Quobba Station WA 16/09/12 to 18/09/12

We deviated a little from our plans as we had heard a lot about Quobba Point. This area provided a coast line that was a complete contrast to the areas further north where we had just been. Although there were some areas of beach, mostly it was about rugged rocky cliff faces with huge waves crashing into them. Our camp site, Quoba Station, was a sheep farm of 103,000 acres with around 15,000 sheep. The camp area was along side the homestead and shearing shed - a fairly rugged set up.

The first day there we went for a wander along the beach in front of the station. Instead of sand it was more made up of broken coral and endless clam shells. In the shallows of the water we were able to see live clams, corals and sea urchins. Along further the beach ended in a rocky outcrop from which people were fishing. Apparently, on the higher cliff faces, they do something called "balloon fishing" which involves attached your fishing line to a helium filled balloon, casting it out and having it hanging around one to two meters above the water waiting for mackerel to jump out and take the bait. Would have been great to see.

We went down to the point which is a popular fishing area and home to around 40-50 fishing shacks. The buildings are very basic - you don't need much when it's all about the fish. They were mostly deserted while we were there and we expect they are busy when the fishing is good. We went for a snorkel at the point and again saw some spectacular coral and fish, however, as the water was fairly shallow, both were smaller than we had seen further north. Nevertheless it was still a great experience. We also checked out the blow hole in this area which is out on the edge of a rocky outcrop. Some large waves hitting the rock face here and forcing their way high into the air through the blow hole. The experience of getting out close to the edge is really quite scary. Still thinking about the welcoming sign that reads "King Waves Kill" (refer below).

We also traveled north of the point along the dirt road to witness the cliff faces touching the sea. Some areas these would be up to 100 metres high. Had the most unusual experience of coming across a set of traffic lights in the middle of nowhere on a bitumen road which cut across our dirt road. Turns out the road was for the Rio Tinto salt mine and the lights were to stop the traffic on the dirt road (our road) as the Rio Tinto trucks traveled from the salt mine out to the Rio Tinto wharf where the salt was loaded directly on to the boats.

We stayed two nights and each night we had a camp fire. We had to get maximum value out of our wood as a bag cost us $20. Our stay was most enjoyable except for damage done to the van as we struck a rock while trying to get into the camp site. It is now a bit dented around the bottom of the door and this will need to get fixed once we get home.

Salt plains beside road as we head towards Quobba Point

Apparently king waves kill. Warning not to get too close to cliff edge as a big rogue wave might get  you.

On the beach out front of Quobba Station

Fish and coral in the shallow waters in front of Quobba Station

It's always good to have a fire

Whales sighted off shore

Blow hole at Quobba Point with Doug trying to get a little too close

Dare devil (still actually about 20 metres away)

This is what the coast line is like in this part of WA.

Boys tasting the sea salt

Fishing cottages at Quobba Point. Not exactly 5 star but I am  guessing they do the job. There were over 40 of these in all manner of condition

On the beach at Quobba Point. We went snorkeling and then retired to our  shelter

Another view of the coast line

Storm approaching over the salt plains

Coral Bay WA 13/09/12 to 16/09/12

Coral Bay is a lovely little  beach town with two caravan parks, a resort, bakery, post office and lots of tourist shops. A very busy holiday town.  Once again beautiful turquoise water. You could snorkel right of the beach and we did every day.  The coral was amazing; huge cabbage/carnation flower looking corals with plenty of interesting fish.  Every arvo the WA Dept of Environment and Conservation representative did fish feeding on the beach.  Hundreds of spanish mackerel and a few parrot fish would swim though your legs in the shallows. The boys had a ball feeding them.  The mackerel were huge it’s a pity you couldn’t put a line in.

One of the days we decided to do a quad bike snorkel tour. Wow what an exhilarating experience.  We went over salt plains then up over the sand hills onto the beach. I nearly lost it a couple of times screaming each time. So much fun. At one stage we came over a ridge and all I could see was the beautiful turquoise water.  It was very scary going down the other side. The boys had a ball even though they weren't driving. If this is what 4w driving is all about I want to do some more.  We stopped at two different dive spots, Oyster Bridge and The Lagoon. Both were really good. At Oyster Bridge we got up nice and close to a reef shark.  Great day topped off by dinner at the local pizza joint. The only problem was the AFL semi final was played that night and one side was the West Coast Eagles. They had the telecast on the TV in the bar area which made for a very noisy dinner. 

