Tom Price, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Carnarvon 4 - 17 September

We drove from Karijini passing Mt Bruce on our way to Tom Price. We were very reluctant to leave this magnificent place as we had such a great time here.

The town of Tom Price was established by Hamersley Iron in the early 60’s and originally was a drinking town with a mining problem. Since being handed over to the state government this situation has now been turned around completely to a mining town with a drinking problem. The first thing we did at Tom Price was to have a long hot shower at the CP followed by a visit to the supermarket to replenish the supplies and restock the cellar. The couple that we met at Karijini, Andrew and Lexie, told us about a mechanic in town that was quick, efficient and cheap and as the Lux was due for a service Stephen went to see them and made a booking for the Saturday morning. I was a little nervous about the timing as we had also booked a mine tour that required us to be at the information centre at 8:45am.

Geoff Anderson advised us that “you must drive up Mt Nameless” so we decided to fill in the Friday afternoon by making use of the 4WD and headed off. It was a 10km windy, steep, bumpy drive but the view from the top was spectacular. You could see right over the town to the North and the mine to the East. It also gave us an insight into the vastness of the mine.

On Saturday morning Stephen was up early as the Lux needed to be at the mechanics at 7:00am so I had a long sleep in, then spent an hour or so making myself beautiful for the mine tour. We easily made it to the info centre for the start of the tour and then spent an interesting (yawn) couple of hours learning all about iron ore mining, Caterpillar trucks, overburden, repatriation of exhausted mining areas, tyre wear rates, diesel fuel consumption, carrying capacity of different size trucks, fatigue breaks (previously called smokos) etc. (all since forgotten).

That afternoon we drove to Hamersley Gorge and had a particularly refreshing swim in the pool. Whilst there we met a couple that were on holiday from Kalbarri and they gave us a couple of hints about things to see in that part of the country. We also added to our rock collection. Watched Geelong narrowly beat Footscray.

The following day was all about the Pies. Unfortunately we don’t want to talk about it so not much to say except there is always next week against Adelaide.

After leaving Tom Price we stopped at Parapardoo for petrol and while I was inside paying Stephen was approached by a young French girl who was after a ride to Exmouth. If you see the photos you will understand that she was firmly entrenched in the back seat of the car by the time I got out of the petrol station and back to the car. Stephen managed to clear it in record time!!! Her name was Aureole “but call me Lili”. She was actually very nice and proceeded to chat non stop for the next 60 minutes. She was 24 and studying architecture and was on a 10 week adventure around Australia, starting in Sydney – hitchhiking! She had joined the WWOOFers (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), the idea being that you stay a few days and work on the farm and in return you get free food and board. All well and good but 10 weeks!! She had covered as much distance in 6 weeks as we had in 5 months and had to be in Sydney by 30th September still wanting to see Adelaide and Melbourne?? There was going to be a lot of flying from Perth to get there I think.

We were heading for Yardie Homestead which is past Exmouth and closer to the northern part of the Ningaloo Reef (Cape Range NP). Lili had to be at Bullara Station about 70 kms south of Exmouth sometime on the following day. We invited her to stay the night with us at Yardie (in the tent for those of you that are thinking weird things), go snorkelling with us the following morning then we would drive her back to the station in the afternoon. She was very happy as she had heard lots about Ningaloo and was looking forward to snorkelling.

We had a very nice evening with our guest and were all up bright and early the next morning and off to Turquoise Bay to see Ningaloo Reef. Turquoise Bay was just that, the most beautiful blue water and snow white sand. We donned our snorkelling gear, plunged into the water and swam out to the coral. The water is certainly warmer here than on the west coast of Victoria. Unfortunately it was a bit windy which made it a little cool once you got out of the water. The coral and the fish were amazing and I even managed to follow a turtle which was swimming along the bottom. The best thing about the Ningaloo reef is it is all straight off the beach; you don’t have to go out in a boat to get to it. We walked along the beach then went back in for another swim before heading back for lunch to the caravan park. On the way to Bullara we stopped at the lighthouse where we saw a number of whales just off the coast, then Exmouth to have a look around. We dropped Lili off around 3.30pm then headed back to Yardie. On the way we took a quick detour to Charles Knife Gorge. A wonderful view across the water from the top and some stunning gorges plunging from the side of the road. Unfortunately the light was fading and we weren’t quite sure how much further the road went. We needed to get back to the camping ground before dark as we had never seen quite so much road kill as we had in the past two days and we had no intention of contributing to it.

