‘one of the top 5 best pizzas in the world’. Hmmm big claim but maybe. They were pretty good. Next day we did a tour of a banana and mango plantation called Bumbaks. It was interesting to learn about how they grow and harvest the different kinds of fruit. Zara was particularly taken with some baby bananas hiding under the banana plant's leaves. The tour guide told us that supermarkets buy 1 box of tree ripened mangos (that smell magnificent) for every 20 boxes of chemically ripened mangos (which hardly smell at all) to give off that enticing mango smell and trick all us stooopid consumers into buying more mangos. Humph. So always give a mango a big hard sniff before you buy it. Or better yet, don’t buy mangos from horrible evil supermarkets. At the end of the tour we gulped down magnificent mango smoothies and frozen mango icecreams before heading off to the various plantation stalls to stock up on fresh food. Most notable were the super-sweet strawberries (we kept going back) and the frozen mango (not in season).

Next day, we hopped on our bikes and rode to the local satellite dish which assisted the first dudes to land on the moon. We had missed Buzz Aldrin by a couple of days – seriously, he had opened the little space museum next to the satellite dish. Shame, he would have been disappointed to have missed us… Then through town and over the park lands, stopping regularly at hardware stores so Bill could fondle various camping lights, springs and whatnot. We lunched at the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and checked out the gallery before hopping back on our wheels and heading for the famous one–mile jetty. We were all a bit exhausted after a long bike ride but walked to the end of the jetty in the driving wind so Bill could chat to the fisherfolk, Zara could play with a bounding dog and Sash and Kate could try to stop eachother from being blown off the edge. Exhausted we arrived home and prepared the ingredients for tofu skewers (Kate and Zara) and kangaroo skewers (Bill and Sash) but then realized we didn’t have any skewers so had to settle for a big pile of mush with rice.

Dorky family photo in front of bananas in Carnarvon

Lovin’ the Mack Attackin Shark Bay and sad news from Melbourne

In search of sunshine we drove north to world heritage listed Shark Bay. By this time we were getting very excited because we had received news from Melbourne that the Macks were coming to visit! Greta, Cam, Dashie and baby Jett were hopping a plane from Melbourne to Perth, then driving like mad things for 2 days up the West Coast to meet us for 5 days in Francois Perron National Park, Shark Bay. We were so excited at the prospect of seeing some of our best friends from Melbourne. We were also a bit nervous though on their behalf and began checking the weather every 5 minutes for promises of sunshine for our frozen refugees from Melbourne’s winter. We were determined that everything would be perfect for their 5 day visit because we had lured them with promises of sunshine, swimming and good times! We set up at Denham caravan park 1 week prior to their arrival in order to suss out the best campsite and get the lay of the land. On one of our scoping trips we decided on a beautiful spot in the National Park called Big Lagoon – right on the water and close(ish) to Perron Homestead which had a artesian hot tub! We took a break from our scoping to visit some Stromatolites (most ancient form of life on the planet - indeed they are thought to have been around over 3 million years ago! Naturally they looked just like kinda cool lumps in the sea but we still felt strangely thrilled...

Before the Macks arrived we were shocked to hear from Melbourne that our old dog was very ill. We all knew when we left that it was possible that he would die during the year, but hoped very much that he wouldn’t. Phlappy was 15 years old, so we knew he had had a good innings but it was very hard not to be with him to say goodbye. Massive thanks to Vince, Emma, Rayner and Laura who all looked after Phlappy so well right to the very end. We're dreading arriving back in Melbourne to a Phlappy-less house.

We drove out to Big Lagoon, bumping through some very sandy spots. It was when we had arrived and had positioned our trailer ready for set-up that Kate noted that the bikes were missing from the back of the trailer… Bill drove back along the track and found the bikes and bike rack in the middle of the track! Not too much damage to the bikes thankfully but the bike rack had sheared off completely and was useless. We consoled ourselves by driving to the hot tub and soaking luxuriously until we were wrinkled as prunes and half boiled. Back at the campsite we became uncomfortably aware that 10,000 sandflies were circling us looking for fresh blood. Next day both kids came up with a belt of bites and Kate and Bill’s legs were covered with horrible long-lasting super itchy bites. Not the best welcome for our Melbourne friends, but we just hoped the bities had filled up on us... Our friends Hannah and Michael came and camped in the same spot, which was lovely. Michael and Bill headed out for a spot of very successful fishing - providing us with a steady diet of barbequed fish for the next couple of weeks.

We met the Macks at the bakery in town and it was completely wonderful to see them. Dashie looked all grown up and fell immediately into his old camaraderie with Sash. The two of them played constantly for the next 5 days, disappearing into the dunes to play imaginary games filled with spaceships, chocolate rainbows, bears and shops. They also worked diligently at burying many toys in the sand (never to be seen again) and ferreting away various shoes, hats, forks etc to their sandy hideaway. Zara loved hanging out with beautiful baby Jett who was beginning to say some very clear words and kept us all amused with her exclamations. Cam and Zara rocked out with guitar and uke making up new songs and amping up some nursery rhyme classics.

The next few days were wonderful – it was just so nice to hang out with old friends. We (of course) visited the dolphins at Monkey Mia (Kate and Zara both got to feed dolphins!), pigged out at a buffet breakfast, checked out the sights and spent happy hours in the hot tub. We also visited Ocean World to watch sharks being fed and lots of other marine excitements – Dashie was particularly taken with the lobster to which he returned again and again. But mostly we hung out at the beautiful lagoon basking in the sunshine, watching dugongs and turtles float past, playing cards and generally enjoying ourselves. Bill arranged for us to hire a tinnie from a bloke in Denham so we also explored the lagoon and fished in the open waters. Lovely warm sunny days were followed by bitterly cold nights. We had to change our singlets and shorts for ski jackets and beanies. Happily the freezing nights kept the bities away.

We sadly waved the Macks goodbye as they bravely began their return-to-Perth odyssey. We felt that the next few days might feel a bit quiet and depressing but in fact our time with the Macks renewed and revived us so that we were excited to set off on the next leg of our journey.