The Ningaloo Reef

I've saved the best till last, it was also our last day in Exmouth too. We took a long drive down the westside which is where the Ningaloo reef runs down. The Ningaloo reef or Marine Park is the largest fringing coral reef in Australia and is the only large reef in the world found so close to land. It covers more than 4000 sq Kms and extends 10 nautical miles out to sea and is just breath taking.

First stop was Osprey Bay, nice camping spot and beautiful little cove. You can camp at most of the beaches, but there is no facilities or even water so you have to take everything you will need, the beauty of this place is worth roughing it anytime.

OSPREY BAY

Next was a quick stop to the equally beautiful Sandy bay, If we had arrived 2 seconds earlier we would have set up camp for the day as there are two sun shelters but a car had arrived just before us and both shelters were occupied. There were also 3 kite surfers, great to watch but wouldn't have been very fun for us trying to snorkel so it was off to find the perfect spot.

Sandy Bay



We stoped at 6 or 7 beaches before deciding on Turquoise Bay, it certanly had the WOW factor for us, white white sand and crystal clear transparent water. The water was nice and cold and so refreshing, with the water being so clear we could clearly see schools of Trevally swimming next to us in knee deep water, it was amazing.



With all our snorkeling gear on it was off to explore some of the coral reefs, Tayden and Kahayla being seasoned snorkelers now found the swim out easy, Janaya was awesome, she was in her ring and just swam next to us or hitched a ride on my back when she felt like it, We hadn't swum far when we reached a big mass of coral so Sean and I took turns diving down with the kids for a look, and it was like being in a huge finding nemo fish tank, we even saw nemo and dory and most of their friends, so amazing in real life and so many fish to look at. We stayed out for a while then I took the girls back into shallow water while Tayden and Sean went exploring further out.


Sitting on the beach I was in Awe of the beauty of the place and felt really lucky to be here in such a remote part of the world. There were a handful of people here also so we didn't quite have it to ourselves. We stayed for a good part of the day, then it was time to head back to Exmouth.

We spotted these massive sand dunes on the way home, so we found a track and drove down to investigate. The kids and I had a race to the top, and when we got to the top it was like being in a sand desert, just sand for as far as the eye could see (in one direction anyways as the beach was just on the other side. So we had heaps of fun sliding down the hill and seeing how could come up with the best statagy to go even faster.







Next stop was an old ship wreck and this also being the top of the peninsula, then home for a bite to eat and to get ready for another night fish off the beach.

Truck all loaded as for the previous nights fishing it was off to our spot. The kids got stuck into constructing a massive sandcastle, and Sean and I tried our luck again with the fishing. This time we lost most of our gear to the reef, Sean spoted a school of fish and tried out his $8 lures only to loose them one at a time as soon as he cast out. It was a good thought though.


My Shark

Kids sand Castle with moat and coral

We moved a few meters up the beach and out of the reefs way. Once again I got the first one in yep a shark, I was beginning to think this was to be a repeat of the other night. Couple of sharks later Sean caught two small fish, really nice looking fish kind of like a snapper and an emperor of some sort, too small to keep so we kept trying for the mummys and daddys but no luck, We left empty handed again and most gear gone. But It was good

Exmouth

Day 2 in Exmouth was more just an explore around. We first drove out to the lighthouse, at the very tip of the peninsula, then a short way down the west side, the views from the lighthouse were spectacular, especially what we could see of the westside.


We then drove past a turtle sanctuary where you can sit on the beach at night and watch the turtles doing what turtles do, unfortunately we never got round to doing this as fishing took up our nights, but more about that later.

Then we passed a clothing optional beach, a polite way of saying nudist beach, unfortunately we never got round to visiting that beach either I have no idea why we missed that one?

Then it was back into town for a game of mini golf and a look around the new marina that is being constructed, very flash with lots of canals coming in towards town, wouldn't mind getting our hands on a nice piece of dirt there, and building a nice beach house and park the boat in the canal, ohh dreams are free.


Janaya and Mango the emu go for a bit of a stroll


We spent the afternoon at in the pool and I managed to capture a video of Janaya swimming. She has amazed us as she has taught herself to swim out of sheer determination to be like the big kids, in the video where she is swimming is over Seans head and by the next day she was swimming the width of the pool, without taking a breath. I am going to enrol her in swimming lessons next term if I can get a spot.



Then It was off to the town beach for a barbie and a spot of fishing. It was my turn to cook the barbie while Sean and the kids cast a line out for a look. After a bite to eat it was off down the beach for some serious fishing, I had set up the back of the truck with a mattress and my laptop so the kids could watch a dvd or two while we fished.






Lines in and as usual I get the first bite, and a big one at that, finally I get to shore a baby shark, we hummed and ahhed about keeping it to try in the fish fry but decided against it and let it go, 5 Mins later Tayden was struggling with his line, so I helped him reel in Shark number two, Then it was my turn again and yep you guessed it another shark. We sat there happily till 11pm (and 3 bottles of wine) while the kids slept in the truck, we caught a few more sharks and lost a bit of gear but was a really fun night.

