Heading for Shark Bay Red bluff echoed in our minds, really a sensational place !

We drove through wonder-full scenery at Shark Bay WHA and onwards to camp in Francois Peron National Park. Here were serene empty beach-scapes that were empty of other humans - they were full of life. I could easily let a few weeks slip here. ... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=177209&id=616999551&l=25afd70ffa ...these photos show a little of what it is about.

Later we stayed at the infamous Monkey Mia, here we greeted the indo-pacific bottle noses and set sail on the Shotover to see the many Dugongs. Kaiden and Jamala seemed at home on the catamaran, climbing in all directions. It was 60ft ex-ocean racer, from memory I think the beam was 31ft? or there abouts. This cat still held many speed records on the open ocean. Within 5 mins sailing we spoted a mother Dugong and calf, and was not long before we caught sight of many more. A great day out.

We did not much else. It was a resort. Such strange places, all these flashy advertisements do this do this and this and this. Seems so busy with things to do and mostly nothing inspiring at all, except perhaps to move on and be away from such surreal scenes.

Here was the second time in our trip that a person used "Aborigines" to describe something he was digusted about. What is it that being Aboriginal had to do with his story I had no idea at all, except to claim something against Aborignal people. What is heartening for me is that this is only the secondtime in the trip I had heard such a claim. I have heard from others who have travelled through Australia to meet many people who express uncompassionate words and even hatred towards the traditional people of Australia. This is even described in Bill Bryson's book about his travels through "Down Under", Bryson seemed just as puzzled by it.

Reminds me, we were both surprised and dissapointed when an employee from the Department of Environment and Conservation introduced "Shark Bay" as being unnamed prior to William Dampier in 1699. This place in fact had a name long before William set his eyes on this place. The traditional name for Shark Bay is Gathaagudu meaning two waters.

we bumped another family we have been seeing since Broome and was great to see some familar faces, and seems we'll be seeing them some more although their time schedule is much tighter than our own.

In Monkey Mia the vege-oil availablity was dry as my own tanks.... the resort recycled thier vegetable oil to use in their diesel generators and cars. This is far better than hearing how some places simply bury it 'somewhere'.

We visted the fascinating Stromatolites. 3.5 billion year old life forms !! wow, walking out onto the board walk it was easy to imagine what the world may have looked like all that time ago, even though these colonies were a mere 3,000 years old. It did not take much of a leap to contemplate how the dominant culture has so rapidly been undoing the rich evolutionary story that followed. Perhaps assited by a recent reading of Daniel Quinn's "Story of B" and current reading of ecologist Edward Wilson's "The future of Life".

Next was Kalbarri, I had been looking forward to seeing this places for ages - there is superb overhanging rock climbs and one of WA's best surfing breaks, Jakes Point. The drive through the National Park was a real surprise so much of the sandstone heath was in flower. stree I was loving the familar sense of wandering through sandstone heath and the scenery was inspiring. Inspiring to wander through for days. Perhaps another time when the kids are older.

Disapointingly Jakes Point was a mere 1-2ft. I could see the potential watching two grommies flying along the faces of the hollow perfectly formed two ft waves. Kalbarri is the first town Nicole considered as a place to live. Kalbarri certainly has a lot of potential. Unfortunately the recent land developments are indicating a new style for the village. One called "Eco-flora" with street names to match the names of the plants that were wiped out to make way for the development itself (ironic huh?). The next one Nicole thought was a new correctional facility being built, a gated community with a high pointy barred fence around it ! None-the-less we could spend a bit of time here while it is still low key.

Driving south of Kalbarri was a spectacular limestone coastline, as was the pinklakes, and the coast at Port Grey and Horrocks. We decided to stay at Corranation Beach a Kite and Windsurfing mecca, this comes with the character of being windy ! So we only stayed a night.

Onwards to Geraldton and other busy places like Perth, we are contemplating what to do over the school holidays. We are going to be in one of WAs holiday hotspots - Margret River. This may mean booking places to stay with an itinery of where we will be and where. "How?" we ask ourselves.

Red Bluff

Red Bluff

After Cape Range NP a place like Coral Bay is a bit disappointing. Not sure what I was expecting, my imagination seemed to ignore the town description - "Resort Town". None-the-less once under the water the town disappeared.

We jumped on a glass bottom boat tour. Both Kaiden and Jamala loved it. Kaiden was running around pointing out all the things he was learning about - picking out scissor fish, spangled emperors, various corals, tusk fish, angel and butterfly fish, moon wrasse, assorted damsels ... the tour guide Amber was impressed by Kaidens 'sponge' abilities and clear articulation.

Off to Carnarvon and as described by the lonely planet - a non-descript town ... the key thing happening here is fruit and veg, most of which was out of season. So with excitement and some nerves we headed for the infamous Red Bluff on Quobba Station.

In Mark Warrens surf guide Red Bluff is described - "The Bluff features a steep, jacking take off, followed by a long hollow, bowling section before it backs off into the deep hole around the point called the shark pit (don't ask). Breaking over extremely shallow, urchin-infested coral and limestone bottom..... A good first aid kit is recommended as meeting with the bottom is inevitable here...."

Arriving at Red Bluff was a dream. Stunning desert-scape with fringing shoreline reefs, low key camping set ups with abundant marine life... plus off course one of Australia's best left hand reef breaks. My nerves settled when I saw that the waves were only 3 foot (about shoulder high faces) with the occasional larger sets pushing through. Phew, I was not going to die ! Unfortunately, the waves have been a bit bigger for a duration of about 4 days before we arrived. Oh well, the point was empty which was an added bonus, yet I suppose less for the sharks to choose from changing stats.