Next morning we drove to the ‘Drift’ which is next to Turquoise Bay. Here you enter the water at the southern end of the beach and ‘drift’ down with the current over the coral towards an opening in the reef that sucks you out into the ocean where you die. The idea is to get out of the water and onto the beach at the optimum time avoiding the death by drowning bit. The fish were everywhere – big, small, colourful, not so colourful, schools, individual – they were fantastic. The coral was dense and we had a wonderful time. We did several ‘drifts’ and as I am writing this blog we obviously were very smart about choosing the right time to get out of the water.

In the afternoon we went back to complete the drive into Charles Knife Gorge and take some photos. We shouldn’t have bothered because what we had seen the previous day was all there was to see.

Our final day at Ningaloo we went to the Oyster Stacks. We had been told that the best snorkelling was to be had at this spot. Very nice but we enjoyed the Drift the most where there were more fish and the element of danger was very appealing!! Spent the rest of the day sitting in the sun soaking up the cancer rays.

Packed up and headed for Coral Bay. Only a short drive and we were there before lunch. Set up, had lunch then headed to the beach for a walk and a look see. Coral Bay is at the southern end of Ningaloo. One of the most appealing things about this spot is you can walk to the beach where the sand is once again snow white and the water turquoise blue with the coral visible from the water’s edge. I chatted with a couple from Box Hill and swapped travel stories while Stephen talked on the phone to Denis Grant for – a long time. I was very patient as both Collingwood and Footscray were in the finals and they had a lot to discuss. The wind had come up so we decided to save the swimming until the next day.

To make a long story short we spent 5 nights at Coral Bay swimming, snorkelling, walking along and laying on the beach. We also went out in a glass bottom boat to the edge of the reef and saw turtles and snorkelled in the deep water. We just loved it here. Unfortunately the wind got fairly strong each afternoon but the mornings were a dream. There were lots of families here and I think it is very popular with the Perth retirees. On our final night while we were tucked up nice and snug in our van we heard a strange unfamiliar sound. It was rain, not just a few drops but a bucket load of it came down around 1am. The last time we had any rain was on Anzac Day in Burra SA. It was also the day that Collingwood snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Essendon. Quite memorable. At some stage during these 5 days Collingwood gave us false hope yet again by narrowly beating Adelaide.

We waved farewell to Coral Bay and moved onto Carnarvon crossing the Tropic of Capricorn – groan. The drive along the west coast is proving to be rather bland. We spent the afternoon driving around the town, the bay, and then the heritage area where we caught a little train along the 1 mile jetty. It was blowing a gale and was freezing cold. Did some shopping then a quiet night inside the caravan and out of the wind.

The following day we drove to the Blowholes, about 50 kms north of Carnarvon. I had a day at the wheel and Stephen had a day as the navigator. The Blowholes were fantastic, a little like Port Campbell in Vic but the cliffs were a lot smaller which made the crash of the waves quite spectacular. We returned along the Plantation Run where we purchased fresh fruit and vegies directly from the farms. We drove along the memorial avenue to the victims of the HMAS Sydney, found the memorial to Peter Mitchell’s Uncle Frank and took some photos for Aileen. Then it was home to wash the Blue Lux because it was covered in salt from our stay at Coral Bay and Stephen was anxious because you couldn’t see its natural lustre.

Latest News:

You will all be glad to know that beef prices are good with old cows at a high of $1.35 and a low of $1.26.

It was Preliminary Final week in Victoria but over here it is all about Ross Young who won the Sandover Medal and that Paul Haselby had come to an agreement with Fremantle. Who cares????

Yes, Sen. Det. Sgt. Chris O’Connor, we did see you on the 7.30 Report on Wednesday 16 September.

Stephen’s jaw has not quite recovered with the news that Senator Conroy dropped regarding Telstra.

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