Ningaloo reef... a great place to sit and wait.

After packing up and saying a sad goodbye to Crossing Pool camp ground in Millstream, we headed west destined for Exmouth and the anticipated excitement of Ningaloo Reef.

En route we stopped at the mining town of Pannawonica to fill up and thought they’d made a mistake with only charging $1.43/l for diesel. The cheapest so far on our travels... must be something to do with a mining subsidy or something. Anyway who’s to complain?

Getting closer to Exmouth it was very windy in certain spots with a huge cross winds determined to blow us off to the side of the road. But once we got to Exmouth it was quite a bit calmer and allowed us to set up at the Big 4 park without too much trouble.  It was then time to test out their pool. Wet and cool... perfect.

An Exmouth local getting a bit too close for comfort.

It was then that the two couples we’d met at Millstream (Anne & Ron from England, and Nick & Jane from 'Chaddy') also turned up at the caravan park. We all got together that night for a drink and had a great time swapping travel stories.  Like us, Nick & Jane were heading down into Cape Range national park, (known as Ningaloo) the next morning, so we ended up travelling down together and also camping together at Ned’s camp ground.  Anne & Ron also turned up for a look and decided that they wanted to stay as well. Not sure if it was the camping or us that was the attraction?  Anyway we managed to get lucky with a great spot that had a bit of shade and was a stone’s throw from the beach.



Neds Camp - Site 18... the best. Took 1 week before the ranger asked for the swing to be removed!




Our beach, and the locals cooling off at Mesa camp ground.
The 8 or so camp grounds up and down Ningaloo are run by camp hosts and Ned’s was by far the best camping spot (18 sites) and everyone camping there were very friendly.  Each afternoon at 5.30 everyone would get together at the beach for happy hour drinks and watch the sun go down and swap stories. 

The view for Happy Hour.

It really felt like a little neighbourhood community... and one of two reasons why we stayed for 11 nights!  The other reason being the loooonnnnngggggg wait for a pair of solar panels to arrive from Perth...  Anyway like our previous delay in Broome, waiting it out in Ningaloo was a pleasure.
The big attractions at Ningaloo are the many beaches and the snorkelling, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Sandy bay and Turquoise bay we’re our favourites.  Post card perfect.  So we spent our days on the beach waiting for the good lord AKA the courier man to deliver us our package. Day after day of snorkelling and relaxing.  One of the highlights of our trip for sure.
(Prepare yourselves... here come the photos)




Sandy Bay & Turquoise bay.



Alex perfecting the art of sun bathing.  Around the corner is 'The Drift' for snorkelling.



The Funky Octopus. Osprey - One bird you don't want taking your chips!

Anne & Ron - The substitute grand parents.  Ben - PADI certified.


White Tipped Reefie - Very timid. Blue spotted ray.






 

More colourful fish.

When he's not sunbaking he's snorkelling.

While we were there we also celebrated the Melbourne cup with a get together at the camp host’s caravan (as they had a tv) with the other campers.  Alex was the lucky sweep winner and was very pleased with his $24 win fall.  Karen insisted that she would have won for best hat had there been such a thing.



And they're off and racing drinking.  "Hello, do you like my Hat"


Winners are grinners.
While (waiting) at Ningaloo, we decided to do a day trip ‘down the road’ to Coral Bay.  Another beautiful spot.  The place itself is surprisingly small.  No more than 2 caravan parks and a general store.  The beach itself offers more great snorkelling.

Pristine Coral bay.
So on the way back from Coral bay a few calls were made to track down these mythical solar panels and as it turned out they had arrived at Exmouth that afternoon.  No waiting for delivery the next day for us, as we managed to go pick them up direct from the depot.  Anyway arriving back at Ned’s for happy hour, everyone gave a cheer that we had finally got our package (by day 11 everyone knows your business!).  Not sure if it was for the fact that it meant we were on our way again the next morning though!?So packing up the next morning we made our slow (and sad) departure out after saying goodbye to everyone and headed down to Carnarvon to catch up with Ron & Anne.

Carnarvon is apparently the food bowl of the west supplying Perth and other places with its fruit and veg. (Promise that’s the only tourist fact for the blog).  It also has some blowholes 60km’s up the road.

The Blowholes. Very noisy and powerful.
By this time, Ron & Anne were fast becoming good friends and the kids ‘travelling grandparents’.  And like all good grandparents, they offered to look after them one night, so Lee & Kaz could go out for some kid free time with a meal at one of the waterfront restaurants. One word: Bliss. 

Carnarvon sunset.

We also did the Coffee Pot train ride on the One Mile Jetty. It was interesting to listen to the driver talk about how they are trying to restore the jetty and all the troubles they’ve been having.  I could tell you but I promised not to tell you anymore tourist facts.

One mile jetty.



Waiting for the train can be tiring business.

The end of the line... and this blog.

That’s all for this blog.  Next we keep travelling south to Monkey Mia to find out once and for all, if there really are monkeys there.