Caravan/Kayak Trip

Its hard to believe that the 29/07/16 will be the 2nd  anniversary of the day I started to update the web site for our trip to North West Australia. That trip didnt happen, but on the 30/07/16 Cathy, Jossie, Fonzie, myself, two kayaks, the 4wd and Caths caravan are finally heading off on a two month holiday to Broome and back. We dont have a detailed plan at this stage, but the basics are, from Rylstone NSW to Port Augusta SA, Katherine NT, Broome WA, Albany WA, Esperance WA then back across the Nullabor to home. About 15000 km.  As usual I will try to update the web site daily but we are doing some free camps along the way so internet service may be non existant. This is going to be a hoot of a trip, and there are too many points to list here, so you will just have to keep checking back in from time to time and follow our exploits on another "Widenose Adventure" Stay tuned for some pre trip pictures on tomorrows update 

30/07/2016

Day 1

Up around 8 am with the dogs jumping all over the bed. Must be time to get out of bed. We finished packing and sorting the gear between the 4wd and the van, a quick check on tyre pressure then the trip that we had been dreaming of finally started about 9:15. Its funny how it takes some time before you get comfortable with the way the 4wd performs on the road, we stopped quite a few times to redistribute bits and pieces trying to stop annoying rattles and noises. We made reasonably good time and it was a really good day for driving, no wind, clear skies and wide open spaces in front of us. We arrived at our planned overnight stay at a free camp called Meadow Glen rest stop about 65 km west of Cobar. Set up the bbq and had the best steak dinner so far. I spose it must be the best steak dinner so far cause it was the only steak dinner we have had so far. We lit a small blaze and sat there with a cuppa and thought back to the days highlights. The Bogan river in flood at Nyngan, we got some great pics there, Cathy of the overflow also found a camel, probably a wild one and using her camel whisperer skills, managed to hand feed this beast. Plenty of feral goats feeding along the roadside and we had one small episode with a wandering roo, had to stomp on the brakes a bit, but we didnt hit it so thats a bonus. Cant believe how green it is out here, plenty of winter rains to make the farmers happy. Tomorrow we plan on being in south australia, not exactly sure where, so stay tuned for the next update.
The 4wd all loaded up just outside Narromine NSW.
The Bogan river in flood, Nyngan NSW
Cathy feeding "Wilma" my favorite camel.
Entrance to Cobar NSW
Our first free camp site 63km west of Cobar at Meadow Glen rest stop.

31/07/2016

 
We are nearly into south australia. Out of bed about 7:30, another excellent breakfast of bacon and egg toasties. Pack the van up, but we are in no hurry so we didnt get on the road till about 9. We have seen hundreds of goats and quite a few emus, we even had one try to race us at one stage, but the prado soon left him or her behind. An uneventful trip today and we were aiming to make the south australian border, but I had only just remembered that there is an inspection station on the border so some fruit and vegetables can be taken across. So we decided to stop at Thackaringa rest stop for our second night. The rest stop didnt seem to inviting at first then we spotted a side track to the top an embankment. A quick executive decision and the top of the embankment was our camp site. The views from here a spectacular. We soon had the bbq set up and got a beaut fire going, there was some wind but the van made for an effective wind break. We can see the border check point from this camp site and we intend to be somewhere north of Port Augusta by tomorrow arvo. The prado seems to be going ok, though fuel consumption is a little higher than expected. Might be extra drag from the kayaks causing it, just one of the nagging thoughts that go through your head, until somewhere along the road you forget all about it. Stay tuned tomorrow for more Widenose Adventures.
We head off the barrier highway to our camp site.
Our camp site near Thackaringa rest stop.
These things are everywhere out here,one huge problem.

