CORAL BAY

Colonel Sanders ... I mean, my beautiful husband before 'the shave'.

Tess and Ben on the way back from the snorkel tour

David and Beth, the snorkel enthusiasts

Ben, David and Bridgie snorkeling the Ningaloo Reef

Ben entering the water

David with a Green Turtle - just stunning

David and Beth snorkeling the Ningaloo Reef

A giant clam

Underwater scene

On the boat

Ben, David and Bridgie in the water

Bridgie in her snorkel and mask

Ben in the water

Beth is a little champion

Feeding the Spangled Emperor

Feeding the Spangled Emperor

DAY 75 – CORAL BAY                                                    Thursday, 15^th September

Off early to pick up our snorkeling masks for our big day of snorkeling and looking at the Ningaloo Reef.  We went down to the beachfront and hopped in the water at about 9:30am which was VERY early and so VERY cold!!  The younger kids did not last long, especially Tess who does not have an ounce of meat on her, but David and Beth were fantastic, going out to the reef for as long as they could until David realised that his biggest problem with his mask was, in fact, his magnificent moustache!!  It was going to have to go in order for him to really enjoy the glass bottom boat tour and snorkeling that afternoon.

So home he came, but only shaved off the moustache, not the beard, so now looks very strange.  I think he might just try to grow it back again.

The kids had a bit more of a snorkeling practice in the pool before lunch and then we headed over to the Miss Coral Bay III.  The kids were enthralled with the glass bottom of the boat and we could see lots of coral and snapper and loads of other fish.

When it came time to go on the snorkeling tour, David took Beth, Tess and Ben with him while Bridgie and I stayed around the boat – and believe me when I say Bridgie was looking after me and not the other way around.  I am absolutely hopeless!  Last time I snorkeled I was a young bride on my honeymoon, eager to impress my handsome new husband.  So after much cajoling, I did climb into the water of the Great Barrier Reef.

Thank God I have reached a point in my life where I don’t believe I have anything to prove.  Of course, the jeers from my children are gut wrenching, but I am coping admirably!!  The captain threw out some food for the fish, so Bridgie got such a surprise when she was suddenly surrounded by enormous fish. 

After the first half of the snorkel, Tess and Ben had had enough and climbed into the boat but Beth went off with David and the rest of the snorkel tour.  They managed to see a Green Turtle and an incredible giant clam, among many other things. 

All the kids did such an amazing job.  I was so proud of them, having a go at something new and something not very easy.  More importantly, they were proud of themselves. 

We were so glad we did the boat and snorkel tour as it enabled David and Beth in particular to snorkel in places they otherwise would not have made it to. We finished the day with “fish feeding” from the beach with the Spangled Emperor swimming right through their legs!  The kids are now a bit “overtired” and finding it difficult to get to sleep.  Beth is probably still thinking of her Green Turtle encounter!  Big drive to Monkey Mia tomorrow.

EXMOUTH - CORAL BAY

Horses!  This five minute stopover is bound to feature largely in the children's journals!

The big prawn at Exmouth

Climbing into the water at Coral Bay

Starting off on their first snorkeling lesson!!

DAY 74 – EXMOUTH – CORAL BAY                                            Wednesday, 14^th September

“Camps Co-Ordinator David Hansen” had us all up and on the road without breakfast this morning to see the Bird and Fauna Hide at Mangrove Bay.  Unfortunately, the birds were all off having breakfast OUT this morning and the Fauna Hide was hidden so well we could not find it!  We did see lots of kangaroos hit by vehicles the night before which was very sad. 

Along the road, outside the National Park, are two horses we had seen on our drives in and out of the park.  They appear to be wild and immediately walk up to any cars which stop on the side of the road for pats and any available food.  My horse loving children were very excited to stop and feed the horses the two remaining apples we had in the car.  So pleased we are now giving our last provisions to mangy livestock on the side of the road!!

Back home to eat brekky (finally!) and then to pack up and head to Coral Bay.   There is an enormous amount of building going on in Exmouth around the new marina – people with a lot of money for homes and beautiful boats!

The trip to Coral Bay was short.  Coral Bay is just beautiful.  White, sandy beaches and beautiful turquoise water.  Setting up the van was a bit stressful for Sarah (but David, as always, was perfectly calm!)  The roads between the vans are very narrow here and there was an enormous boat sitting on the road outside the site opposite us.  We ended up having to manually push the van into place because there was no room to manoeuvre our car.  David was a star!

Off down the beach as soon as we could for some more snorkeling (with our ONE mask and snorkel)!  Unfortunately, everyone thought the snorkeling not quite as good as at Turquoise Bay but they did see lots of fish and giant clams and Bridgie even saw a baby turtle.  The bay here is so protected so no boogie boarding but we have booked a glass bottom boat tour and some snorkeling.  A beautiful prawn and pesto pasta dinner from my husband tonight with prawns from Exmouth!

