Exmouth - Swimming with the Whale Sharks

Thurs 9 May to Wednesday 15 May

After two weeks of constant coastal winds and the one night of extreme stormy weather I decided that it was time to check into a van park to get out of the wind, do some washing and re-stock supplies.  The Rippons decided to stay at Warroora station and we moved on to the Big 4 at Exmouth.

When we arrived we saw a familiar tent camped next to us - our fellow Cub campers who we had met at Perlubie Beach - Bill, Sal and Bridget.  The boys had fun hanging out with Bridget and other friends they had made in the park.

As we spent mothers day in Exmouth the boys cooked me up a scumptious breakfast of eggs, hash browns and mushrooms.  Lachie and I also enjoyed a walk into town where we sampled a fresh mango slushie from the local health food shop.  The boys spent many a night in the camp kitchen watching the AFL with the other fans from around the country.

The boys cooking up a Mother's day breakfast

Our 'one night' van park stay turned into 6 as Craig and Adam decided that a trip to Exmouth wouldn't be complete without a swim with the whale sharks, and picked a day that the weather looked to be at its best. A couple that we met at the van park, Shane and Sarah, also came for the adventure.  According to the boys it was one of the most fantastic experiences of the trip so far.  The thrill of jumping into the water and watching the massive beasts gliding gracefully but quickly through the water was incredible.  Even though the sharks looked to be swimming effortlessly Craig and Adam had to snorkel furiously just to keep up.

Another bucket list item ticked, and it was time to move inland towards Tom Price.

Worroora Station

Wednesday 24 April 2013 - Thursday 9 May 2013

After a very hectic day of getting organised we finally left Canarvon and arrived at our next destination “Worroora Station”.  As we arrived late we did not know if we should visit the care takers before setting up camp but we decided that we should.  The residence caretakers Lesley and Ross  were fantastic and drove us to a camp spot behind the dunes.  We asked about camping on 14 mile beach and they told us that in a couple of days two spots would be available. 

The first day we had a swim down at the beach and we watched a fisherman catch a decent size Golden Travelly off the beach.  After swimming for a while the grey nomads told everyone to get out due to the resident Tiger Shark coming in for a shore visit.  The tiger shark also visited later on in the week while the kids were swimming and I very calmly got them out of the water.

The next day we got our camp spots on the beach where we were to spend the next two weeks.  We quickly met all our neighbours and we all got along extremely well.  The first night 3 of us girls sat on the beach and had a few drinks and eventually the boys and the rest of the neighbours joined us.  This was the start of unofficial sunset drinks and nibbles which continued every night for the next 2 weeks.  The kids also met many friends and had lots of fun playing secret kids clubs, doing artwork and running around the sand dunes.  Lachlan spent many hours practicing his handstands.

 

 

 

 

On a visit to Telstra Hill a message came through from Tammy to say that they missed us and would like to come camping with us at Warroora.  We arranged a beach camp site for them and gave them a great welcoming party when they arrived.  The next day was Russells birthday and had a camp oven cake and evening birthday drinks with the neighbourhood.

 

We took a day trip into Coral bay and luckily for us it must have been the pick of the days with pristine waters and no wind.  We all enjoyed a snorkel and the Spangled Emporer were swimming at our feet.  We also enjoyed lunch and refreshing ale at the local pub.  We watched the local fisherman fillet some huge red emporer that they had caught that day.

 

One day we went for a short drive to Turtle Rock - so named for obvious reasons.  The kids enjoyed seeing the turtles bobbing up from time to time.  We also snorkelled with the 3 huge turtles and some reef sharks at the lagoon.

 

 

Coral Bay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One night Ross and Lesley came to tell us all to batten down the hatches due to a big storm coming through the station that night.  We prepared ourselves as well as we could, although we really didn’t know what was to come.  Around 1.30 in the morning we woke to very destructive winds and rain battering in the windows.  The camper got fairly wet and we all ended up getting a very bad night sleep in mum and dad's bed.  It was actually quite scary but we had to be brave for the kids.  The next morning we watched a group of campers trying to winch in their boat which was being battered by the huge swells.  The boys also dug a trench to ensure the wave did not reach the camper trailers and wash everything away.

 

 

 

The torrentional Storm ...

 

 

Quobba station "The blowholes"

Thursday 18 April 2013 - Monday 22 April 2013

After a scrumptious lunch of fish and chips from the local Carnarvon takeaway the Elphicks headed to the Tammy and Russell's favourite camping spot "The Blowholes". This great little camp spot is located on Quobba Station at the southern end of the Ningaloo reef - about 70kms from Carnarvon. While we waited for the others to arrive we stopped to look at the blowholes although on this day the swell was down and they were quite tame.

