Rock the top end

Cape Keraudren

 

Just the 1 night stop whilst travelling down the coast.

Not a bad spot, though still a bit windy.  Went for a walk whilst the tide was out, walking on the start of Eighty Mile Beach.

Millstream-Chichester National Park

 

Stayed a few nights at Crossing Pool, camping right on the bank of the Fortescue River.  We have camped here on previous trips and returned as we found it so relaxing last time, and it did not disappoint this time.

Local ranger lets people borrow his canoe, so we took some time to canoe down the Fortescue, such a relaxing way to pass some time.

The water in and around Chinderwarriner Pool at the homestead (now visitor center) is crystal clear, so clear that the fish look like they are floating in air..  Some of the walking paths are still damaged from the previous wet with a crossing washed away.  The actual camping area was totally under water in Feb 09 and there is a mark in the toilet showing how high the water reached, near the top of the door.  A lot of clean-up needed.

The roads in and out of Millstream have been significantly improved since we were last there.  Saw numerous whopping Iron Ore trains whilst driving and had to wait for one at a crossing whilst it passed.

Karratha / Dampier / Burrup Peninsula

 

As we’ve never been here before we dropped in for a couple of nights.  Getting a spot in a caravan park was a challenge though finally managed.  Went out to look at the art work on the Burrup, in a short walk it was amazing the number of art works on the boulders, the hills of boulders themselves were also something to see.

Went for a walk on a beach nearby as the tide was coming in, walking out on the flats and sand bars of the beach it was impressive to see how quickly the tide moved, chasing us along the last remaining pieces of sand.

Exmouth

 

Reached the beautiful Exmouth on a sensational afternoon, we love this place in any case and days like that just reinforce it.  Managed to squeeze into a caravan park, just as the chances of getting a camping spot in the Cape Range National Park are very slim with it being full everyday, you have to get to the park entrance station early in the morning and queue (with your camper/caravan) to see if any spots come free that day, no bookings.

The cooling days and nights are becoming more noticeable, so this will be an acclimatising stop…

Exmouth has again been excellent, whilst at times fairly breezy.  We’ve been snorkeling a few times on the near shore reefs, kayaking in Yardie creek gorge and on the ocean.  Swam with turtles, loads of fish and watch many Humpback whales frolicking offshore.

Then on land we’ve seen our first Ekina’s in the wild, now having seen 3 in the 4 times we went into the Cape Range National Park, along with Perenite’s, Emu’s close up plus loads of the usual roos and more Emu’s.

Still don’t want to leave, despite being here a week there are still so many things to do….

Monkey Mia

 

The last stop before reality.  We were unable to get a camping spot at Monkey Mia itself and ended up getting one of the last couple of spots in Denham.  When we arrived there was not a breathe of wind with the water being beautiful that evening at sunset.  Next morning it was around to Monkey Mia early in the morning to see some dolphins, we were there for the second and third feeds of the day, which are only done in the morning and normally being about 7am to 10am.

On the second feed Tina was one of the lucky ones picked to feed a dolphin, this was her first time in 4 separate visits, you really need to be a young cute looking kid to get the gig, with only a few token adults and even fewer blokes picked.

After the feeding we walked up the beach away from the dolphin feeding area, closer to where I have seen the dolphins naturally feeding before, sure enough after laying on the beach for a while a couple of dolphins showed up, so I quickly put on mask and snorkel and jumped into the water, which was absolutely freezing.  I had to go along the beach for while in the shallows then one of the dolphins swam over, came up to me and turned across in front, stayed for a moment then headed back off to the other dolphin.  I then promptly got out of the water to start warming up, did I mention it was cold…  But it was cool to see the dolphin swim over and hang about for a moment.

After Monkey Mia we drove to Eagle Bluff, high on a cliff looking down across the shallow water of a bay, whilst there we saw a shark, a few large schools of fish with something regularly swimming in to get a feed.

Leaving in the morning it was a cold, very dewy and misty morning, the mist very thick over the road as we headed inland and towards reality.