EXMOUTH

The Naval Communication Base at Exmouth

The Hansen Family - the view across from the lighthouse with Exmouth Gulf behind us

Running away from the surf at Exmouth

Sunset over the Indian Ocean from the lighthouse at Exmouth

DAY 73 – EXMOUTH                                                          Tuesday, 13^th September

An absolutely beautiful morning in Exmouth AND NO WIND!  YAY!  David cooked lovely bacon and eggs this morning while I did two loads of washing.  Pilbara red dirt just gets into everything.  Both the car and all humans are absolutely filthy – I could barely recognise them!  After that, we headed down into Cape Range National Park which is very open coastal country with fantastic sand dunes.  Again, it is very remote and you do really feel like you are the only people in the world.  We looked at the Jurabi Turtle exhibit which was very interesting and then went to the Milyering Visitor Centre.  There was a really fascinating video on display which captured the kids’ attention for ages.  There were lots of scenes of marine life that they will see when they snorkel.  There was also a turtle there which had been found struggling in the surf after having its shell severely damaged by a propeller of a motor boat.  This Loggerhead Turtle had a shell over a metre long and a head that was almost a foot wide.  A beautiful creature.

We drove down to Yardie Creek and did the gorge walk.  The water was so clear we could see some species of Manta Ray in the water below.  Unfortunately, we had forgotten to bring the bathers so had to travel all the way home again.

But the extra driving was worth it for the snorkelling at Turquoise Bay!  We tried Oyster Stacks first but it really needs to be high tide to be any good, so we moved on to Turquoise Bay which was fantastic.  It took a while to show the kids how to snorkel and to get them used to the idea but after that, they were converted!!  To watch Beth come running back up the beach to me, with the most incredulous look on her face, words just tumbling out of her mouth:  “Mum, it was just so amazing.  I saw so many things.  Oh, Mum, it was just so AMAZING! It was the best experience ever!”  It was magical.  The kids can’t wait to get back into the water again.

We headed home for dinner with the Dearness family and sunset watching from the Lighthouse.  The previous evening as we drove into Exmouth, we had the sun setting on one side of us and the moon rising on the other.   It was absolutely stunning.  Tonight the moon took a little longer to rise, but was spectacular once it did.  A beautiful red colour - our own little Staircase to the Moon, since we missed it at Broome because we left before the full moon.

A simple barbeque for dinner with Kate and Bruce while the kids all had fun getting together again in the van – just lovely.

You are lucky with the photographs - the camera ran out of battery half way through the day.

TOM PRICE TO EXMOUTH

David and Beth on top of Mt. Nameless overlooking Rio Tinto Iron Ore Mine, Tom Price

The Hardhat Crew - the Hansens embarking upon the mine tour at Tom Price

One of the dumper trucks which carries 220 tonnes of iron ore in every load.

The mine site from the lookout.

My "twins" - Beth and Tess at the mine site.

The Hansen family in front of an excavator.

DAY 72 – TOM PRICE – EXMOUTH                                           Monday, 12^th September

Up early this morning and all hands on deck in case we were able to get an early mine tour this morning.  Unfortunately, no cigar.  So we took a drive up Mt. Nameless which is the second highest mountain in Western Australia and the highest one accessible by vehicle.  The view of Tom Price township and of the Rio Tinto Mine site was fantastic.  It really gave you an insight into the size of the mine.

We went back and attached the van before meeting outside the Information Centre for our tour.  The kids loved having their hard hats and protective glasses.  The man who conducted the tour was very informative and it was well worth doing.  Here is some of the interesting information we learnt:

• ·         There are 32 dump trucks which hold about 240 tonnes of iron ore (or 117 cubic metres). They usually only fill it to 220 tonnes so that the tyres last longer. The tyres are 3.7m high and weigh about 3 tonnes.  Each cost about $35,000! 

• ·         The excavators are so big that they can fill a dump truck in two and a half minutes!  The front end loaders are a bit slower.  They take 5 minutes to fill the dump trucks.

• ·         The trains that depart from there for Dampier have 230 carriages, carrying about 26,000 tonnes of iron.  It takes 1.5 hours to load the train with lump ore and 4 hours to load it with fine ore.  It takes more than 5 hours to travel to Dampier.

• ·         The dump trucks use 5000 litres of diesel every 24 hours and use 20 litres of fuel for every 1km!

• ·         Last year this Rio Tinto Mine exported 220 million tonnes of iron ore.  Rio Tinto have just announced a    HALF-YEAR profit of over $9 billion.   BHP Billiton just announced an annual profit of $22 billion.  I think somebody might be making a bit of money.

• ·         The truck drivers alone can earn $120 – 150,000 a year.  They pay $250 A MONTH in rent to Rio Tinto!

It was a really interesting tour but of course by the time we put our equipment back and everyone had a toilet stop and we got back in the van it was after 12pm.  This is the latest we have ever started a long journey.  We don’t like to travel at dusk because of all the animals and we have really only done it once, on our day to Purnululu National Park.  And our trip to Exmouth just confirmed why we made that rule.  We stopped only twice between Tom Price and Exmouth.  Once, at a rest station for an urgent toilet stop for Mummy and once at Nanutarra Roadhouse to change drivers and to give the kids a little treat.  The little treat did not however extend to hamburgers ($18.50).  David did comment: “At least it was with ‘the lot’!”

