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 !!