1/08/2016

A double day update today. Yesterday was cold wet and a little miserable. We woke early, but being cold we decided not to relight the fire and started to pack up.  We crossed into South Australia within a few kms and about two hundred kms later passed through the fruit fly checking station. There was no one there but we threw our illegal substances out any way. We had a brief stop over at the Federal hotel in Peterborough for a counter lunch. On then through Orroroo, and Willmington, down Horrocks pass and into Port Augusta. Cath had wanted to know, did I want to go for a kayak when we got there and I had jokingly said probably not a good plan, she saw what I meant when we got there, wind blowing like hell plus rain, plus temperature not much above zero. Enough said, we didnt kayak there, maybe on the way home. We did stop at the bp servo there for a much needed shower. Looks like a lot of the servos offer showers "for a fee" so it helps for the free camps. We left Port Augusta and headed north up the Stuart hwy to Range View rest stop. The grounds were a little muddy and the loos a bit soso, but it was somewhere to camp for the night. What a night, not long after dark a bongo van parked next to us and the occupants must have opened and closed the noisiest sliding door in the world about a million times, then every cattle road train stopped here just to check the loads, more noise and down the bottom of the hill is a cattle grid and after a while you could tell how many trailers the truck was pulling by the racket of the wheels as they went over the grids. But eventually we got off to sleep. Tomorrows update is coming up.
A cold and wet day at Peterborough, SA
Horrocks Pass, complete with mist.

2/08/2016

Chilly morning but clear skies, gunna be a good day for driving. Up and atem with plenty of photo opportunities along the way. A pyramid shaped hill in Lake Gairdner, and Lake Hart both with water in them. The plan for today is to get to Coober Pedy. I had been there before but never stayed to explore. This time we will stay for 2 days, have a look around, do the laundry and use the electricity for heating, lights and charge phones and stuff. The dynamic duo of Fonzie and Jossie are settling into the trip nicely, we stop regularly and give them a walk and pee break. Glendambo is still as I remember, just a nice place to stop, shame we weren't going to stop there ovenight. And now we have just finished our sticky lamb ribs, sausages and bbq leftover potato bake meal. Yum yum yum. Tomorrow we explore Coober Pedy so hopefully some interesting pics coming up. Bye for now. Max & Cathy.
Sunrise at Range View Rest stop.
I had been here before, first time seen water here in Lake Gairdner
Lake Hart, looking north east.
Glendambo Roadhouse, Glendambo SA

3/08/2016

 
Spent today taking in the sights, sounds and smells of Coober Pedy. We are staying at a really great caravan park here, the Oasis, and being central in Coober Pedy a good spot for a base. We took the two dogs for a walk to Big Winch lookout. It was chilly with the morning breeze, but the dogs didnt mind. Excellent views of Coober Pedy, it must be a difficult place here in the summer but at least there is a lot of green to the place at the moment, good rainfall. We then toured the Old Timers mine/museum. There are heaps of underground tour sites like this, but this one was recommended to us. Was a self guided tour and modestly priced, we both had a good time underground. On to Fayes Homestead, its a bit of a story, so im not even going to try and tell it here, you can google it. Ha ha. Again another great touristy bit and I am glad we spent the extra day here. Got a good steak sanger at the Shell servo, even the battered chips were perfect. The only issue I had in Coober Pedy is that there are no hairdressers here. i need a haircut and the only one that cuts hair is "we just ring up the lady" and if shes working she comes around and cuts your hair. Nearly as hopeless for mens hair cuts as Lithgow. So tomorrow we head off north and will try to get to Stuarts Well. Cathy knows the bloke who owns the camel farm there. Beats me how they plant them, but they grow up into huge animals, so picking them would be difficult too. Talk to you all again tomorrow. Bigmacs.
The Big Winch at Big Winch lookout. The first Big Winch is at the bottom, having been destroyed by a cyclone in 1986
View from Big Winch lookout
Life was hard underground.
Underground life circa 1970?
The indoor pool at Fayes Homestead. It is supposed to be very cold, even in summer.
Part of Fayes wine cellar, no Dr Jurds or Cudgee Special to be seen.
Coober Pedy around sunset.