Apart from those two brief stops we travelled from 12:30 to 8pm.  The last two hours were particularly difficult with the sun setting right in front of our eyes, and then animals all over the road – cows, sheep, wallabies, kangaroos.  By the end, we had all six pairs of eyes glued to the road for anyone to yell out if they saw an animal.  I really didn’t enjoy the last part of the journey, although it was particularly beautiful watching the setting sun on our left and the full moon rising on our right.  One thing we did notice was the fact that kangaroos have once again appeared, rather than just the wallaroos and wallabies of the tropical north.

We passed Laurence and Violet on the road going back to Coral Bay from a day trip to Exmouth but didn’t realise until we had passed them! 

When we arrived, things did not go exactly to plan as the ground is solid rock and so the tent pegs would not go in.  So the full annexe had to be erected while the kids ate tinned spaghetti and 2 Minute Noodles for dinner!!  Oh well, will get them to pop a few Vitamins in the morning!!  Everyone was very tired from our big day.   Hope the kids will sleep in a bit in the morning…

MUNJINA (AUSKI ROADHOUSE) TO TOM PRICE (VIA KARIJINI NATIONAL PARK

DAY 71 – AUSKI ROADHOUSE – TOM PRICE (VIA KARIJINI NATIONAL PARK)

                                                                                               Sunday, 11^th September

At Knox Lookout early on in the day

Joffre Falls

Our beautiful babies at Hancock Gorge

The intrepid Hansen adventurers at Hancock Gorge (Class 5!)

Sarah and the kids at the start of the Hancock Gorge (Class 6) walk - which we didn't do!

The kids with Fortescue Falls in the background

Fortescue Falls

That's our family swimming in the pool at Fortescue Falls

Fern Pool, Karijini National Park

David under the warm water at Fern Pool

We made perhaps only one serious error in judgment regarding our itinerary and today was it!  Karijini really needed more than one day of our time but for a myriad of reasons, we only have one day – but better than nothing. Tried to get up early today but kids were tired so a bit slow off the mark!  Packed up the van and headed to the Visitor Centre at Karijini National Park.  We left the van there as most of Karijini is dirt roads.  Of course it was very safe – no one stole the chocks from behind the wheels – we just damn well left them behind!  Dammit!

There must be more red dirt in the Pilbara than in the rest of Australia put together!  Car and humans are totally filthy.  EVERYTHING is coated in a not-so-fine blanket of red dirt! 

First, we headed straight to Knox Gorge.  The amazing thing about Karijini is that, unlike other places, you don’t have to climb huge mountains to then peer down into the gorge.  The rim of the gorge is at ground level.  So when walking to the gorge along the track it suddenly comes to an abrupt stop – AT THE GORGE!  Knox Gorge was beautiful

From there we went to Joffre Falls where we saw many people climb down into the gorge and swim through the pools and then climb up to the waterfalls.  It was absolutely gorgeous, but unfortunately we did not have time to climb down into the gorge.  We really haven’t had a day of proper hiking since Fitzroy Crossing.  Two and a half weeks of lazing on the beach, drinking wine and eating cheeses has not only expanded my waistline but we are definitely no longer “match fit”! 

From there we went to Oxers Lookout which overlooks Junction Pool.  This is where Hancock, Weano, Knox and Joffre Gorges all meet.  There was a memorial there to an SES volunteer who had been killed in a flash flood while attempting a gorge rescue of an injured hiker.  It was a timely reminder and good lesson for the kids to learn that such gorges can be very dangerous.  We took a walk into Hancock Gorge which was just gorgeous.  David tried to prevent me from noticing that it was a Class 5 walk (it only goes up to Class 6 – and THEY require special permits!)  But it actually wasn’t very difficult and we all enjoyed the peacefulness of the gorge.  We had it all to ourselves!

We had lunch there and then drove back to the Visitor Centre, changed into bathers and then drove to Fortescue Falls which was absolutely stunning and everyone (except Mummy, that is – it wasn’t THAT hot!) jumped into the beautiful crystal clear pool at the bottom.  After warming up a bit on the rocks, we walked further on to Fern Pool which was just stunning.  A kind man let the kids have some of his biscuits to feed the tiny fish in the pool.  It was gorgeous watching the kids squeal with delight as the fish nibbled the biscuit – and then their fingers!!  David swam over under the waterfall and found the water so warm from the hot rocks above.

As it was 3pm, we decided it was time to leave.  By the time we went back to the visitor centre, attached the van, and drove to Tom Price Tourist Park it was 5pm.  By the time all the kids had had a shower, David had set up the caravan and the tent and cooked dinner, and I had been to the supermarket and filled up the car, it was 8pm before we got the kids into bed (very late for us!) 

It is getting much cooler at night (which is displeasing me no end!).  At Eighty Mile Beach, I got out the winter pyjamas again as it can get down to zero inland at night – especially during “winter”.  (Sorry but these people up here have no idea of the meaning of that word!   Their winter is better than our summer!!)  Not looking forward to the day when we need the jeans out again!!  Our constant catch-cry to David is “Dad!  Take us back to Broome!!”