Ningaloo Reef

Just like that four weeks of having mum with us were coming to an end, we did a tour through the Rio Tinto mine, very impressive and lucrative for the people that work there. Did you know that the majority of the drivers are women, yes, because they are more gentle on the machinery. They actually have a position nicknamed mummy drivers, they get paid around 160k for working 9-3pm, Carlos was very tempted to leave me behind for me earn some serious cash!!

On our last day in Tom Price we went out for dinner, farewell and early birthday and you won’t believe who served us at the restaurant….a Salvadorean lady named Rosibel. It was quite funny because we were waiting to be seated and I was talking to mum and from behind Rosibel talked to us in Spanish and offered us a table. Mum and I looked at each other as we were quite shocked that someone had addressed us in Spanish but of course our shock became greater when we found out where she was from. We had a bit of a chat and it was really a shame we didn’t meet earlier because she was so lovely, I will definitely make the effort to keep in touch.

We left the following morning to Paraburdoo, a little town with an interstate airport, mining and company cars galore, actually the airport belongs to Rio Tinto, you pretty much walk into a plane, the customs or check in is a very small area, a desk really. We said goodbye to mum and missed her straight away, playing uno in the car was not the same, to our consolation Noah and I will see her in November. So we drove off to our next chapter, on our way to Exmouth we had heard a lot about Bullara Station so we planned to check it out, before getting there we had to free camp one night and it was not a bad rest stop at all, we played cards outside and enjoyed the sunset.

We got to Bullara nice and early, we were hoping to make it in time to see some mustering which is done by a helicopter but unfortunately for us the area near the station had already been done and over 300 cattle had already been moved. The station was full of character, no doubt about that, very rustic decor and the shower was a classic. Nothing special about our site apart from having kangas coming to visit but they did have some walks around the property, one of them took you to some sand dunes where the kids could slide down but it also had chairs and table, I pictured myself at a 5 star bush restaurant.

Bullara was nice but a little too expensive for our liking so we decided to move along to our next stop Exmouth.

Exmouth is a town that couple of our friends have skipped altogether and this is because its regarded as expensive. We had to go, heard so much about the reef which has been described as the equivalent to the Great Barrier Reef in QLD, so we were excited! We opted for a homestead close to the Ningaloo Coastal Reef national park but away from the town, we didn’t mind and it was more affordable.

Our next job was to find someone to look after our dogs and this is where Colleen comes in. Just like all the other people who have helped us with the dogs, Colleen has been a God sent and someone who has become very dear to us. But let me start from the beginning. We got her number through the fb page caravanning with dogs and called her straight away, she sounded lovely, a little stressed because at that time her dog was having surgery and her concern confirmed to me her love for dogs. We organised to leave the dogs with her twice during the week we were staying there and she was very happy to have them. When we met her, she was all over the dogs, she knew exactly what they needed and how to handle them, the dogs felt comfortable and pretty much loved being with her, both times they stayed overnight and when it was time to pick them up, I wondered whether they wanted to come back home with us. Colleen never charged us a penny, she did it because she just loved dogs and for me that is one of the greatest acts of kindness we have been recipients of, taught me that to help others it does not need to be anything extraordinary, or to have lots of money to, or accomplish other things first… just give, and I did, I managed to convince her for an osteo treatment and that was my way of saying thank you.

Another surprise was meeting up with our friends parents Charmaine and Les who were on holidays at Exmouth. There are people in this world where you just seem to click, like you have known them for years and that was them. We spent the morning with them where they took us to some of their favourite places and later in the week we caught up for lunch at the caravan park where they were staying. It was great to spend time with them and we are really looking forward to seeing them again in Bunbury, which is where they live.

Ningaloo Reef

One word to describe the reef is “magical”. The distinctive Ningaloo Reef that fringes the Ningaloo Coast is 260 kilometres long and is Australia's largest fringing coral reef and the only large reef positioned very close to a landmass. There are many beaches you can visit however the more popular are Oysters Stack and Turquoise Bay. On our first trip down the National Park we stopped at Lakeside, the closest beach to our camp. We set up our snorkelling gear and dived in and trust our luck we spotted a turtle and it was just beautiful. Unlike the turtle we spotted at the Great Barrier Reef, this one was so clear to see and did not mind us at all, it surfaced to breath and as it did it it went so close to the boys that they could just touch it if they wanted to. We thought, not a bad experience for our first time at the reef, we loved it and the kids were just in another world, a massive turtle coming up to say hi, unbelievable.

