Reef & Outback

Thursday 13 May
After filling up all our water tanks (water is more scarce the further north we go) we hit the road heading for Warroora (Warra) Station. The road in was long and rough but the camp spot was idyllic, right on Ningaloo Reef…shame about the strong wind. Looking out to the ocean, some big waves break on the edge of the reef about a kilometre from the shore. The area inside the reef is fairly well protected. We went for a bit of a walk along the beach checking out the great shells before settling in for the night.

Friday 14 May
Shocking windy day – great day to catch up on school work and journals. We spent the morning indoors. After lunch we drove a few kms up to the next camp spot at Sandy Point to catch up with the first Smith family that we met in Tasmania at Stanley (Clint, Andy, Ally and Brodie). We knew they were going to be here for a few weeks. We spent the afternoon chatting. It was great to see them all again and catch up on our adventures. We also met their friends Darren and Tina who are staying here for a couple of months.

Saturday 15 May
Bugger – Darren had kindly offered to take us all out on his boat to the reef to go snorkelling but the wind was still shocking. Anything left outside was soon covered under the sand. Just like Friday – windy morning spent indoors and then a big play on the beach in the afternoon when the wind had dropped.

Sunday 16 May
Yay – no wind. We were packing up to head north today, but not before the boat trip to the reef. Darren and Tina are regular visitors to this area so he knows lots of great snorkelling spots. Darren, Clint, Ally, Brodie and us Smithies all headed out and the beautiful blue water. What a top day, especially after the strong winds over the past few days.

We went to the oval, the elbow, and out beyond the waves breaking on the edge of the reef to some much deeper water.

All of us got in the water. The kids were so excited, it was great to see. The whole experience was absolutely awesome. The coral, the fish…

The stingrays and turtles…

Looks like a tank, but this is real!

Thanks Darren, Clint and Andy – unreal!


After that great experience we drove the bumpy road back out to the main highway and called in on the township of Coral Bay, about 40kms north. It’s a pretty commercialised place consisting mainly of the caravan parks, backpackers and a few expensive shops. The showers by the beach were free though!


We continued north and camped at a truck stop about a hundred and forty kms short of Exmouth. Our next planned camp spot is Cape Range National Park around from Exmouth and we have heard that it’s very hard to get in at this time of year. We thought our best chance to get in would be to arrive on a Monday morning.

Monday 17 May
We were on the road early and pulled into the visitor info centre as soon as we arrived in Exmouth. We found out the best chance of getting a spot in the National Park was to go the DEC office – they will hold a spot for a couple of hours if there are any left…and there were, only three caravan places. There was less than a couple of hours to fill the water tanks, fill the car with fuel, collect some mail, do a big grocery stop and drive the 70kms to the NP entrance. We made it easily. We were very happy to have scored a spot at the Kurrajong campground at the southern end of the NP – it’s a protected area and the camp spots are separated so you have your own space…and we were only 100m from the Ningaloo Reef.

We spent the afternoon kayaking over the crystal clear water looking at the coral and colourful fish.



Tuesday 18 May
Ripper of a day today. I was spoilt with a few pressies in the morning and then we set off for Yardie Creek Gorge at the bottom end of Cape Range NP. We did the walk along the top of the gorge and enjoyed the views over the water below.

Yummy roast for dinner tonight – the oven bag in the dreampot works well…and chocolate cake of course.

Wednesday 19 – Friday 21 May
On Wednesday we headed just up the road to Turquoise Bay for some snorkelling. This is an easy snorkel spot where all we had to do is swim out about 30m and then the current took us along parallel to the beach for about 250m over the top of spectacular coral and fish – very nice. The colour of the water isn’t bad either.

After a tiring few hours in the water we drove a little further up the road to grab some bore water for showers and washing (much to the kids disgust).

Conditions are very harsh here as it hasn’t rained for over 12 months. The local wildlife know where to go to get a drink though.

Back at camp after tea the outdoor movie was showing at our place – the kids invited some of the friends they had made and they all ha a fun night.

On Thursday and Friday we went nowhere. Some other campers had told us about another great snorkelling spot just out from our campground. You only had to swim out 20m and there was no current which was better for Ella (she loves snorkelling). We set up there for the day and snorkelled, played and fished off the kayak most of the day…very relaxing!

See the waves breaking out on the reef…

We had some success with the fishing rod out on the reef – caught heaps of these…

We didn’t know what they were, so called them army fish (we found out they are Chinaman Cod) - we threw them all back but did keep some sweetlip that we caught.


Saturday 22 May
Sad day – time to move on. As we were packing up we spied some dark clouds looming in the background. A heavy shower blew over the area and gave everything a bit of a soaking. You know what that means? Very slow drive out of the NP.

All the way back to Exmouth, hundreds of kangaroos and wallabies were standing in the middle of the road drinking the rain water. Better drinking water collected in pools on the tar than drinking out of the dirt. They were also at our campsite licking the water off cars and pipes as well as off the concrete slabs where the toilets are.


After a big restock and a few phone calls after being out of range for the last week and a half we hit the road heading for Tom Price and Karijini National Park. It’s a long drive – we put fuel in the car at the Nanutarra Roadhouse (at $1.76 cents/litre it’s the most expensive diesel for the trip so far I think), and then camped at House Creek Bridge (free camp).

Sunday 23 May
The scenery of the Pilbara region is a very welcome sight after the nothingness from Perth upwards. The landscape is really interesting with coloured mountains springing up everywhere.

About 80kms short of Tom Price we stopped in at Paraburdoo for a closer look at the Jolly Green Giant.

17 of these operated at the local mine until the 1980’s. They cost $625,000 each in 1976 and carried more than 285 million tonnes of iron ore.


We checked into the Tom Price Tourist Park and then set off to climb the tallest mountain in WA, Mt Nameless.

Red rocks everywhere – you can see the iron ore in them.

Great views from the top over Tom Price.