Monday 23 September 2013 - Ned’s Camp, Cape Range NP

Monday 23 September 2013 - Ned’s Camp, Cape Range NP

We’re still here! After being blown to bits on the first night in the national park at a more exposed camp on the southern end, we found a great little site at Ned’s Camp. It’s in a nice little ‘cul-de-sac’ so we don’t get any day visitor traffic and there’s even a little boardwalk through the dunes, giving us our own private beach access! The girls often go and hang out there with their sand toys, especially when it’s too windy on the beach itself. The ‘breeze’ is always present and varies from strong to gusty to howling, but for the most part we’re pretty well protected. Our only complaint is that it gets pretty cool at night, around 13 or 14 degrees lately, but we had a few mornings where the mercury had dropped to 11.

The sun is shining all day though and it gets quite warm, but the water temperature is still a bit cool for us north Queenslanders. Ningaloo Reef is a marine park and is a World Heritage listed site, so the sea-life here is pretty phenomenal. The water is, again, crystal clear and every day we bother to look, we see whales out past the reef, turtles in close and the occasional dolphin cruising through. The fish life is incredible, but we’ve only been snorkelling once each, due to the cool water and even cooler wind when you get out! There’s plenty of coral around too, but it looks like it cops a bit of a flogging due to the constant tourist traffic coming through.

We’ve got some really lovely neighbours, most of whom have been here for a while and aren’t in any hurry to move either. One couple are from Darwin, another family (they have two girls as well, but they’re 7 and 9) are from Phillip Island and some grey nomads who left a few days ago were from Agnes Waters. Yesterday they were replaced by a girl about my age with a nearly 3-year-old daughter from Adelaide, much to Yasmin’s delight. So we’re from all over. The rest of the campground are pretty friendly too – every evening they head to the picnic tables overlooking the beach for sundowner drinks. We tried to do it one afternoon but the girls got a bit overexcited with the chocolates and nuts that people had brought along for nibblies.

Sunday 15 September 2013 - Cape Range National Park (Ningaloo Reef)

Sunday 15 September 2013 - Cape Range National Park (Ningaloo Reef)

Gee, we’ve moved around a lot lately! I had to check the calendar to see where we’d camped not even a week ago. Last Monday night we spent at a free bushcamp at Cane River, just off the highway. We then drove a little further southwest until we reached Bullara Station. This was a great little spot with lots of families staying so we hardly saw the girls. It was really well set up, with great facilities (including a beautiful ‘au naturel’ shower suite) and very friendly people (such a nice change after Broome and similar!) – they even had a central campfire which everyone is encouraged to congregate around for a few drinks after dinner. 

After saying goodbye to the sheep (and a gorgeous little miniature dachsund – I so want one once my babies are all grown up!), we drove into Exmouth and restocked our supplies, picking up a couple of snorkels and masks from the local Tackleworld as well. We’d arranged to catch up with the Trickeys, the family we met at De Grey and then at Dampier, and they drove into town a short while after we’d finished our errands. It was Sally’s birthday the next day, so we spent two nights at the Exmouth Big 4 (on the cheap, I ‘forgot’ to tell them we had kids – they charge $10 a head for over 2s!) and caught up on washing and a bit of trailer maintenance while we were there.

Monday 9 September 2013 - leaving Karratha region

Monday 9 September 2013 - leaving Karratha region

We’ve had a really nice couple of days. Cleaverville looked nice but we didn’t camp there because it was blowing a fair bit, plus there was a bit of a heatwave on and there wasn’t much shade available. We had a nice lunch stop in there though, then went to have a look at Point Samson. It’s another beautiful spot. We pulled up at a playground and let the girls loose for a while, had a look at the water and then went for a drive around Cossack, which is now just a historic town. The whole area is pretty magical to look at – full of dramatic contrasts where the rugged natural landscape meets the incredible man-made feats of industry and mining because the land is so mineral-rich.

We then drove through Karratha to a great little caravan park in Dampier. It was down the end of the town, faced the water (and the ships getting loaded up, pretty cool to watch) and had basic but great amenities, sufficient shade and friendly inhabitants. We stayed the maximum time allowed (three days) and would have loved to extend our visit if we could. We used the time to catch up on washing, get some new feet for the Cruiser (just two – nothing’s cheap in Karratha!) and generally pottered around enjoying the area. There’s a nice little playground right on the water, so we took the girls there one morning and we visited the library twice. It had some really interesting local books on the area, including Sam’s Island and Red Dog. 

On Sunday we packed up, said goodbye to our friends (another family with two boys the same age as the girls) that we’d met at De Grey and went to catch up with my cousin Ricky. He’s working at a gas plant near Karratha, flying in for a month at a time from his home on the Central Coast in NSW. We picked him up, grabbed a hot chook and some fresh rolls and went for a drive around the Burrup Peninsula (where his worksite is). Hearson’s Cove was our first stop, a beautiful little beach, very popular with the locals. The photos say it all. Sienna adopted another family because they had a cute little dog and Yasmin made friends with a little girl, playing on a rock in the water with her. It was pretty surreal looking at the pristine clear water and then up at the red rock on one side and gas plant flame burning on the other, reminding you of how much money this whole area is worth. Next stop was Withnell Bay, which had a much rougher track in and consequently fewer visitors. It was a little more rugged looking but still stunning and the whole area looks fantastic for fishing. 

After returning Ricky to his digs and saying goodbye, we filled up with water and set off for a roadside bushcamp. About half an hour out of town is Miaree’s Pool, another popular local swimming spot beside the Maitland River. We drove around a while before finding a suitable spot (it didn’t have that many sites and a lot were already taken by the earlybirds), but eventually we found a great little area and set up. After a very early dinner, we all went to bed. 

This morning, we ate brekkie, packed up and then went and found a good swimming spot along the river. The girls stripped off and we trotted down to a fairly clear, sandy-bottomed waterhole, complete with rope swing. What more could you want? After splashing around for half an hour (which doubled as our bath), we jumped in the car and went to check out 40 Mile Beach. This spot is about the same distance from Karratha as Cleaverville, but on the southern side and seemed to be a very similar type of landscape. We checked out the campsites but nothing really took our fancy. Following a northern track behind the dunes, we found a decent little spot to pull up for a few hours, with a great sandy beach in front. We pulled the shade out and went down for a swim and a fish (no luck, but we scored in the bait department when Glenn netted a whole school of hardy-heads). After lunch and a cuppa, we rolled up the tarp, packed away the chairs and kitchen and hit the road again.

We quite like the Pilbara region. On first sight it isn’t much, but after a while the area kind-of grows on you. The coastal region is particularly appealing to us, I think partly because it’s not chock-a-block full of grey nomads who come every year and look at you like you’re the scum at the bottom of their bait bucket because you dare to broach their fishing territory. But that’s another story. The wildflowers here are pretty amazing, which of course I can’t do justice because I don’t know the names of all the varieties, but the Sturt’s Desert Pea can be seen everywhere. The colour contrasts are absolutely stunning – red flowers against the green scrub; red dirt against the blue sky; grey steel structures against the aqua water. It’s hot, but at this time of year the max temp is only 30-35 degrees and while we’ve been here there’s been a beautiful sea breeze blowing. I’d love to see it in the wet (albeit from the comfort of a house with air con!). Although we’ve said goodbye to the Dampier/Karratha region, our business there is definitely unfinished!