Tammy and Russell arrived with their quad bike and fishing boat and we set up camp at the end of the beach shacks.  They were great little shacks - and for $500 a year you can have one of your own.  After we set up camp Craig, Brett and Russell headed out on the boat but due to wind and rough seas Craig spent most of the time with his head over the side. All that was caught was one spangled emperor, still a sought after table fish.

That night we sat around camp and took Russell's quad bike for a few joy rides.

We viewed the wreckage of the prawn trawler that foundered on the reef about 3 years ago.  The prawn trawler was worth over a million dollars and rumor has it that the crew were not very coherent when they came to grief.  Quobba is also home to the wreckage of the Kormoran and the HMAS Sydney from the battle that occurred in 1941.  We also saw some amazing fossils which had embedded themselves into the rocks.

 

 

One day we all went for a cruise south for some sand boarding and quad bike riding around the remote dunes.Tammy and I raced over the dunes on the quad bike while the others took the 4 wheel drives.  The boys had a go at sand boarding down the steep hills.  All three boys showed incredible balance and were able to stand up on the board all the way to the bottom of the hill.

 

 

Adam showing us his balancing skills

 

I had one of my first snorkels at the lagoon and what an amazing place to learn.  The water was very shallow but the fish and coral where everywhere and the colours of the fish were amazing.  If you looked carefully you could see some big groper under the rocks and the Rippons saw a reef shark.

 

We took a drive up to the lighthouse to look at the views below and on our way back we stopped at the blowholes which this time were raging. 

 

 

Dawesville to Carnarvon

Tuesday 9 April 2013 - Wednesday 17 April 2013

We left swan valley and dropped our camper trailer to be repaired.  We then headed to our Cabin at the Dawesville van park.  The camp kitchen was equipped with a coke machine and a pizza oven which is not what you normally see in the everyday camp kitchen. The boys continued their swimming lessons in the park pool - they are becoming very proficient in the water. They enjoyed the comforts of the cabin including viewing some of their favourite tv programs and having an oven to cook sausage rolls for dinner.

We had one more BBQ at Ben's and went to Andy and Rosie's one night for Domino's Pizza.   Craig took a trip back into Perth to watch Ben's Thursday night gig at the Elephant and the Wheelbarrow in Northbridge.  He picked the camper up on the way back to the van park where we stayed one more night.

We travelled North through Perth to meet the Rippons at Jurien Bay for a few nights. During our time there we saw another Sea Lion in the wild lazing on the beach.  On the way to Carnarvon we stopped at Shark Bay - first stop was Shell Beach which has some of the saltiest water in Australia.  After a quick over nighter at Fowlers we visited the Stromatolites which are  rock-like structures built by blue-green algae and date back to life forms found on Earth up to 3.5 billion years ago.  They provide a unique insight into what the world was like at the dawn of time.

Shark Bay is an area that we'll definitely have to return to as we didn't have much time there.  We were on a time schedule to meet up with Russell and his lovely wife Tammy for a camping trip to their favourite part of the world - the blow holes north of Canarvon.  Russell and Tammy were kind enough to let the Elphicks and Rippons bunk in at theirs for a night before the camping trip.  All 6 kids enjoyed playing with the nerf guns with Russell's son Lewis, as well as watching some Spiderman movies.  Russell had a pet snake and the boys were thrilled to have a hold.  They also enjoyed a spa before bed time.



 

Kai and the Kids Python

Swan Valley and Angie's Birthday

Friday 5 April 2013 to Monday 8 April 2013

Our next stop was the Swan Valley where we were to be looking after the Rippon kids while Brett and Vanessa caught up with their family for a wedding.  On our way there we stopped in to the camper trailer place to show the damage to the zipper on the trailer.  They told us that it might be a few day to repair so we would be without a home.  We organised to drop the trailer off on the following Tuesday and decided to book a cabin back at Mandurah so we could spend a few more days with the WA Elphicks.

The van park at Caversham had a fantastic table tennis and games room and was surrounded by the vineyards of the Swan Valley.  John and Gail also came to stay at the park and booked a cabin for one night.  They looked after the kids on the Friday night and Craig and I went to the Boab Tavern to watch Cousin Ben’s band play.   We went to the restaurant for dinner and were served up a feast. Neither Craig nor I could finish our meal.  We had a great night and were stoked that we could make it out to see the band.