6/08/2016

 
Three day update today. Unfortunately some of the Stuart hwy has very limited internet service. Facebook updates for Cathy are fine but trying to write notes and upload pictures just doesn't happen on the move. We made good time to Stuarts Well and stayed overnight at Neil Waters's camel farm. We got a great fire going and considering Alice Springs was down to minus two overnight we didn't feel the cold much at all. We didn't have time for a safari so opted to hike to the top of the hill behind the farm, and got some great  pictures instead. Neil and his camels have won the Alice Springs camel cup on numerous occasions, and Neil is a classic aussie bush icon. 
Next day and we were trying to get to Tennant creek. Along the way we came across a ute that had caught fire. The fire was out by this time and the cops were there helping out. Turns out it was the coroner's ute and he had been to one of the aboriginal communities to retrieve a body. On the way back his ute caught fire. They saved the corpse but the ute was dead. We stopped at Wycliffe Well for a food stop and decided to stop overnight, the place seemed most inviting. But the local inhabitants then proceeded to entertain the small group of campers to a matinee and evening show of how to behave badly. Alcohol fuelled stupidity, fighting, bins on fire, hooning all between 2 and about 8:30 at night. As soon as the local servo shut along with the bottle shop outlet they just all packed up and went home. It a wonder the road trains don't run a few over, as they stagger across the road and back. All in all though the overnight stop at Wycliffe Well was a welcome break.
Today we made it through to Mataranka and Bitter Springs camp ground. We had a lot more meetings with road trains today, mostly cattle transport, must have some big contracts to fill. We will put the kayaks in tomorrow and the fellow who runs the park has suggested no crocs here. I hope he's right. We are nearly ready to turn left and head out onto the north west, which is one of the main reasons for this trip. Cathy and I in our previous lives have seen this part of australia before so we havnt revisited most of the common touristy bits. Pictures are taking a lot of patience with uploads taking some time. I am posting some, but as we get into the north west, I will post a lot more.
Tune in again tomorrow. Bigmacs
The camel farm at Stuarts Well, NT
The coroners ute.

7/08/2016

 
Spent the day doing some touristy bits. Cath had been wanting to kayak a part of the Roper River, that runs near Mataranka. I was concerned about the crocs but we went kayaking anyway. She said it was to get me back for our kayak with the sharks job at Ulladulla. About 2 km upstream we came across a croc trap. It made us a bit uneasy so we didnt loiter about too much. We paddled back to our launch site and had some lunch. I tried some fishing here but had no luck, typical for me. So now we have done our paddle with the crocs, only the whales and sydney harbor to go.
After lunch we went to Bitter Springs thermal pool for the arvo. This was really good being able to get in at one end and just drift down to the exit, get out, walk back to the start and do it all over again.  I think this is the better of the two thermal springs here in Mataranka, but you can make up your own minds when you visit. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures here as there was no where safe for the camera.
Part of Roper Creek, that flows into Roper River
The croc trap.
The prado next to the Roper River, and the croc warning.

8/08/2016

 
Back on the road again. Another really good day for traveling. It was a shame to leave Mataranka, but we needed to get west of Katherine today, this has been our major goal for this trip. We stocked up with provisions in Katherine as we had eaten nearly all of our food. Again I bombed out with getting a hair cut, looks like they take 2 hour lunches up here. We stopped at Victoria River roadhouse for lunch, and we spent some time here taking pictures and marvelling at the country side, this is a very special place. We finished the day at Timber Creek. I had stayed here before when I rode my motorcycle round australia. The place just has an appeal and Cathy is feeling the same attraction as me to this part of australia. We are starting to amass a huge number of photographs, some good, some not so good, but we still have them. We spotted our first dingo and snake today, not far from Mataranka, then a bush turkey, a dead cane toad and some wild pigs on the victoria hwy, truly an amazing trip so far. Tomorrow its Lake Argyle and some more kayaking. Thats all folks, bigmacs signing off.
Wow, a Citroen something or other spotted at Katherine, NT
The north west of australia, beckons. Note the broken cb aerial, only took 10 years.
High level bridge over the Victoria River
Part of one of the many escarpments aroung the Victoria River Valley
A small wild pig, while trying to get closer they were scared off by a passing road train. Fonz and Jossie were gunna get em.

