Where are we now?

IT IS PRETTY COOL AND EXCITING WHEN YOU GO TO SLEEP EACH NIGHT & YOU WAKE UP IN A DIFFERENT PLACE

DAY 8 - 20 - CARNARVON to EXMOUTH
Heading to Carnarvon we are staying at the Big 4 Plantation Caravan park Carnarvon. Nice park shady, ablutions were not too close, but we were in the bigrig section. It was clean and tidy and the people were friendly.

We arrived around 3.30 after a rather long drive (293kms is very long when little kids get bored)the kids get a bit cranky if we travel for any longer and instead of killing them we would rather just have short drives. When we arrived the kids (social as they are) had made friends, 3 year old Ashton Gordon a very cute blonde headed cutie pops. He loved Slade and Shelby and Isla and they loved him. His parents Lee and Mandy were also cutie pops and their baby girl 7 month old Logan. After chatting with them for awhile it got too late for me to cook any dinner (well planned, I'd say) we headed into town for some locally caught fish and chips (my belated birthday dinner) It was very nice and it was the first dinner I've had for a few days.

Heaps of Banana trees in Carnarvon and would you believe the caravan park is surrounded by Mango trees, the park is set amongst a Mango farm, but no Mangoes as they are not ready to fruit yet(just my luck).

We went out to 1 mile jetty, we walked all the way up to find out that a quarter of it was closed for renovations. It was funny watching the kids try to not look down, as the wooden planks were very old and a bit wobbly. We then headed into town to do some shopping (restocking) and then back to the park where the kids couldnt wait to play with Ashy. We had an early night after dinner.

We went out to the blowholes they were pretty awesome and you can stand right at the edge...well Clint did I used Isla as an excuse to stand back a bit. We could also see humpback whales doing flips out in the ocean. We took a drive along the beach at Quobba, there is a camp grounds there which looked really good but it was a bit windy. There are no pictures as I deleted them accidently off the camera...oopsy

The car was looking a bit dirty as too the caravan so Clint and I spent the day cleaning, all is good and sparkly. Washing the car is a privelege in these parts of the country due to the water restrictions, we had to pay $5 to wash the car. We had a bbq with the neighbours who were Ashys' grandparents they have been travelling for 10 years!! They sold everything business's and house and have been travelling since. They are loving life! Mandy and Lee have been travelling since May 08 and even had their baby girl Logan on the road, very impressive. They were so nice and gave us lots of tips and advice on travelling.

Today we are leaving Carnarvon, we stayed 2 more days than we had planned but we were having a good time meeting people and hearing stories. I was a little sad to say goodbye I guess it was because saying goodbye was still fresh in my mind when I left all YOU GUYS!!


We stayed at a free camp rest area at Lyndon River west, we had a campfire and toasted marshmallows.







At 10am we headed towards coral bay, when we got to coral bay is was BUSY heaps of people there was no where to park so we went to the bakery and headed up the road to stop and have our lunch. We really wanted to have a look at Coral bay but there were signs saying NO PARKING everywhere, maybe we are just following the rule book too much and we should just park anywhere till someone tells us to move.

We then headed up to Exmouth quite a drive up to it saw a few emus and the RAAF was near Exmouth, (didnt know that was there). We got to the BIG 4 Caravan park Cape Holiday, quite expensive $49.50 for all us which included 10% discount for being a BIG 4 member. Usually $55 per night. We got a good spot right next to the ablutions, laundry and clothes lines, on a grassed and concrete pad under a tree, very nice. There's a pool, kids playground bbq's and a camp kitchen. The weather is awesome 28 today and 31 tomorrow.

Exmouth, yeah the weather is fab baby!! Just what we wanted warm and sunny. Today was a constructive school day, I was teacher to both Slade and Shelby and it was ok, its not as easy as I thought but once I get into the swing of things it'll be ok. It also trying to get them to focus and that it IS really school work. After school we went for a drive around Exmouth and then to the national park where we saw some of the ningaloo reef. Oh My, that is a beautiful sight, we are going to camp there right on the beach on Friday and we are looking forward to waking up to that.

There were a few people out snorkelling but not too many as this is the quiet period for Exmouth. Exmouth itself is a small town but the coast line is magic. The kids couldnt help themselves and jumped into the water in their clothes, we really were just checking out the campsites, but the little monkeys see water and they are into it, snotty nose and all. There are only 50 campsites in the national park so you have to get there early like 6ish to line up for a campsite (this was all part of our research and we had heard a whisper that this kind of thing happens). So with all our information we will be on to it on Friday. Look out grey nomads the baby nomads are getting up early.

We got back to the caravan park the BIG 4 (which Shelby and I keep calling BIG W, I think we are missing the shops a little) later in the afternoon so we decided to try out the local fish and chips, Blue Lips Fish & Chips, the chips were great, the squid rings fresh, the fish BLAH. We are in major FISH Country and I havent even eaten a fresh one yet. C'mon Clint!!

