The Ningaloo Coast

Exmouth

Part 2 of our holiday with Nathan was snorkelling on the Ningaloo Coast. Our first stop was Turquoise Bay. Last time the water was way too cold for me so I ended up buying a full wetsuit, which made it a lot more pleasant this time. The day started off beautifully, but the wind came up later when we were at the Oyster Stacks. Without any underwater camera gear the photos are a little boring.

On the second day we went down to Yardie Creek, hoping to kayak if it wasn't too windy. There was a bit of a breeze, but the water was quite calm.

Eastern Reef Egret

At the end of the gorge it was perfectly still and absolutely beautiful.

Intermediate Egret

There was an Eastern Osprey nest near where we launched the kayaks. 

The adult went fishing but didn't have any success.

So the chick kept waiting.

The view of the gorge from above.

Nathan went snorkelling while we were kayaking, and we met up with him at Mesa, where he'd set himself up for the day. The wind had picked up again and he said the snorkelling was a few hundred metres out, so we just sat and enjoyed the view.

We stopped at the lighthouse on our way back to Exmouth and noticed there were whales. 

By then it was blowing a gale, but with our camera and binoculars leaning against the car, we saw quite a few. We both happened to see this pair breach at the same time!

What we thought was an intermittent starting issue caused by a bit of corrosion on the battery terminal began to occur again, so when we got back to the caravan park Dazz popped the bonnet to give it a clean. This time it wasn't the corrosion, but a cracked clamp! A quick trip to Autopro in the morning and we were good to go again.

Coral Bay

The son of some of our friends (and his wife) are also travelling around Australia, but they are going the opposite direction to us. We had planned to meet up somewhere around Exmouth, but they were still a little further south. They were keen to snorkel at Coral Bay, as were we, and we could stop there for lunch on our way south. They also mentioned that they now had an inflatable boat, which they would be happy to take us out on. I get sea sick, so I was happy to just snorkel off the beach so Dazz and Nathan could go on the boat. Nathan wasn't going to hang around for the afternoon, though, as he wanted to get to our next planned beach stop (rather than camping in a rest area with us). I decided the water didn't look too rough, so I'd go out and hope for the best... and I'm so glad I did!

When Sam and Grace had been out in the morning they had seen some manta rays, so we decided we'd try to find them again. Someone saw something out in front of the boat so there was much excitement, but it was not the manta rays. Nobody was complaining about dolphins though!

When we got to the area they had seen them in the morning Sam put his drone up and found them, so we motored closer and jumped in. Sam's hobby and business is videography, so he has the gear and uses it well - thanks for the footage Sam! These are some screenshots from the videos.

One our way back we moored on a buoy in a snorkelling area and enjoyed the white sand, crystal clear water and abundance of fish. Dazz saw a reef shark sleeping under a coral bommmie and I swam with a turtle.

It certainly was an amazing day - thanks again Sam and Grace!

Quobba Blowholes and Station

What we had expected to be the snorkelling highlight turned out to be an anticlimax after our afternoon on the boat at Coral Bay. The high tide at "The Aquarium" was a really low high tide, so we couldn't get out over much of the coral, but there were still lots of fish and it was very pretty... but no photos. (If we come over this way again I think we'll get a GoPro so we can capture the underwater beauty.)

The low tide and reasonable swell meant the Blowholes were blowing well, though.

Our last night with Nathan.

The following afternoon we were both inside the van when a neighbour came over and knocked and asked if we wanted a fish. He had caught a couple, but couldn't be bothered processing both of them so just wanted to give one away! Of course we said yes, and hastily changed our dinner plans.

Later that evening as we watched the sun set there were more whales in the distance. The zoomed phone photo doesn't do it justice.

Singing Honeyeater

As we were driving back out of Quobba Station we got a closer view of whales. They were just beyond the waves.

Carnarvon

Rain was forecast so we headed into Carnarvon for a couple of nights. We both had work and once the rain passed I caught up on all the washing and re-stocked at the supermarket. We went for a drive out to the One Mile Jetty and discovered it's been closed since 2017, shortly after our last visit. It was further damaged in 2021 in a cyclone.

There were a number of murals around the town, but this is the only one we stopped for a photo of.

Karijini National Park

Last time we came to WA Karijini was our favourite national park. We were keen to do the walks again, and try to improve on our photos from last time. Our nephew joined us, so it was fun to show him a part of the state he hadn't experienced before.

Photos from around the camping area

Female Splendid Fairy-wren (we think - there were no breeding males to confirm)

A sedentary goanna at the visitors' centre.

Dales Gorge Rim 

The first afternoon we walked across to Dales Gorge from the camp and did the walk up the rim.

   

Kalamina Gorge

Day 2 was out to Kalamina Gorge. Last time most of the road out was dirt, but now it was only the last 6km, which was a nice surprise.

Hancock Gorge and Kermit's Pool

Day 3. Last time we didn't get to the end of this gorge due to a combination of not being prepared to get wet beyond our knees, having too much camera gear, and basically being a bit timid! This time I was more determined, and we knew Nathan would be going to the end.