Jacob and me ready to hit the beach

Nate and Doug on on the salt plains

Oyster Bridge

Steep sand hill to get up

Waiting for the fish to arrive in the bay

Spanish Mackerel 

photos from under water camera

Cape Range National Park - WA 10/09/12 to 13/09/12

We packed up early to get to the Tantabiddi Boat ramp to meet up with our tour, Ningaloo Dreaming.  What a day!!! We snorkeled twice, once on the inner reef and then on the outer reef.  We had to be careful when snorkeling on the outer reef as there were some big waves coming through. It was amazing to watch the fish move with the currents as the waves came through. We saw heaps of different types of fish, amazing shapes and colours, especially on the first dive as we were closer to the coral. There didn't seem to be much colour in the coral but every now and then we would see bright green or blue tipped ones. On the outer reef dive we saw two sea turtles and the boys were taught how to dive down with the snorkels.  Nate did really well but went down to far and hurt his ears.  He now knows how to equalise his ears.  I swam though schools of fish - an amazing feeling.

We saw Humback Whales doing pec and tail slaps and also two Humbacks close to the boat.  They recon one of them must have been hit by a boat and injured its back as it was misshapen and wasn't diving at all.  The other Humback was there to watch over him.  There were about five tiger sharks and one great white shark keeping a close watch on the whale. They must have known it wasn’t well and were getting ready for an easy feed.  The guys running the boat tour were like little school boys when they saw the sharks as they hadn’t seen any before and were putting their heads under the water with snorkel gear on.  At one stage they jumped in but soon were out as the sharks came closer.

On our way back to the boat ramp, after what we thought was a pretty successful day of snorkeling, and with all of the snorkeling gear washed and put away, one of the boys spotted a Whale Shark. This was unusual for this time of year.  All of the gear came back out and we were all in the water again.  It was hard work keeping up with the whale shark. We think it was about five metres long. I snorkeled with it four times and on the last two times it nearly ended up swimming into me.  It totally freaked me out and  I screamed and swam like crazy.  It was amazing to watch to swish its tail and move though the water.  The boys snorkeled twice with the whale shark.  Nate thought it was pretty spooky swimming beside the whale shark as the water was murky and it couldn't be seen and then was just there in your face.  Jacob was speechless; he actually said that he swore when he first saw it.  It was early to bed that night after our very tiring but exhilarating day.

Patiently waiting for our boat trip

Off we go

Our boat Ningarloo Dreaming

Doug the boys and me all kitted up for our snorkel

Jacob and Nate with their new friends Harry, Callan and Declan

Humpback whale doing pec slaps

The injured Humpback (grey) with his friend (black)

That shadow is the whale shark

We didn't have a underwater camera.  This is to show you what it looks like and this is exactly what we saw.

 and this is what I saw when I looked up after jumping in the water. It was coming straight for me.

 A beautiful graceful creature

The ride back to shore after a successful day

We spent three nights in Cape Range National Park and, although a little windy at times, we loved it. There are lots of different snorkeling spots along the coast. The best being Turquoise Bay and Oyster Stacks, where you can see plenty of different fish and corals.

Our camp ground "Osprey" 

Right on the beach

Our camp site

Osprey beach

Just check out the colour of the water. 

Snorkeling Osprey

Yardie Creek Gorge

We did the short walk up to the look out 

Crazy boys

An evening visitor to our camp

Turquoise Bay.  You do a drift snorkel at this spot

Oyster Stacks. Great snorkel spot but we only got to do this once as you can only snorkel when the tides are high and  there is enough water to cover the stacks.  

We are starting to see a few wild flowers.  

Thirsty Emu. We had to wait until he had finished his drink before we could fill up the tanks in the van. And he wasn't moving until he was good and ready.