Today we went out to a local beach where we saw a dead Humpback Whale, smelly and huge. You dont realise how big they really are until you get up close. WE saw Quite a few emu's walk around wild in this part of the country and goats!

Prawns glorious prawns, bread avocado,salt and cracked pepper, straight from last nights prawn boats. Did some retail therapy and bought ourselves some flippers and goggles for the ningaloo adventure. If Clint doesnt catch me a fish soon Im going to grab them with my bare hands.

We left at 5.30 and got in the queue at 6am for Cape Range National Park (where the Ningaloo Reef is), we were third in line so we were pretty sure we'd get a spot. The Ranger advised us of the sites available and they werent the ones we wanted but we took what was there.



Osprey was the one we took which was a fair drive in 36kms from the ranger station. When you get to the camp you are allocated a bay by the Campsite Host. Campsite Hosts are from what I can guess are just travellers who volunteer to look after particular campsites in regards to taking payments for stays (you are allowed to stay for 1 month in national parks about $7 per adult) cleaning the bush dunnies. Clint met our hosts as I was minding the cherubs, they have a happy hour at 5pm every night so everyone gets to meet other travellers, but 5pm is a bit of a busy time for our tired little ones as they need food and bed. We will be staying at other national parks so I will find out more about these camp hosts for you.

We were close to the beach just over a dune or two, the water was unbelievalby crystal blue so nice to look at, mesmersing. We saw a few turtles bobbing up and down in the water and the water was a little bit choppy so snorkelling was no good.


We headed into Exmouth to catch up with some calls and then we had fish and chips again, but it was so good this time as I ordered a nice fish BLue Bone very soft and juicy.

We went down to this really cool beach to eat it, we found a really great spot where the surfers go, it has a wooden shack that was set up like a bar and on the beach was a large bench seat hand made out of wood, it was a memorial for a surfer that had died. It was about 6 ish when we started to head back to the national park and its usually only a half hour drive. Well, It took us 1 and a half hours to get back to camp as we had to drive at 50km per hour because of the skip skips roos, they were everywhere, heaps of joeys. We only managed to kill one with the King of the Road. Shelby was telling her daddy 'dont run over the baby ones just the daddy ones and not the mummy ones' They were silly things you can drive straight up to them and they just stare back at you, which is good in one way you dont want them to jump out at you. We took so long the kids crashed out and we just put them straight to bed.






Today we got the fishing rods out, the weather was overcast but not cold, so we headed down to the beach to see what we could catch. Nobody has been catching any fish here lately due to the winds. As it was we didnt catch anything but all the kids and me had fun casting in and out and putting the bait on. I did see fish but they just werent going to take the BAIT!! No fish for dinner tonight.




Windy day again so we did some school work and then headed to Yardie Creek Gorge which was nice. We then headed to the visitors centre to find out how the snorkelling was going to be. Bad news no snorkelling recommended as the visibility was nil. During the weekend a few people needed rescuing as they had been snorkelling and the drift had taken then out into the ocean. Some people have no idea, there are signs up for a reason, I guess we are a bit more observant to these things for the kids sake and there are no LIFESAVERS here or swimming flags so if you get yourself into trouble it may take a while for anyone to come rescue you. Two other backpackers also went out into the Gorges and fell and broke their legs or arms, so then they had to wait for another tourist to go to the visitor centre to call for help. An ambulance came out after a long length of time but then they couldnt get the ambulance out there so the ambo had to go out there and get them.

We left the national park today and headed back to Exmouth to fill up the water tanks empty the toilet, do some shopping, pick up the mail and get fuel.

We are heading towards Karijini National Park but we have 2 overnight stops along the way.

Our first one was Barradale 24hr rest stop area, very neat and clean, but REd fine dust lovely!! The kids loved it!! It was a busy rest area about another 20 or so other vanners. We had dinner at the Barradale Retreat Restaurant, we had freshly caught Exmouth prawns with baked Potatoes, sourcream butter and spring onions yummo!! For dessert I had Baileys and Milk(thanks Brock and Jess for the bottle of Baileys) in a tall tupperware Madagascar cup filled with ice. Clint and I went for a walk to the bins to get rid of our rubbish about 8.30pm and it was pitch black and when your eyes adjusted WOW...I cant remember the last time I saw this many stars!! We saw heaps of shooting stars too, we sat in the peace and quiet for a while and just admired the night sky. We then watched a movie "little miss sunshine' and you were right Grandma Norma...it was so funny and we laughed out aloud. These rest areas are so quite at night you dont hear a noise, so I would say we would of been heard laughing. Or maybe it was the KOOKOO Burras ha ha.