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| Having a whale shark of a time (Hope you like the walrus moustache). |
Monday 1st June 2015
With a 600km journey to Exmouth ahead of us
we left “halfway bridge” at around 8:00am. The sunshine of the new day meant we
could now fully appreciate this tranquil camping spot. Wild budgerigars flocked
and foraged in the grasses along the banks of a trickling stream. Busily
collecting food for the chicks nested inside hollowed trunks. We have fond
memories keeping budgies as pets growing up. Our Nan had a blue and white one
for years named “Charlie”. I had heard that budgies of this colour cannot
survive long in the wild as they are too easy to spot. A theory backed up by
the scene in front of us. It was yet another thing I had longed to see as a
kid. Another tick on the bucket list.
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| (Left): Adult Budgie getting pissed at us. (Top Right): Halfway Bridge pit stop. (Bottom Left): Budgie chick |
We briefly stopped for supplies in the town
of Tom Price, the closest sign of civilisation t Karijini. It’s not a particularly
picturesque place but it is populated by large flocks of white parrots. Got to
be nicer than pigeons though right.
The rest of the day was spent driving along
the endless highways. They started off as rough, unsurfaced sections with
amazing views of flatlands running to the coast ahead and the rugged hilltops
of karijini to the rear. We always had to treat these tracks with caution. The
spare on the Ford Falcon was as flat as a witches’ tit and after only seeing a
handful of other road users all morning another puncture would spell
disaster. Eventually we hit the tarmac
again which meant we could finally put our foot down and enjoy driving along
highway 136. Our overnight accommodation was a generic free campsite with no
real character. It was essentially an extended lay by, excluding a greasy
burger wagon. The grey nomad’s numbers were rapidly increasing the further
south we travelled. It seems that elderly people the world over find warmer climes
irresistible. It also explains by my grandparents enjoyed spending the winter
in front of a coal fire or with the central heating turned up to a temperature
that would make the Sahara seem temperate.
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| another great sunset in the outback |
Tuesday 2nd June 2015
Woke up early to the sound of grey nomads heading east to
Karijini. We turned west against the grain with Exmouth in our sights only a
mornings drive away. The small fishing town located on the rim of the Exmouth
Gulf Peninsula would be a sleepy place if it wasn't for the hordes of domestic
and international tourists migrating here every year to see stunning beaches
and the word famous “Ningaloo Marine Park”. It’s well documented on the typical
tourist guides that this is one of the few places in the world where you can
snorkel and dive with three huge underwater creatures. The Whale Shark, Manta
Ray and Humpback Whale. As a lover of “most” things wildlife (I would say all
but I’ve seen too many rats and bed bugs I the last year) I set off with Dave,
Dustin and Bastiaan to a local tour provider. There are many options in town
but we chose “Charter 1” as one of the Canadian girls we met on the road to
Karijini worked for them and we saw a prime opportunity to grab a bit of
discount.
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| Got to see our first wild kangaroo's 500m from the tent |
With the tour booked for the following
morning once again we were on the prowl for accommodation which unless you want
to stay in a hostel is pretty easy as there only seemed to be one place.
“Lighthouse Caravan Park” lies 10km north of the town and costs $10 a night per
person, which includes cooking facilities, warm showers, clean toilets and a
pool. This was definitely a decent deal
considering the site is located closer to Cape Range National Park than the
town meaning early bird gets to the beaches before other tourists.
Wednesday 3rd June 2015
Dustin, Bastiaan, Dave and I had to wake up
bright and early as we prepared for the pick up by Charter 1. I was a bit
gutted Jono was missing out on this once in a lifetime opportunity but in his
words he would “rather save up cash for a thrill seeking activity”. This seemed a little short sighted as the
waters the whale sharks occupy also contain Great White and Tiger Sharks. If
you see these chaps snorkelling I’m certain that would be enough thrills for a
lifetime. Or maybe I’m mistaking thrills with fear. 7:30am and with Jono left at
base camp the rest of us hopped on the tour bus which just so happened to have
our Canadian friend, Jo at the wheel and headed to the harbour.
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| Ningaloo Reef |
The $345 (£173) day trip may seem a bit
pricey but with a packed schedule and the opportunity to see such an array of
underwater beasts it was well worth it. Before setting out to the big stuff the
tour stops off at a section of the huge Ningaloo reef to allow you to get used
to the snorkel gear. This turned out to be a nice 30 minute warm up session as
it highlighted a smorgasbord of reef dwellers from tiny clown fish to the
larger wrasse, gar fish, and cow tailed rays. I even had my first encounter
with a shark not accustomed to eating plankton, the white tipped reef shark. Like most sharks these eat meat although at a
size not exceeding 1.3m it’s pretty safe to swim with. Apparently Ningaloo is a
breeding ground for these Carcharhinidae. Even after a few minutes it’s amazing
how healthy and vast this reef system is in this part of the world. We have
snorkelled reef in Indonesia but to get to the good reef you often have to swim
through a belt of bleached white dead reef. At Ningaloo it was as you expect a
reef to be. Just one intricate ecosystem.