On Saturday we spent the day around the van park swimming and making use of the great facilities.  Brett and Vanessa headed off to their wedding in the late morning and Gail and John were due to fly back to Canberra that day so they set off just after lunch.  However, a few hours later Craig got a call from Gail – they had missed their plane so Craig went to pick them up from the airport.  The upside was that the kids got another night with Nanna and Poppy.  During the afternoon John amused the kids with some songs on the guitar.

The next day we met my friend Clare and her lovely family for lunch at the Rose and Crown Hotel in Guildford.  After a relaxing lunch and some great conversation/reminiscing we decided to call in at the Iron Bark Brewery which was conveniently located right next door to the van park.  We sat in the beer garden and sampled some of the local brews including a mango beer and lime based beer as we listened to an acoustic guitarist.  We even got to chat to the owner and got the history of the place, as well as a story about each of the beers.

On Monday it was my birthday.  I got a new reclining camping chair and a bracelet that Craig had secretly bought in the gift shop at the Valley of the Giants tree top walk.  In the morning we drove into Guildford for coffee and milkshakes before returning to the van park.  We picked up some supplies for afternoon nibbles and drinks and had a very relaxing afternoon.  I bought a custard tart to use as a pseudo birthday cake.

Mandurah

Tuesday 2nd April 2013 - Friday 5th April 2013

On the way to Bens we stopped at Busselton and took a walk along the Busselton Jetty.  It is the longest Jetty in Australia and stretches two kilometres out to sea.  The water was very clear and we saw some beautiful fish including “Nemo”.

 

We stayed at Ben and Zacks for 3 nights and the younger kids had a lot of fun looking for Slender Man, which is a character from one of Zack’s favourite games on the I pad.  As Ben had a pool we also enjoyed a swim everyday and Adam got his Playstation fix by playing “Call of Duty”.  We also were treated to some amazing sunsets from Ben’s backyard.

 

 

One day Nanna and Poppy took the 3 kids to Rottnest Island where the kids saw a quokka, which are only found on Rottnest.  They also swam, explored the Island and had Subway for lunch.  As we had the day to ourselves Craig and I enjoyed a day of walking around the town, going to Ben’s favourite Thai restaurant for lunch and having a refreshing afternoon beer at Murphys.  That night we shared a fantastic Indian dinner with Ben and Jess over a Corona or two.

We visited Ben at his work where Craig tested a few keyboards and bought a guitar to play around the campfires and teach the kids some songs.  Ben gave Craig a couple of guitar lessons and he is now teaching himself a few tunes.

Sophie and Fiona invited us to their house for dinner where they prepared a yummy Spaghetti Bolognaise and we had an enjoyable evening catching up. 

 

 

 

Big Valley and Sophie's wedding

To our suprise, as it was the Easter long weekend, there were very few campers in the paddock at Big Valley and we were treated to lovely views of the rolling hills.

On the first night we made dinner up at the camp kitchen while we watched our first game of AFL for the season, Carlton v Richmond. The atmosphere at this camp ground was very welcoming and the kids found many friends while we chatted and exchanged stories with other travellers. 

 

Enjoying the good life at Big Valley

 

The next night we had an Elphick gathering at  Erravilla Country Estate and it was fantastic to catch up with the WA Elphicks once again.  We all enjoyed an amazing dinner including Ben’s Thai prawn curry which he had made from scratch.

Sophie's wedding was the next day so we dropped the kids off to the Rippons and headed back out to Erravilla.  It was a lovely day and Sophie and Luke had a beautiful garden ceremony.  That evening the drinks flowed, the band played and everyone had a fantastic time.  Craig lent his musical talents to the band and it was great for him to play a few tunes with his cousin.

 

 

The Beautiful Bride



Ben in action



 

When we picked up the kids from the RIppons the next day Kai was very excited to tell us that he had jumped from a rope swing into a river and he had to show us how fun it was.  They had also been visited by the Easter bunny and had been on an Easter egg hunt. 

Kai enjoying the rope swing

 

We went to lunch and the Duckstein brewery and visited Laurence winery where people go just to take photos of the amazing rest rooms.

At big valley there was a whip maker on the premises and he was teaching people to make their own whips. Our big valley neighbours, who were also travelling around Australia for a year, had a go at making their own and when they had finished they let us and the boys had a go at cracking them.  The whip maker gave us some instruction and Kai and I were able to crack the whip on our first go.

 

 

Lachie showing us his whipping style

 



We left big Valley on the Tuesday and made our way to Ben's in Mandurah to stay with him for a few nights.