20240601 - Cape Range National Park. Before we left Exmouth we picked up a parcel from the Post Office - a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System thingy. Another little gadget for the Big Man, but no it's for me too (apparently). This all came about after we blew a tyre (I may have said something about the horse has already bolted - maybe not the right timing). He did all he needed to do to set it up, so we were on our way. Now it's my time to have fun, every 5 minutes or when the alarm went off (which was a lot), I had to read this thingy and provide him with each tyre's PSI and temperature - so much fun. So now not only do I have knowledge of fuel economy, I can also tell you about tyres - Peter Gwynne if you need any advice, I can probably help you out, but I will need to know what the temperature outside is, where the sun is hitting each tyre, the camber of the road, the condition of the road and your speed - and that's just the start.
We arrived at our site in Cape Range National Park - we had a few things that we needed to do. I was working on the Laptop and I looked at the time and it said 5:30pm, I thought geez that time has gone quick. So, I get up and start organising dinner, which we have, we've cleaned up and then I picked up my phone it said 4:30pm - oops Laptop is still on Brisbane time - just another one of my moments (as Dave calls them). I seem to be having a lot of these - lucky he has a good sense of humour, I'm giving him plenty to laugh at.
After we got ourselves settle we went for a hike - Yardie Creek Trail.
After our trek we ended up at Osprey beach for a nice little cool down. We really enjoyed our day.
20240604 - Yardie Creek Homestead
to Coral Bay. We left Yardie Creek and headed back to Exmouth to get some
supplies, before driving down to Coral Bay. Tomorrow we are hoping that
we will be able to get out and see some Manta Rays. The weather has been
very Windy (now I know why they call WA - Windy Always) and they have called
off a lot of the boat tours, the seas have been choppy, with large swells and
the visibility has been terrible. We really did feel bad for the people
that had booked Whale Shark tours months and months in advance, only to find
out the weather wasn't playing the game. Their boat trips are just
cancelled with their money refunded. I could only imagine how disappointed we
would have been, this whole trip has really been planned around swimming with
the Whales Sharks. That night we did receive confirmation that our tour for the
Manta Rays was on - yay.
20240605 - 20240605 - Coral Bay. I'm pretty excited and hopeful for the day to begin. The seas didn't seem as rough or with the big swells as they had been for the last couple of days - yet. So off we go, we get a snorkel in around the 'cleaning station' a place where larger fish go to get their teeth etc cleaned by smaller fish. When a shark or larger fish wants a clean, they usually open their mouth wide or position their body in such a way as to signal that they wish to be cleaned, for reef sharks they go vertical. The cleaners then remove and eat parasites, dead skin etc. from their skin, even swimming into the mouth of any fish being cleaned. This was actually very interesting to watch, we did see a lot of reef sharks getting cleaned, oh and they were large reef shark, bigger than what Dave and I have ever seen.
The spotter plane has spotted a Manta Ray, so now it’s time to go, we all slide off the back of the boat. I was so excited I was going to swim with a Manta Ray - which apparently, I was, I just couldn't see it, the visibility was terrible. Our swimming guide came over to me and pointed it out, when it was directly beneath me - but I still couldn't see it - I wasn't the only one. A few of the other snorkelers said they didn’t see it either. The Big Fella thinks he saw a very shady outline. The wind had picked up and it was getting pretty rough, people were having troubling even standing up, there were a couple of good falls. Big surprise I wasn't one of them.
We had found out that the State of Origin was going to be broadcasted over at Bill's Bar. We didn't think there would be a lot of people there, considering we are in WA. Wrong, the place was packed. They have a restaurant, beer garden, sports bar and function area. When we got there, we couldn't find a seat anywhere so we wandered into the sports bar, were people were already standing. There was two little high bar tables in the corner, just off to the side of the pool tables, and right underneath the TV. I had nothing to lose so I asked the bar staff if I could move the table, she said of course. By the time I had moved the table 1 metre, someone had already grabbed the other table. I was then lucky enough that two Western Australian people, who had absolutely no interest in the footy left. I was stalking them and before both of their cheeks had left the seats I was in asking for the chairs. Score, by the time Dave got back from the bar, we were set and ready to go. The bonus of being in this bar was that they had one big projector screen and 5 smaller screens which by the time the game was ready to start were all on the Station of Origin. An added bonus was that the majority of the people here, were going for QLD. We had a great night, a bit dusty in the morning though, it was all worth it.