12/08/2016

A big update this time. We have been at Lake Argyle and there is limited internet only. Cath has been doing her facebook update, but it takes a while to do. Lake Argyle has the best swimming pool in Australia. Any body who comes here can use it, the pool is not just for the rich and famous and the view is spectacular. Nice just to be able to relax in the pool and watch the helicopters, live music, eat ice creams and plan the evening meal. So far we are eating like royalty, prawns, chicken wings, bbq and Caths version of spag bol, without the spag, we have been using fat noodles, very nice indeed. We kayaked part of the lake, basically circling one island and exploring the quiet side of another. I got some really good pictures of the freshwater crocs, probably in the 2 to 3 metres in length. Many sharp teeth, in the kayak you can sneak up on them, not too close but close enough for good pictures. Funny how the water can be many different colors depending on how the light reflects onto the surface. Its been reasonably hot up here, mid 30's down to low 20's and I am working on a good tan. Unfortunately or fortunately, cause here is a great place, we had broken a fan belt not far from the wa border. Lucky the prado runs twin fan belts, so apart from refitting the air con belt at a roadside rest area, not much of a drama. Kununnarra is only 70 km away so we went there to get new belts and restock on food that we surrendered at the border. So i spent the extra day fitting the new belts and giving the prado the once over and we got to spend the afternoon in the pool. We intend to be in Kununarra on the 12th and are planing a cruise and a flight over the bungle bungles, so stay in touch for some more updates. Bye for now Max
We head out to kayak part of Lake Argyle, like glass
Cathy on Lake Argyle
I was there too.
Mr Snappy
This was the larger of the two crocs.
Apparently you can kayak from the bottom of the dam wall to Kununarra in three days, or if the wall bursts 25 minutes.
Cathy and Max in the Infinity pool, Lake Argyle 2016

13/08/2016.

Yesterday was spent in Kununurra. Its only 70 km from Lake Argyle so only a short trip for today. We booked in for a combo tour of a Sunset Lake Kununurra dinner cruise and a Scenic Flight out to the Bungle Bungles. The cruise was really good and a bbq dinner is provided. As usual I only went back for thirds, because everyone else had finished and I dont like to see food wasted. The menu of steak, poached fish and various side dishes they provided was superb. Funny how the local fish up here have worked out where the boat stops for the meal and congregate around for any scraps thrown overboard. Huge catfish mainly, and very clean catfish, not at all muddy. The tour guide gave the spiel of facts and figures, and luckily they coincided with my earlier  trip posts. Amazing to think that back in 2011 on my failed attempt to ride around australia, that Lake Argyle was holding 44 times the capacity of sydney harbor and that 6 metres of water was flowing over the top of the spillway. Warnum or Turkey creek was washed away, huge amounts of water. So today or the 13/08/2016 we are here waiting for our 8:30 pickup to go for our scenic flight. Looking forward to this and I will post more pictures this arvo. We had an excellent scenic flight. Derek the pilot was most knowledgeable and a good pilot as well. I will let the pictures do the talking, allthough its a shame my web site has only so much space for pictures. It was great to be able to spot from the air many of the locations we had visited or seen from lake argyle, didnt see any crocs from the air. The afternoon was spent kayaking on Lake Kununarra, nice and relaxing in the cool of the afternoon, even the dogs were able to come with us. So thats our visit to Kununarra nearly finished, tomorrow we head off the Halls Creek, not a long day so we will sight see on our way out of town. Not sure on internet service for tomorrow night, but stay tuned in anyway. Bye for now.
Two young Osprey's wait in the nest for the adult bird to return. Location location.
View to the east of Kununurra, Elephant rock on the right. We kayak there this arvo.
Heading into Packsaddle Lagoon.
Plenty of food cooking here.
Dinner time.
Sunset over the Carr-Boyd ranges.
The Ord river south of Kununarra
The bridge over spillway creek.
Lake Argyle, with the kayak island in the centre.
The island that we spotted the second croc on, when kayaking
Part of Lake Argyle
Wave like formations of the Osmond ranges.
North edge of the Bungle Bungles
Bungle Bungles, smoke from bushfires in distance, these fires closed the park.
Deserted campground on southern edge of Bungle Bungles.
Argyle diamond mine, due to cease operations 2020
Jossie enjoying the kayaking on Lake Kununarra
Fonzie and Max on Lake Kununarra
A helicopter came down for a low pass
Cath and Jossie head in just on dusk.