My Shark

Taydens shark

Taydens Birthday

Well my boy turned 9 on Tuesday and with the two cyclones putting us on yellow alert, Birthday plans were changed. We had planned a trip to Exmouth on Sunday, returning the day after Taydens Birthday, but all this had to be put on hold as the cyclones came and went. But by Monday afternoon the weather was good enough for us to set off, so bookings were changed and the decision to go down on Tuesday was made. We hadn't told the kids we were going so Taydens birthday was going to be not what he had expected. 5am Sean and I were up packing the car before we woke the kids at 5.30am. Tayden opened his presents and was stoaked with the junior golf clubs Sean had got in Perth.


After opening his presents from NZ and talking to Nana, Poppa and Mark, It was normally time to get ready for school and as they had had thurs, fri and mon off school,they were looking forward to going back to school. They were pretty excited when we told them we were going on Holiday for the week.

By 7.30am we had set off on our first Holiday since being here. The 5 and a 1/2 hour trip was the quickest and easiest trip I have ever been on. It really felt like we had just driven in a straight line from start to finish, with maybe a couple of bends. There were two roadhouse stops along the way and nothing else. I would hate to have to drive that too often as the monotony of the landscape could do your head in but it subtly it changed on the way.

As we got closer to Exmouth we spotted these termite nests, then after a while they were dotting the landscape for as far as the eye could see, so many of them, it kinda made you shiver at the thought of how many termites would be in each nest.




We arrived in Exmouth around 1pm and had a look around and liked what we saw. In the holiday park where we were staying there were these emus hanging around. Janaya was beside herself with excitement never having seen before, she was fascinated and for a little girl that's afraid of kittens and dogs, she wasn't afraid of the emus. She followed them around and just giggled at them. It was so cute.

We then went and spent a couple of hours in the pool, it was so nice to cool off after a long drive.

When we got back to our cabin, Janaya shrieked Mummy the mango is here, I had no idea what she was talking about but when I saw what she meant I just cracked up. It was the emu back again. With the correct wording of the bird sorted, we named this particular emu Mango and Mango was to become a regular visitor to Janaya for the next few days.

We went out to a nice restaurant for Taydens Birthday dinner and both Tayden and Kahayla turned their noses up at the kids meals, they ended up ordering garlic prawns, ka-ching ka-ching. lol I guess they are growing up. It was a very nice meal, but it was back home for the birthday cake, which wasn't up to my usual standards but I couldn't make anything too fancy to take away, but it tasted pretty good.

Cyclones Geroge and Jacob

This is a bit of a late post but never mind.

We woke last Thursday to a yellow alert, and no school. This is what I had been waiting for a good storm, As we had known that the cyclone could be coming our way for about a week, we were well prepared and ready. The only thing we were missing was Sean. He was down in Perth for a weeks fire training.

Tayden and I set about getting the shutters closed on the windows and the big grate things over the ranch sliders. (or glass sliding doors as the Aussies call them, they have no idea what a ranch slider is) Then it was a quick walk around the yard to make sure nothing was lying about, bikes put away etc. We were set.

ALL SHUT UP AND READY



A few of the Woodside people came around to see if we were organised as they knew Sean was in Perth. Which was nice and I just about everyone I know (which isn't that many people) rang to see if we were ok

It seemed like everyone else was panicking, by lunch time the town was out of diesel, so its not hard to work out the town is full of 4WD's with the exception of ours being a petrol, and the queues at the supermarket checkouts was over an hours wait.

I think they should rename yellow alert, PANIC alert. The alerts are BLUE alert (which never happened in our case) means the community should commence taking precautions, and keep up to date with the cyclones development, fuel up, stock up on food, tidy yard etc.
YELLOW alert means there is a significant risk of a cyclone occurring, secure all cyclone screens, fill containers with water. Schools close and people start thinking about finishing work for the day. Evacuations are usually made in a yellow alert, and a few people in the lower lying areas here where evacuated.
RED ALERT, means the big one is coming. no one is allowed outside until given the all clear with cautions. The people in Port Headland had to stay on RED for about 24 hours after the cyclone had crossed due to downed power lines all over the place and lots of flooding.

So we waited and watched with interest the cyclones track map which was being up dated every hour at this stage. The kids created a cyclone of their own in the family room, but they were happy.

THE CYCLONE IN THE HOUSE!!




Poor Sean was worrying and was frantically trying to get on a flight home that afternoon. He managed to get on one, only for the airport up here to close, just as they were about to leave, so he had to spend a stressful night in Perth.

The kids and I were fine, we all slept in my bed and had a great night sleep, by morning the cyclone had completely missed us and had given the people of port Headland (150kms north of us) a really rough night.

We were given the all clear but still no school. Sean managed to get a flight home that evening and we braced for yet another cyclone (Jacob) This one looked to be heading directly for us this time, and we were again on Yellow alert, but as it got closer it weakened down to a Category 1 and then at the last minute changed direction and crossed at port Headland again!

So the cyclones were a big non event for us here in Karratha. I feel sorry for the people of port Headland, they have a huge clean up ahead of them and sadly there were 3 fatalities, which occurred in the small mining camps. It could have potentially been allot worse if it did hit us with a Cat 4 as we have 3000 people in those little working mans camps on the edges of town, as opposed to 500 that they had up there. I hope the shire council people take note of the tragedies and make better shelter facilities for the people living in caravans and dongas, as our evacuation centre here is a cafeteria at the College which is an all glass small inadequate room that would barely fit 100 people.

THE BIGGEST EXCITEMENT WAS THE RAIN!