20240606 - Coral Bay. It was a bit of a slow morning, it took us a little while to get motivated. Early in the afternoon we wandered down to yet another beautiful beach - Bills Bay.
20240607 – Coral Bay to Quobba. We’ve
only got a fairly short drive today; lucky we have this tyre pressure
management thingy to keep having fun with.
Dave hasn’t got the tyre pressure to the pressure he wants, so we are
trying everything, today Miss Daisy is going to try driving slower to see if
that helps – if we go any slower the cyclists will start passing us. We finally find a nice little camp site at
Quobba Point in the National Park. Now
off to the blow holes – these were certainly worth watching, our coastline is
truly spectacular. There is a food truck
there which is serving fresh donuts (of course Dave ordered 5 of these) and ice
cream coffee – it was the largest affogato that I have ever had, it was served
in a large takeaway coffee cup – so delicious.
20240608 - 20240610 – Quobba to Carnarvon. Before we leave Quobba – we headed back to the food truck for another ice cream coffee – it was just as delicious.
We drive into Carnarvon, get ourselves all sorted then head of to the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum. The station was built to support NASA’s Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs. It was the last station to communicate with the space capsules leaving the earth orbit, and the last to make contact before splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. That kept my interest for about 15 minutes, I had a brief overview of what happened, a simulated ride in a space module, with a little video. Dave was in his element, he was stopping at every little attraction and reading everything. I left him to it and just kept on going through the Museum. I went into the 2nd last exhibit and I found the old Galaga Game Machine – now this is more my style, bringing back some missed spent youth memories, that’s where I stayed until Dave caught up with me, close to an hour. It was free, the only disappointment was the Space Invaders Game was out of order.
20240610 – 20240611 - Carnarvon - Kalbarri. We arrived earlier enough into Kalbarri that we decided to park the motorhome and head straight for the National Park (there is also rain predicted for tomorrow). We have come to see the Skywalks and Natures Window. These did not disappoint.
The next morning, we wake to rain. So instead of walking along the beach to see a few attractions we decided to drive. In between a couple of attractions, driving along the main road, Dave and I both look at each other, to see if we both saw the Emu just wandering down the foot path without a care in the world. Something you don’t see every day.
20240612 -20240615 – Kalbarri – Geraldton. On the way from Kalbarri to Geraldton, we have decided to make a small detour and stop at Hutt Lagoon, known for the Pink Lake. This was only about a 10km detour. To be honest it really did not impress and we both said how underwhelming it was – especially after some of the stunning scenery we have already seen. We both just looked at each other and laughed saying that’s 20mins we will never get back.
We are spending a few days in Geraldton to do some maintenance – yes Dave is still trying to get the Diesel Heater working – we may have celebrated a bit prematurely. He has organised a few parts to get sent to Geraldton Post Office. Not ready to celebrate yet but we do have hot air...
20240615 - 20240617 - Jurien Bay. Our main reason for stopping at Jurien Bay was to go on the Lobster Tour. If the boat catches enough Lobster you get to keep 8 per person, so for Dave and I that would be 16. It cost us $120 (Senior) for Dave and $150 for me to go on this tour. Dave thinks I'm being conned and doesn't believe that we will be given 8 lobsters each. All I can say is he was WRONG and I was right, this doesn't happen very often. The Big fella had to apologise, not that I had to remind him that he was Wrong. I was so relieved that I hadn't been scammed. What an amazing day, not only did we get to learn about lobsters and watch them pull up the lobster pots, we also got to see dolphins and whales, and we got to take home 16 Lobsters. Now where to put all these lobsters, whatever I had in the freezer was being tossed out to make way for the lobsters. Of course we put 4 on the BBQ for us to eat that afternoon - thinking one each would be plenty and we could have the other two for lunch tomorrow. Lets just say we have one half a lobster for the two of us for lunch tomorrow. The Big Fella cooked them perfectly on the BBQ and they were delicious. The Big Fella said if he doesn't get gout by the time we get through 16 lobsters he never will.