15/08/2016

Double day update again. Yesterday was a long day. We had intended on getting to Halls Creek, but we visited the sandal wood plantation at Kununarra on the way and bought a few bits and pieces. This is a huge industry in the tropics. We could see the rising smoke from the bungle bungle fires and this fire had burnt out a huge area of land. We got to Warnum for lunch and the tourist helicopter trade was rockin. There were about 4 choppers there and they were non stop take off and landings taking fare paying passengers out sight seeing. The temperature is in the mid 30's but with the air con on driving is not so bad, even for the dogs. We spotted some wild horses not far from Kununarra and thought the picture opportunity was lost. But not so, there are a lot of wild horses up here so we eventually got our pictures taken. There are still single lane bridges along the way, its amazing that there are very few road train accidents.  The country side varies so much and its hard to capture in pictures but we are trying. Taking pictures of the various valleys, rock formations and hill is too much to document, so I will let you see it hopefully in my pictures. On arriving in Halls Creek, we decided to go on the Fitzroy Crossing. There just seemed more points of interest here that suited us and we booked in for 2 nights. This morning 15/08/2016 we went to Geikie Gorge. There are some bush walks and a boat tour here. We only did the bush walk and lucky for us. We spotted the tour boat on the water during our walk and there is no shade on the boat, poor people who pay top dollar just to get sunburnt. We walked up to the sand bar end, found a shady spot next to the water and ate lunch. I took the normal happy snaps and when viewing on the ipad, noticed a small freshwater croc in one of the pictures, lucky me. The nikon camera is working pretty well, and is letting me get some nice close ups of the bird life here, unfortunately only if the bird is non flying at the time. I was returning from the Fitzroy Lodge shower block last night and just happened to bump into a husband and wife from the blue mountains NSW. He also happened to have worked at the then Small Arms Factory lithgow and we shared a lot of stories and memories together as he was working there same time as me. David Moore, remembered Fox, Eddie Penrose, Noel Baker, Bruce Kennedy, Harold Lennox, Bob Parker, just name a few, the 50bmg melt down incident and the track shoe nuts flying off the grinder. Tomorrow we are heading off west, maybe to Willare roadhouse, where we may meet up with a friend from mudgee, sam whittaker. He is working on a cattle station out here. If he cant get there, then we will push on into Broome. Kununarra was the end of our northern limits, bit sad really, but thats our trip this time. Cathy is having a ball and enjoying every minute of the trip, the dogs are happy to be here too, makes a change from freezing temperatures at wallerawang.  
We have many pictures of hills, not sure on the name of this one either, but not far from Kununarra.
Still a lot of one lane bridges up here. The road train drivers do a great job to keep in the middle.
Smoke rising from the bushfires that closed the Bungle Bungle camp grounds.
Another lot of mountains
We are not meeting many road trains yet.
Like the Devils Marbles in NT, but heaps more only smaller.
Boab trees by the gzillion
Termite mound by the mega gzillion
There are heaps of wild horses, this is the first we have seen.
Sunset and we are nearly at Fitzroy Crossing.
Swallows building nests, next day caretaker removes, next day swallows rebuild.
Balancing rock at Geikie Gorge
Rocks at Giekie Gorge
Crocodile in Geikie Gorge
Geikie Gorge
Rainbow Bee Eater
Crimson Finch