To go to Oyster Stacks the tide has to be high, the reason for this is that if its too low you are too close to the coral and not only will you damage it but you can also get hurt, so we had to wait a few days to get the high tide and at the right time, after all it wouldn’t have been fun if we went for a swim at 4 o’clock in the morning. But the wait was definitely worth it, the reef was literally right off the shore, just as you stepped in the water, no need for a boat or anything, it was literally right there, not only that, as soon as we jumped in we were surrounded by fish.

Now from someone who has scuba dived that is definitely something, that is special. It was pretty hard to top that but after Oyster stack we went to Turquoise bay and once again we were blown away, picture perfect, looking at it was just like looking at a postcard of some deserted paradise island, spectacular. Clear blue sky, white sand, hundreds of fish and of course turquoise colour water just stunning, unfortunately there is absolutely no shade so we burnt like crisps, we could not stay too long.

It's not fair to compare the reef from East to the West simply because where we went on the East, Green Island is probably where most tourist go and as a result there has been a lot of damage done to the reef but also so many other variables like climate, sealife, accessibility.Ningaloo reef is pristine, maybe because entry to the reef is dependant on the tide. Nevertheless we really enjoyed our time in Exmouth and could have spent a lot more of it if it wasn’t so expensive.

Before moving on I must share another experience of the exotic Exmouth. We visited the lighthouse just by the sea and on the way back we decided to go to the beach. Out of all the beaches there we opted for the one named “Mauritius”, Carlos said we should go there since I have always asked him to take me to Mauritius, anyway as we got there I happened to spot a couple lying on the beach, to my surprise, completely naked! Of course we ended up on a nudist beach didn’t we. So, I would like to say that a human anatomy lesson was covered in home schooling when the couple decided to get up and go for a swim. The kids thought it was quite funny, I was just glad to move on to a more appropriate beach. Disclaimer, no photos were taken !

Our final stop before Carnavon was a camp by the beach called 9 Mile beach or Burjuuondoulo. The camp was literally off the beach which was amazing but what was not so amazing was that there was no toilets or water, what is even worse is that to do shopping you only had Coral Bay to go to which was, listen to this, more expensive than Exmouth! Coral bay, which is where I was hoping to do snorkelling was just an overpriced, holiday money making place where most of the area was taken up by a caravan park, everything costs lots of money, even tap water. So we couldn't get out of there quick enough and went to 9 Mile beach camp, cheap and beautiful, just what we like, what was even cheaper was if we stayed a week we paid $60.

The space and isolation was really calming, we got into our routine of “ejercicio” breakfast, Carlos would try his luck with fishing followed by our afternoon “beach shower”. In the afternoon we would do some home schooling, walk along the beach and sitting on the lookout (dog in tow) waiting for the sunset.

The caretaker and his wife were lovely, very friendly and on Friday night our neighbour together with the caretaker put out a delicious spread by the fire to socialise and just get to know each other. Our neighbour happened to be a cook so the spread was really yummy and it was very hard for the “Morin’s” to be civilised, keep calm and eat slowly as opposed to savages who have not seen such a spread in a long time.

As beautiful our stay was we started to run out of supplies and especially water, I have never used water so wisely, I am pretty sure that if I was to use water in Melbourne the way I did at this camp, I would only pay $20 a quarter.

A nice surprise was a visit from our friends from the Gibb, Shannon, Paula and Heith. They were camping not far from us however the road to get to their camp was really bad and that is why decided to go to the 9 Mile camp. Anyway they came by and unlike our luck with fishing Shannon had been catching good tucker, so he brought us a fish and it was huge, it barely fit in our babyQ webber, we were very grateful.

We really enjoyed spending time with them and have absolutely fallen in love with Heath (such a cutie) who is only three, like many people we have met along the journey, we hope to keep in touch with them and I think we will, specially more so because they are from Victoria.

Our time came to move on, as beautiful as it was we had completely run out of water (we couldn’t even brush our teeth the day we left), our so called “beach showers” were no longer fun after Noah was stung by a jellyfish and our toilet experience of digging holes in the ground had quickly lost its amusement. We were ready for our next chapter and excited to see what WA had in store for us.