I meet a couple who had been staying there for two months and plan to stay for another month or so (teaching the kids on the station - about 14 of them), although they do miss their own grandchildren. These grand parents were chargers both had a full quiver of boards, John, said the day they arrived in September the swell hit 12ft (to non-surfers this means a wave face and tube big enough to fit a truck or there abouts). He said within 1.5 hours 7 surfboards were snapped in half in the first session. He said everyone was relaxed, and guys who wanted to go deeper would ask to paddle on the inside and offer the next wave - a rare thing on the east coast (not that I would have enjoyed surfing the Bluff at 12ft !!). The swell remained 12ft for several days, slowly dropping over the month (BTW the waves were coming in 7-9 wave sets !!). Once it gets over 8ft here there is no bottom turn without consequences, it is straight into a fast hollow tube ride to the end.

The few people I had met that loved to surf here seemed unsatisfied unless the surf was at least 8ft and happy with 10ft plus. This is probably why the place was empty with mere 4ft waves. Back at Coffs Harbour if a wave was breaking this hollow and mechanically over a shallow reef at 4ft, I am sure many surfers would be paddling over the top of each other to have a go at it.

It was not an easy place to leave - a paradise for sure and a stark contrast from resort towns like Coral Bay. Why are we leaving ? I am not sure.... hmmm ....

Anyway Shark Bay area next....

Ningaloo and Coral Coast

We had a quick camp on our way to Exmouth at a stunning bay all to ourselves in a grove of casuarinas. We planned to stay at Exmouth for a few days and hoped to catch up with an old friend, Roland, then to discover he had recently moved to Perth. Never mind we were pleased to be within a stone's throw of Ningaloo Marine Park and we really wanted to wash the iron-ore from our clothes and bed sheets. We camped next to a couple from SE Vic who were searching the coast for places to live and to do a bit of work. Craig's background was working on boats and commercial diving.

Kaiden instantly took a liking to him and they played with mutual liking. Craig commented that Kaiden reminded him about himself as a child. They made toys together and modified Kaiden’s bike, Craig assisted Kaiden with learning to swim and snorkel. I find it interesting how quickly Kaiden will connect and be fully present with people who seem to naturally relate unconditionally. Again I am inspired to meet more people like this on the road.

Here at Exmouth I rigged up a fishing rod after about eleven to twelve years. Kaiden came along with his new rod too. Within a few mins I hooked up something big. I could feel several bites, and suddenly it ran....zzzhzhzhhiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee ..... I looked down at my reel spinning fast as the fish took off. Nicole spotted something some thirty metres jump out of the water. We still could not tell what it was. About 15 mins later I reeled the fish into sight, it was a Giant Trevally about 80cm in length. We thought we would be feeding a few people back at camp. As I reached down to my feet on the edge of the rocks to pick the fish up, it gave a huge flick and snapped the line, and cruised off into deeper waters out of sight. Kaiden was very excited about catching a fish - well almost. A tale of the one that got away :-)

At Exmouth we explored the beaches and the surfing reefs, it was a bit blown out, with the typical strong winds at this time of year. During this time our camping neighbour picked up work on the boats. In four hours work where most the time he slept he was given $380, typically Craig said he will earn about $5 - 8k for ten days on the water. This had me wondering about the profits involved in fisheries and the politics for sustainability.

We have grabbed their contact details to meet up with them again in Victoria where Craig has access to several surf breaks adjacent to private landholdings and only a few have the privilege to own keys to the gates.

After a lazy re-organisation of the car and fixing a niggling short circuit on the car, I managed to collect about 100 litres of vegetable oil in Exmouth with ease. It was time to move onto the western side of Cape Range.

We found an excellent camp site at "Lakeside" with a nearby snorkelling sites, it is a little frustrating that I had left the underwater housing back at the storage shed (as well as my dive ticket!), the snorkelling was amazing and made up for it! and all so accessible ...... near shore we swam with reef sharks, turtles, a full size groper. Typically entering the waters we were greeted by schools of dart, whiting and yellow finned bream, closer onto the reef there was an amazing diversity of colourful fish ...... Some other snorkellers swam with a manta ray. Kaiden is having a go at snorkelling too and quickly becomes overwhelmed by the sights and sounds, he is sure to love it soon. This is a hard place to leave !

While camping here at Cape Range we meet several people who shared similar sense of adventure, going with quiet solar power setups, staying at caravan parks only when absolutely necessary. One couple had been on a life time adventure from England where they started by purchasing a catamaran to sail to Spain with their children. Five and a half years later they had sailed around the world, with many exciting stories to tell and landed in New Zealand to live on the land. They now are travelling by whatever means around Australia. This was interesting for us as we have been reading up on sailing with the intention of possibly sailing up the QLD coast after returning to Emerald Beach.

The family we met at Cape Leveque turned up at our camp ground and was great to catch up with them again. I have been inspired by the life they have been leading. They lived for a time on Thursday Island and in Eastern Arnhem Land where they gained many inspiring stories to tell. I really enjoyed spending time listening and chatting, the whole family seemed to glow and be fully present.

I find it amazing that a number of travelling families home schooling easily covered the government required curriculum with only 1/2 - 1 hour study a day and well within less than a school term - most of the day is spent learning through play. Einstein said that "the highest form of research is play" and he was deemed unteachable by schooling systems of the time. hmmmmm ....

We ran out of basic supplies like butter, bread, cooking oil (for cooking), rice, so on and so decided to back track to Exmouth to restock rather than crossing Yardie Creek to the south and continuing along the coast. The next main town would be Carnavan and we won't be there for a while.

I love solar and 12v fridges, and campsites where power generators are unwelcome!!

Kaiden now has curls and Jamala as already, my grandmother will be pleased !!