It's not a very long walk, but starts with a decent down a series of steep steps.

Dazz stopped at the place that required boots off and wading through knee/thigh deep water. He was happy staying there to work on getting some good photos of this part of the gorge (which involved setting up the tripod and then waiting until there were no people in the shot!).

I took my boots off, left my backpack and just took my phone for photos (so the quality isn't as good as the ones Dazz usually takes with his real cameras).

The water was reasonably deep in some sections, and quite cold, which meant negotiating narrow ledges.

There was a small amphitheatre area and waterfall between narrow gorges.

The "spider walk" was actually easier to just walk through the water. There was enough of a flow that the rocks weren't too slippery from moss.

A little waterfall to slide down, with lots of toe holds to climb back up.

And then I was at Kermit's Pool! A couple of guys were enjoying jumping in, so I didn't manage any nice reflection photos.

Weano Gorge and Handrail Pool

The other walk we didn't make it to the end of last time was Handrail Pool. It starts off as just another run-of-the-mill Karijini gorge, with some flat wider sections, and some that are more narrow.

Once we got into the narrower section I went ahead so I could get to the end, and Dazz went slower to capture more of the beautiful colours and textures of the rocks.

I chatted with people who were swimming back across the large pool, which I had no intention of doing because the water was so cold, and they said it was possible to walk around the left of the pool, cross over on some rocks, and wade through water until almost the end. After that it would require a swim. I decided to see how far I could get without getting too wet, so left my boots and backpack.

I made it around and across the rocks with only a minor slip, ending up about waist deep in water, but springing back out rather quickly. The view was enticing, so I kept going.

This was the section that required some serious rock climbing ability (which I don't have) with the possibility of falling in (which I didn't want to do), or just plain swimming... so my walk ended here.

By this time, Dazz had got to the main pool and captured me negotiating the rocks on my way back out. We had both watched some backpacker guys take ages to try to balance on the corners of the slippery rocks, unsuccessfully, so I'm not sure why he thought I would get back across without slipping... 

He turned around and walked away, but this time my small slip was to the other side or the rocks, which was a bit deeper and left me soaked. He missed the action shot!

Carrying a towel and swimming shorts paid off as I was able to dry off and put my boots and long pants back on, and by the time we were halfway back along the gorge my shirt was nearly dry too!

Climbing back up the handrail was a little more difficult for Dazz with all his camera gear.

Joffre Falls Lookout

On our way back to camp we stopped in briefly at Joffre Falls Lookout.

We also stopped at the Knox Gorge Lookout, but Dazz didn't get out to it to take photos as there were Spinifex Pigeons in the picnic area.

Fern Pool and Fortescue Falls

We had a slow morning around camp on Day 4, caught up on washing and had an early lunch, then went over to Dales Gorge for a swim at Fern Pool. The boys stayed in a while, but I only popped in long enough for a photo!

Once Dazz was out and dry he set up for a photo, and the long wait for people to not be under and around the waterfall.

We had planned to go over in the afternoon so Fortescue Falls would be in the shade for photos.

It was worth the climb back up the stairs!

Knox Gorge

Day 5. This is a gorge that we didn't do last time, but Nathan and I decided it looked interesting from the lookout, so we decided to leave Dales Camp a day early and stop at Knox Gorge on our way to camp near Mount Bruce that afternoon. It's not as popular as the other gorges, so there were no nice steel stairs to get down into it - just a lot of steep rocky clambering.

It was a pleasant walk through the bottom of the gorge, but unfortunately Dazz's camera didn't like the SD card so we only have phone photos.

We did get a photo of the view up to the lookout!

Dazz wasn't feeling adventurous with his camera gear, so he stayed a the middle pool and swam while I went to the end. Nathan had already been up there and said it was nice, but nothing special.

The cliffs narrowed and were quite pretty.,,

... but the pool at the end certainly wasn't appealing.

The middle pool was much prettier, but once again it was freezing cold!

The climb back out was made bearable by the cool-down swim, though.

Catching my breath after the climb.

Mount Bruce

We went down to the western end of the park and Mount Bruce after lunch. Nathan was planning to climb it for sunrise, so went to find a camp spot, and we thought we'd just walk up to the first little rise since we'd already done Knox Gorge that day.

Dazz took a couple of photos looking back down the valley either side, but they just didn't compare to what we remembered from last time.

So we walked a little further, and then up the little rise to get a bit more height, but it was still looking back into the sun.

So we went just a little higher and then around the corner to the spot we had lunch last time. There was a large cloud over the sun for most of the time we were there. Just as we were about to leave it cleared the foreground, leaving Mount Bruce still in shadow.

We camped at a free camp just outside the national park so we could have a fire, which was nice once the sun went down.

The hill near the camp lit up nicely (but it's not Mount Bruce).

The next morning Nathan left around 4am to climb the mountain. He sent this video around 6:30am.