After re-boarding the ship the crew
directed the craft through a gap in the breakers to deeper waters where the
whale sharks were rumoured to be hanging out. The odds of seeing these
creatures are stacked in your favour thanks to the network of search planes
scanning the horizon and relaying sightings to the ground crews. Finally we
were told to quickly form two groups of ten as there was a shark heading our
way. We were in the first ten so we excitedly plunged into the cool water and
waited. The aim is to line up, wait for
the shark to pass and then swim after it in two smaller groups so everyone can
see. What actually happens is that as soon as you get a glimpse of the
creatures gapping mouth that all goes out of the window as arms, elbows, legs
and selfie sticks are used to batter away anyone who might be in a better position.
Quite content allowing the rabble destroy any chance of savouring the moment
Dave, Bastiaan, Dustin and I swam around the first whale shark (which was a youngster
at round 5m long) and swam along this majestic creature. For sharks these guys
have taken a completely different path. Preferring to be passive, gentle
vegetarian using their sheer size as protection. If any creature lives up to
the term “gentle giants”, it is the whale shark. The speckles on their back are
as unique as a fingerprint and the tour operator’s double up as marine
biologists documenting every sighting. I was surprised to hear later that we
know more about the outer reaches of the solar system than we do about whale
sharks. Migratory patterns and breeding grounds are still a mystery.
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| larking about with a whale shark |
Across the entire day we saw a total of
three whale sharks with three attempts to view each and to top it off we even
saw a rare glimpse of a Dugong (a kind of salt water manatee). Sure it would
have been nice to tick off a manta ray and humpback whale as well but to see one
of the big three was a real privilege.
5:30pm: We arrived back at camp completely
knackered from all the exercise and exhilaration. Keen to view the footage from
the day. We were met by Jono who had a lazy day sun bathing. Think he was pretty
annoyed at all the whale shark talk.
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| (Left to Right): Dustin, Joe, Bastiaan and yours truly hitting the champagne |
As typical with road trips we once again
bumped into a couple we had met at the free camp site close to Karijini. Steve
(Eng) and Andrea (Ger) had just arrived in Exmouth and were keen to swim with
the whale sharks. Something tells me we will bump into this cool couple with
their clamped out camper van again on our travels.
Thursday 4th June 2015
It was a sluggish start following the events
of the day before but we couldn't hang around as there is always more to see.
We headed into Exmouth for supplies, a spare tyre and the tour footage from
charter 1. In the end we replaced the destroyed tyre but and fitted the slow
punctured one as a spare. Like Port Hedland the cost for two replacements would
have ruined us so Dustin decided to see if things were cheaper further south. Better
than nothing I suppose.
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| Squiddly Diddly Octopus |
With the boring errands out of the way we
drove north out of Exmouth, past the camp site and pressed on towards Cape Range
National Park. The park sits on the western shore of the peninsula looking out
across the vast Indian Ocean and was rumoured to have incredible beaches. Being
mid-afternoon we only had a few hours until dark so could only stop off at one
spot. Dave chose the quiet spot of “Lakeside Bay” close to the visitors centre.
I know this may come as a surprise but once again we were presented with a stunning
beach all to ourselves. The best thing about this spot was the rock pooling. We
arrived just as low tide hit and that meant there were many creatures caught I the
pools. I have never seen so many octopus in shallow water. Everywhere we stepped
we disturbed one of the little suckers (like what I did there). Added to “squiddly
diddly”, we saw large clams, crabs, sea cucumbers, a ball of catfish and even a
toxic sea snake (which Dustin almost stepped on). It’s the kind of diversity
you expect in an aquarium but not whilst paddling through a shallow pool.
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| Lakeside Bay |
Friday 5th June 2015
Over a baked bean breakfast we mutually decided
to stay one more night in Exmouth. There were still other beaches to visit and
if they were anything like Lakeside Bay we would kick ourselves for missing
them (Also the camp site was cheaper than in Coral Bay to the south).
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| Cape Range Beaches. Oyster Stacks (Top & Bottom Left) and Turquoise Bay (Bottom Right) |
At 11:30am we drove to “Oyster Stacks”,
another nice beach for high tide and more snorkelling opportunities. Unfortunately
our luck had ran dry as the combination of a strong tide and low visibility
made viewing you’re an outstretched hand impossible let alone a fish. So we had
no choice but to knock it on the head.
Holding
onto a small amount of hope the next spot on the list was “Turquoise Bay” which
judging by its name is probably usually more teal coloured than when we
visited. I’m not saying the spot was ugly, far from it. The bay would beat any
British beach hands down but if anything the visibility was worse than at “Oyster
Stacks”. It just seems that on this occasion the conditions were not
favourable.
To ensure the day wasn’t a complete right
off we returned to Lakeside Bay and poked some octopus with Bastiaan’s GoPro
before dodging suicidal kangaroos on the ride back to camp.
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