Daytrippers Aussie Adventures

Canarvon

Waking early at our overnight camp 22km out of Canarvon we headed into the town of Canarvon to top up our supplies. Strolling through Woolworths we bump into none other than Lyn and Geoff! (We knew we would be catching them in the next few days, but it was funny to run into them here.)

After a good chat we organised to meet them in a few days at Warroora! Yeah!!

After stocking up we headed off to check out some things to do in Canarvon.. This I must say was not a lot! After visiting the mile long jetty, (that you can't even walk to the end of because it's falling to pieces) and a Space museum and Satellite (that looks like it passed it's use by date along time before I was even born and shows no resemblance to the one shown in the brochure) we headed off to our next camp, picking up some fresh fruit and vegetables from a local farm along the way. YUM!!! :)))

Point Quabba

Dodging countless wild goats, sheep and cattle (the goats especially up this way are literally EVERYWHERE!!! I have never seen anything like it! It's crazy!!) We pull into Point Quabba campsite. Our home for the next 3 nights. As we do, I notice we have just officially travelled 8000km since we left home! Wow!!

Our camp

After driving for approx 3km past old fishing shacks (quite amazing to check out these old shacks from a different era before every owned a caravan.) We find a great little spot behind a sandune on the beachfront. The wind had picked up a bit but lucky for us the area for snorkelling is located in a great little cove that's well protected from the waves. We spent the next few days snorkelling and saw dozens of beautiful colourful fish, coral, turtles and rays. Gary and I both agree that it was better than some of the reefs we have snorkelled on The Great Barrier Reef.

We checked out the Blowholes which unlike a lot of the other Blowholes we have seen along our journey, these ones were really impressive! Shooting water and air high into the sky at a speed that you wouldn't want to be in the way, the sound they made had you nearly wanting to cover your ears!

The Blowholes

Fun at the beach :)

Each night we made a campfire and sat around star gazing and looking out for the Space Station as it passes over our skies.

Warroora Station

Packing up early we set off to once again spend some time with Lyn and Geoff! This time we headed to a huge Sheep Station with 50km of private coastline along Ningaloo Reef! Wow!! (Got to thank my Papa for the recommendation of this spot.)

The road in was highly corrugated, but as the ocean and the reef came into our view we knew the drive had been well and truly worth it.

Arriving at the Caretakers tent at 14 mile beach, we were informed that the beach front sites were all full but if we wanted to wait till the next day they had a great spot on the beach for us! Awesome!!!

View of some of the camp area and Ningaloo reef from the top of Telstra Hill

Some of the beach camps

That night we set up on the Cliff tops (great view!!) with Lyn and Geoff with only one camp between us. We spent the night around the fire, all of us talking at a million miles an hour, catching up on each other travels over a couple of campfire jacket potatoes and drinks. Great night!!

Catching up with Lyn and Geoff

The next day we moved down to our new camp. Lyn and Geoff followed us the day after which was fantastic!

We spent the next week taking in the beautiful surrounds, swimming in the warm waters, fishing and doing trips out to the reef to watch as the countless whales travelled down what is known as "Humpback Highway."

Humpback Highway.. Wow.. I have never seen so many whales! At any one time we could see atleast 5 whales cruising past, and most of the time they was splashing their tales and fins about and putting on a great display for us!

We saw countless turtles and rays also! They are everywhere! Not to mention quite a few reef sharks and the odd 2.5m tiger shark lurking in the shallows.. Lucky the water is so clear that they are easy to spot quite some distance away and don't seem to like to venture near us swimmers anyway.

Whale tale

The girls made some new friends, Lilly 10 and Mia 8yrs old. They spent literally every waking moment together for the next week. Swimming, building cubbies, flying the kite, playing games and just generally having a fantastic time. They got along really well and it was sad that after a week together they had to say their goodbyes.. (Not without exchanging contact details first of course!)