16/08/2016

Only a short drive today from Fitzroy Crossing to Willare Bridge Roadhouse. We were meeting up there with a young man from mudgee who is working up here on cattle mustering. We got in early set up the van and drove back into Derby. A nice surprise here, although the locals were around, there was not the usual rubbish in the streets. Congratulations to the locals who by this behaviour can attract more tourists to their town. We had an excellent lunch at Derby Jetty barramundi and prawns, barra was fresh but prawns were packet job, still no complaints here. We did some foraging for provisions at the local iga and after a quick stop at Mark Norval gallery where Cath got some original and genuine aboriginal art we got back to Willare to wait for Sam. Sam eventually arrived after a long hard day and we ate heartily. He has all sorts of stories and is only one of two white men in a black camp. The other being the boss. He loves it up here and at his age its one big adventure, if camping in a swag every night till dawn and then cattle mustering till sundown in 35 plus heat counts. Still heaps of work up here, bush mechanics work for a while, but its not reliable. Trades people of all natures are in demand, most have gone to the mines, for the money. Sam had to go early as cattle mustering doesn't stop for friendly reunions. 
 
17/08/2016
On to Broome today. We were lucky to get the last site in one of the rare dog friendly parks in Broome. And only for one night. Not a problem though, as we are wanting to get south to Exmouth and away from the industrial places like Port Hedland and Karratha. So its a quick stop to see the full moon over cable beach, a visit to Willie Creek pearl factory and thats about it. We did visit a pearl shop where the most expensive pearls they had was 293k, we didnt buy them. While at the pearl factory I noticed a shape on the river bank, zoomed in with camera and took pic. Cath has just checked and it was a salty. Lucky again. Tomorrow its on the De Grey river and a free camp, so if no update it just means no internet service. See you all soon

 

The Prison Boab tree Derby NT. Some of these trees can be thousands of years old.
View north from Derby Jetty
Willare Bridge servo
Willare Bridge, we didnt see any crocs there.
"Road"!!!! to Willies Creek pearl farm
Croc seen from Willies Creek pearl farm.
Cable Beach, Broome NT

