Week 5 · 25th April to 1st May
Monkey Mia
Day 29 – 25th April
Chilled in Denham and found out about Francois Peron NP – stocked up and headed to the Peron Homestead where we soaked in a natural hot spring tub for a while – nice!
Headed further north into the Park to Gregory’s campsite right on the shoreline. Had a lovely evening with BBQ and wine except Dean trapped his finger in the table which was ‘sore’ and the moths shared our food.
Day 30 – 26th April
Spent a few hours in the morning at the campsite just chilling out, swimming etc. Then the flies became a little too hard to handle even with the fly nets so we hopped in Max and headed to Cape Peron. We found ourselves on a long deserted beach overlooked by red sand and rock, with crystal blue waters. Took a stroll along the cliff when all of a sudden we were treated to our own personal Dolphin display! We stripped off and ran into the sea (anticipating being able to swim with them.)
It was amazing, they came right up to the shoreline, rounding up fish, frolicing and generally entertaining us. They stayed for ages and we took close to a 100 photos of em (and even a few videos!) The whole experience was definitely a highlight for both of us.
From there we walked to Skip-Jack point and from the lookout we saw turtles, manta- and sting-rays and a few shovel nosed sharks – a marine feast! Got back to the campsite and discovered we didn’t have much water so we headed back to Denham and civilisation. Ate Mackeral thanks to a lovely family and chatted to (and drank with) 3 Canadians.
Day 31 – 27th April
Denham to Canarvan is not a long drive (by Aussie standards) but then it shouldn’t be because there’s absolutely nothing to see. You know you’re in big open country when you see a signpost indicating a Petrol station 120kms away! So we drove it pretty quick and arrived at Canarvan at 11am. Had a quick look around Canarvan (tourist info, Woolies and a local coffee shop) before checking in to the Caravan park complete with swimming pool. Needless to say the rest of the day was spent lounging around the pool – blis! Dinner again consisted of more free fish from the Snowy family (Phil, Jo, Jack and Rowan)
Day 32 – 28th April
(In a Geordie accent)
“You shall have a fishy, in your little dishy”
“You shall have a fishy, when the boat comes in!”
In fact, you shall have Salt n Pepper Squid, BBQ Crayfish and Snapper! Need I say anymore about the day?! Oh yeah, and BEER too! So we blew our (daily) budget by a factor of 2, so what it was great day!
Woke pretty early and had a cuppa while updating this site then we rushed around like mad buying things and sorting every thing out for the next few days (most importantly another wheel (rim) for Max.) Drove to Coral Bay once it cooled down a bit, met Sarah and the fish feast commenced!
Day 33 – 29th April
After our fish feast last night (I even loved it and I’m not a big fish fan) Sarah treated us to a fruit feast this morning. Watermelon, Bananas, Paw Paw and other fruity delights topped with yoghurt – yummy.
Then the 3 of us sauntered down to the beach for a swim, snorkel and sunbathe – ahhh it’s a hard life! Spotted Stingrays, Parrot fish and lots of others (need to brush up on my fish knowledge.) Dean was the envy of the beach with Sarah and I striving for a ‘more complete tan’ shall we say (here here). Sorry no photographic evidence readers!
Had a coffee and said our goodbyes (again) to Sarah – then Dean and I hit the 4WD track to 9-mile beach where we pitched for the evening. A great day, really liked Coral Bay.
Day 34 – 30rd April
Did we ever mention that for the last few weeks the flies have driven us nuts? Well, today was no exception however this time I was completely sick of insects given that I’d secured nearly 50 mosquito embraces the night before. Got up early this morning to drive the 80km of 4WD to Cape Range NP. A drive that meant crossing the (unbeknown to us) dry Yardie Creek just over the border of the park.
On reaching Ningaloo Stn, Orla took over the wheel to Lefroy Bay where we had a swim and lunch. Heading on (Dean at the wheel) it wasn’t long before we hit Yardie Creek and our camp for the night. We deferred the gorge walk until tomorrow, instead went for a cooling dip in the aquamarine water just metres from our tent. 35 degree heat – perfect!
Day 35 – 1st May
OK reader, you’ve guessed it – I am having a burst of writing! I’m sat in a café in Exmouth on May 2nd writing the accounts of the last 2 days. Orla is reading the paper so I probably have time to rewrite my thesis!
What happened today? (Yesterday) We forced ourselves out of our tent at 6:30ish to watch the sun rise over Yardie Creek – hoping to spot rock-wallabies in the process. V impressive too. We walked up the North side, crossed over (not much water in it unfortunately) and back the South side where we noticed a sign saying “Nature Sanctuary – no entry!” – oops!
Packed and drove to South Mandu (in the NP) for a snorkel. Very good – sighted creatures ranged from Angelfish, Catfish and Featherfish to Mantarays, Jellyfish and Parrotfish. Moving on, we stopped at the visitor centre before another snorkel this time at Lakeside. Even though the coral wasn’t as dense as Mandu, the quantity and variety of fish was much greater. In fact (and reader, you have to believe me – Orla didn’t till she saw it) our first shark encounter in Australia happened this day. A 1m long white-tipped reef shark most likely – harmless unless agrevated – a textbook description I wasn’t about to try to prove wrong!
Camped at North Mandu that night and enjoyed the beach under bright moonlight.