Gorgeous girls.. Lilly, Tori, Mia, Ella

Beach fun

Flying our kite

Relaxing on the beach

Ella and I :))

Tori having some fun on her board

The fishing that first week unfortunatly was a little on the disappointing side. We did catch lots of squid, but the fish were not doing much biting that week.. Lucky we managed to catch enough to cook up a meal of fish for us all to indulge in one night, and Lyn and Geoff supplied some delicious nibbles and and AMAZING Sangria!!! Yummy!!!

The Boys bringing back some dinner :)

The boys and some of their catch

Fish and Sangria night at Lyn and Geoffs camp

Ella had some guitar lessons from Geoff around the fire, which she just loved also.

Ella having guitar lessons with Geoff

After a week of fun together Lyn and Geoff packed up ready to start the next part of their journey. Before this though, we all headed into Coral Bay for the day to do some snorkelling together.

Family photo at Coral Bay

My girls and I at Coral Bay

Coral Bay is beautiful! Although the entire town is nearly completely made up of caravan parks!! The beach is full of people exploring the reef in glass bottom kayaks, boats or just snorkelling.

We set up on the beach and soon found ourselves snorkelling amongst some colourful fish and rays. Great morning!

Tori snorkelling

Later we all treated ourselves to a yummy lunch thanks to the local bakery. I was told to try the Broccoli, Cauliflower and cheese pie.. It was DELICIOUS!!! I'm not a huge fan on food from bakeries.. This one was an exception! For anyone headed to Coral Bay, you must try something from the Bakery!!

After saying our goodbyes to Lyn and Geoff we headed back to Warroora were we decided to spend yet another week. This week the fish decided to show themselves and we spent the week stocking up the fridge catching lots of GT's, Charlie Courts, Squid and Gary even managed to catch the biggest fish he has ever caught.... A rather large and ugly Puffer Fish!!! Hehehe

Gary with his giant catch... Hehehe

My catch :)

Family fishing

Ella fishing

We also had a reef shark spend some time trying to steal our fish one afternoon as we pulled them into the boat! Gary unfortunatley lost one of his fish to this shark as he was pulling it into the boat (he was not very impressed.) Lucky it didn't manage to steal any others.

We have also spent 2 days driving the 4WD tracks around the property and found some great little beaches and coves to check out also.

I have tried to catch some Octopus on the reef at low tide, but so far I haven't had any luck.. Some others have managed to pull in some huge ones though, so I'm determined to snare one before we leave. With atleast another 2 days here, I'm hoping my luck will change as I'm pretty keen to cook some up for dinner!

Tori and Gary (it's rare I can get these 2 to have a nice photo taken together!!)

The weather has been brilliant. With Beautiful sunny days everyday, we have literally lived in our bathers the last 2 weeks and gone through a ton of sunscreen, but I'm not complaining.

In a couple of days we will leave this beachside paradise, and if we stick to our plans, should be in Tom Price by next weekend. I'm really looking forward to exploring Karrijini National Park and whatever adventures it will bring.

For now, I'm off to watch the sunset, cook up some fish on the fire and then watch as the full moon comes up over the hill.

So it's bye for now from this Happy Camper :)) xx

Perth

Arriving at Gary's cousin Alan and his family house in Perth, we set up our caravan in their extremely large backyard. The girls where excited as they spotted the super cool rope swing, trampoline, 4 dogs and 1 cat! They promptly informed us that we was to never leave, and spent the next week (whenever we weren't exploring Perth) playing with the dogs and swinging from the rope swing!

The girls on the rope swing

During our stay we checked out London Street. A small street that was set up to look like a street in London. It was ok.. But it was a bit disappointing when most the shops within this street are sushi stores, Australian Souvenir stores and only a small handful of "London type" outlets.

London Street

We also visited Kings Park, Whiteman Park and Woodbridge Park (yep, travelling with kids we should of probably wrote a book on all the parks/playgrounds we have visited!!) lucky Gary and I big kids ourselves and don't mind the odd playground! ;))

Woodbridge playground

We also managed to catch up with Vanessa and her 2 gorgeous kids again and had a couple of play dates and even a trip to an indoor pool one day when it was too cold and wet to be outside.

