West Coast Roadtrip - 1.1

Posted by Ray

Posted on October 9, 2009

I think everybody was glad to reach Exmouth. Home to the Ninagloo Marine Park and Cape Range National Park there was allot on offer for us to do. The first night we stayed in town at an expensive overflow caravan park. Arriving late in new towns is always a problem when seeking accommodation for the night, but we were glad to just put the heads down. In the morning we were greeted by a local park ranger who arranged accommodation for us at the Yardie Creek Campsite inside the National Park. We only realised later how lucky we were getting into the campsite. The National Park is very tight on camping numbers. Everyone has to normally queue in the early hours of the morning to wait and see if there is an available site, on a first come first served basis.

The Yardie Creek Campsite was tiny but quaint. With only eight site available it felt a real privilege to stay there for the few nights. With our own private beach behind us and the outback wildlife freely skipping around the area felt unique compared to anything you would have found on the East coast. All this was only $7 pp per night. Right beside the campsite was the Yardie Creek a mere minutes walk. The famous black-footed rock wallabies live in the area, but that day we didn’t see one even with binoculars. We did spot a small snake, it might have be the deadly poisonous brownie, but I didn’t get to close to find out.

Other than the amazing scenery and beaches the area is famous for its 250km protected reef area just 100m offshore. During different times of the year many fish come and go. We were lucky to catch the end of the Whale Shark season which runs from May-July. Also migrating during these times were the Manta Rays and Humpback Whales. We booked the Whale Shark snorkeling with Ningaloo Dreaming for $360 each.

The morning of the tour we left the Yardie Creek Campsite early to travel the 70km north to the pick up point at the Yardie Creek Homestead just outside the National Park. We were all well aware of the local Kangaroo population who were active from sunset to sunrise. I was driving that morning going fairly slow in convoy with the Dutch girls in toe. I had noticed a few around the side of the road and would slow appropriately. About 10km into the journey one kangaroo I had spotted on the left hand side verge bolted towards the headlights of the Hilux. With literally a second to act I slammed on and the Ute’s back wheels skidded into a power-slide. It was too late the kangaroo hit the number plate and bounced forward about 5 metres. I first thought the Roo just joined the long road kill list. Jonas first got out of the car to take a look, but miraculously the little guy jumped up and hoped over to the side of the road. We got back on our way passing the shocked, but lucky to be alive Skippy.

Another 20Km north I had another close call. Two kangaroo’s were on the left hand side verge just inside the bush. The first one made a dash across the road followed by the second one a few seconds later. When the first one made a move I pressed hard on the brake pedal putting the pickup into a slide. I missed the first Roo by a metre and unbelievably the second Roo aswell. Just before hitting the grill the Roo jumped away from the Ute before we came to a holt. We finished the rest of the journey with no more incidents, but unfortunately the Dutch girls behind us had hit one and this time the Kangaroo wasn’t so lucky. Whale Shark day got off to crazy start.

We all made to the beach where small dingys brought us to the main boat out on the reef. We were split into teams and given a brief talk on the Whale Sharks and how the snorkelling session would go. I was in the first team to swim along side the Whale Sharks. The way the interaction took place was the spotter who works for the tour would jump in first in front on the Whale Shark and point out the direction of where it was travelling. Then when the signal was given we would jump in. When we saw the Shark we would split either right or left leaving room for the fish to pass. As things were going that day I wasn’t surprised things spiralled into pandemonium.

Firstly the group of ten snorkelers including myself didn’t know where the Shark was or what direction it was going. Once entering the water we began to look for the big shadow, but couldn’t see anything due to the poor visibility. I instinctively took my head out of the water to look back at the boat to ask Simon where the Whale Shark was. He just screamed back at everybody to keep their heads down and to look for the shadow. The next thing I heard was the spotter screaming at the top of voice “Get out of the way, get out of way!”. Confused my reaction was to just tread water. I put my head under to see this massive tail swoosh by my head. It couldn’t of been more than one or two metres away. I got a huge fright. At this stage I was behind the Whale Shark and began to kick hard to catch up. The Shark was definitely spooked at this stage and dived out of site.

We got back on the boat and the head guy Simon was majorly pissed off. The reason the day is so expensive is to cover the cost of the spotter plane. Other boats were in the area following the same Whale Shark who had just disappeared into the deeps, maybe not to return. I thought my group might have just cost allot of unhappy tourists their sighting of the Whale Shark and tour groups thousands. That day there was only one Shark in the area and with five minutes we managed to scare it away, oops. Another spotter plane was sent up and a half hour later the Shark appeared to all our delight. We got a second chance to swim with the Shark which proved to be an amazing experience. Just being able to swim along side a six metre creature is pretty cool. We had other snorkeling time that day seeing Sting Rays, Manta Rays, Reef Sharks, Humpback Whales and numerous multi-coloured coral fish.

We spent a few more days in Exmouth finding more stunning beaches, fishing and surfing on the northern point beach. Jonas being the keen Scuba diver did the Famous Navy Pier dive. It was expensive but he enjoyed the day and night dives seeing a multitude of coral fish and big sharks. With our full quota of Exmouth achieved we pressed onto Karijini National Park.

Conquering All The Outback Had

Exmouth - Northern Tip

Betsy And The Exmouth Lighthouse

The Gang - Ray, Simone, Emma & Jonas

Humpback Breaching - Took From Lighthouse Lookout

Yardie Creek

The Lil Brownie

Fire Dance

Our Neighbours In Yardie Creek Campsite

What Do We Do When We See The Whale Shark Again?

The 6M Beauty

Elise & Ray

3.5M Manta Ray - Unbelievably Graceful

Emz

Grey Nurse Shark - Jonas Navy Pier Dive

Jonas In Action

Get Out Of The Way Skip!

On Top Of The Dunes Of The Cape Range National Park, Spectacular

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