20/08/2016

This update especially the pictures will take some time. There is not much service at Coral Bay. So as you guessed, thats where we are, Coral Bay on the Ningaloo reef western australia. This is the most westward point of the trip and about as far away from wallerawang as the trip goes. After we leave here we will be on our way home. We left broome with a big 650 km drive in front of us to our freecamp site at Degrey River, then day two to Coral Bay, all in all probably 1300 km from broome to coral bay. I had visited the towns on port hedland, karratha, dampier atc when I rode around australia, and these are more industrial port type towns than tourist destinations, so we decided to bypass them. On the way to our free camp spot at Degrey River stop east of port hedland we stopped at the Sandfire roadhouse and its still going strongly, must do I spose as its the only one between Roebuck Plains road house and Pardoo roadhouse a distance of about 425 km. The place is just as I remember it, hot and dusty, but a welcome oasis. Onto Pardoo roadhouse for fuel trying to get to DeGrey River for the night. When we got to Degrey River rest stop, holy crap the place was full of all types of voyagers, caravans, pop tops, campervans, winebagos etc. This was not looking promising so we utilised wikicamps, found another rest stop and headed off back down the road. We arrived at Peawah West rest stop to find quite a few spots left. We picked the one we wanted and set up camp. Apart from the odd road train during the night crossing the bridge we had a most relaxing night. This is really good spot.
Up at first light the next day and we were on the road to Coral Bay. We stopped at Roebourne for fuel and reading the local paper discovered that the local aboriginal communities were embarking on programs to clean their towns up and the place indeed look somewhat better than the last time i was here. The Nanutarra roadhouse with the recent rains was looking appealing, green grass and the mess cleaned up but we were just gunna keep going. Then the roadworks started, we went ok but there were a lot of cranky caravaners trying to keep cars cool in the hot conditions. We eventually made our way into Coral Bay and the wind is blowing like the bejesus. Hopefully we get to kayak, fish and swim here. The place is popular but only two caravan parks and a resort here. I think the place will be resortified in the near future and the only thing that may save Coral Bay is that the wind blows here a lot, if the small wind farm is any indication
Tomorrows update will be on page two of this trip. Bye for now 
Sandfire Roadhouse, still going strong, I hope the gas tank is too.
Sun set at Peawah West rest stop.
Other campers at Peawah West rest stop
The moon rises at Peawah rest stop.
Roadworks, a must experience for every traveller.
Plenty of water in the Sherlock River
Sturts Desert Pea, near Fortesque River roadhouse
Lucky for us, this truck was the only one on front of us. There were lots of cars behind us.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Coral Bay

22/08/2016

Hmm, Coral Bay. Not exactly sure what to say here. The wind farm here should have been the giveaway that they get a constant wind here. Thats pretty much what happened during our two days here. Not that it stopped us from doing what we had planned, just that we didnt do these things all day. We went to the boat ramp and launched the kayaks, intending to paddle south to look around the next bend of the coastline. Only got about half way then decided that paddling into the wind about 25kmh wasnt a great idea, so we about faced, paddled back to the boat ramp. We were protected from the wind here by a sea wall here and had some fun for about half hour. But then we decided to paddle northward along the coast and into coral bay itself. So off we went with the wind behind us. It didnt take long to get there, but then I had to walk back to the boat ramp to collect the 4wd. So thats what we did for our second open water paddle, in with the sharkies off coral bay. We booked in for a snorkell/ coral viewing cruise for the next day. The cruise got stuffed up in the organisers, so we went fishing instead. The wind blew our lines all over the place, but we had fun anyway. Arriving back at camp and the mob at the office were able to get us on a glass bottom boat to go coral and fish watching. This was a good cruise and we got some great pictures. Overall Coral Bay would be a great place if the wind would abate. There were people coming and going all the time into the caravan parks but I think a lot leave disappointed with the constant wind. It makes for a cold time swimming or at least when you get out of the water. We had a good time here, but not a great time. 
Now we are in Carnarvon. Sorry the updates dont happen daily, but network service and lack of 240 volt power means updates when I can.
We took the opportunity to stock up on food today. We are off to monkey mia and will need some food supplies. In Carnarvon we went to the Space museum. We arrived late so only had a short time to sight see the various exhibits. Australia played a small but important role in the nasa space missions, and some of the technology seems ancient by todays standards. Next off to the crab house for local prawns and fish. Best prawns ive eaten for a long while, tasty fresh and really good value. Even the dynamic duo had their share of prawns. Tonight ive cooked the local cod fillets and made a corn salsa side salad. We are living like paupers and suffering greatly, I suppose we will just have to have steak or chicken stirfry or honey soy pork ribs tomorrow. This trip is going well. We have seen and done all we have wished to date and while busy the caravan parks arnt booked solid. Hopefully I will do an update from monkey mia, but if not it will be from Geraldton. Talk soon, Max
Caths boat on the open water
The waters here are crystal blue.
We head north looking for Coral Bay
Boats moored inside the Ningaloo Reef
Looking south along the coast, Coral Bay WA
Sticky Beak, Coral fish.
Feeding Snapper off the coral viewing boat.
The Dish, Carnarvon WA