We attended Alan son Mitchell's 21st fancy dress birthday party on the Saturday night which was good fun. Ella dressed as a Magician, Gary a Clown, Tori was a Monster and I was a Cat! Meowwww... ;))

My little Magician and Mumma Cat

The highlight of our time in Perth though was when Alan took us to "Bounce." An indoor Trampoline Centre with different areas full of different trampoline set ups. It was AMAZING!!! There was areas where they even had trampolines up the walls!! Great fun!!!!! We will defiantly be visiting more of these!

Blurry Tori in a pink top :)

One night Alan decided it was time to burn off a HUGE pile of dry leaves, trees and whatever else. Well I have seen some large bonfires in my time.. But this was MASSIVE!!! Especially in the backyard of Suburbia!! Wowza!!! Great Fun!!!!

The girls STILL on the rope swing even with a huge fire behind them!!

After a week with this lovely family who made us feel so welcome and I loved getting to know, it was time to say goodbye..

Next stop, Kalbarri!

Kalbarri

After spending a night at a road side stop we woke early to head to Kalbarri and check out the sites.

Checking into Murchison House Station, a 350,000 acre farm, we left the caravan and headed off to do some short hikes to check out the Gorges and a spot called "Natures Window."

Cliff Hanger!!! (Don't worry, it's just an camera illusion ;))

The weather was great and the views where stunning! On the way back to the Farm later, I nearly ran over an Echidna that had decided to stop and dig right in the middle of the road. We carefully picked him up and moved him to a safer place.

That night we explored the farm and then had a great campfire and shared a nice bottle of Red that my Auntie Liz had supplied us! Perfect!

The Station

Farm hands Living Quarters

Giant Termite Mound

Ella with some Goats

Old cars on the property

The next day we headed out early to check out the rest of the sites within Kalbarri. Stopping for lunch we watched some surfers surfing a surf break that was breaking mere metres from where we was sitting!

That afternoon we packed up and headed on even further up the coast. Stopping at yet another road side camp for the night, we lit our campfire and soon we had other fellow travellers come join us. Sharing our travel stories that night was great fun. I also saw the biggest and brightest shooting star I have ever seen! It was so bright I swear it was a firework!!

Monkey Mia

The next day we had another early start, we was on a mission! We wanted to get to a Monkey Mia and check out the famous dolphins! On the way we stopped at Hamelin pool... Hmmm... I can't quite understand the attraction here..

We also stopped to have a look at Shell Bay. A beach made up entirely of tiny white shells :)

Shell beach!

Shell beach up close

Finally after what felt like forever... We arrived at Monkey Mia Resort! Yeah!!!

Deciding to treat ourselves with a night staying within the park (our first caravan park since Streaky Bay.) We spent the night relaxing in the outdoor Hot tub and pool, walking along the beach and even indulged in a Antipasto Platter at a gorgeous little restaurant right on the beach, whilst enjoying a few beverages at happy hour watching the sun set! Bliss!!!

The pool

Tori enjoying Hot Tub

Tori enjoying the sun

Ella enjoying the sun

Playing chess

The beach

Happy Hour

Dinner

Sunset

Sunrise!

The next day we woke early and walked the few steps from our site to the spot the dolphins come in for a feed. Right on cue 6 adult dolphins turned up with a couple of their babies nearby! The dolphins came right up to us countless times. The girls just loved it and insisted on staying for the next feeding a couple of hrs later.

At the next feeding there was even more dolphins and both my girls where lucky enough to get picked to feed a dolphin each! You couldn't wipe the grin off their faces!!! What a great experience!

Tori feeding a dolphin

Ella feeding a dolphin

Packing up yet again we headed off. Stopping at a gorgeous lookout, Eagle Nest to do some shark spotting. We was lucky enough to spot 2 small ones! (they don't call it Shark Bay for no reason!!)

That night we stopped at Gladstone camp before heading to our current campsite. 6km off the main highway and 30km south of Canarvon, we are spending the night at a free camp on the beach front which the girls just love as there are 1000's of Hermit Crabs that they have spent the afternoon racing!!! Tomorrow we are heading to Canarvon for the day tomorrow. From there we think we will head to Quobba, but our plans change daily, so who knows!?!?! But that's just part of the fun!!! Xx