Coral Bay to Carnarvon

Leaving  the serene shores of Coral Bay we were sad to be saying goodbye to the spectacular Ningaloo Reef, it was such a special place.  But move on we must............

On the way down to Carnarvon, we took a turn into Point Quobba to visit the Blowholes. Located about 70kms north of Carnarvon we found this, another magical place.  Such a hidden gem.

The Blowholes - are set within the most rugged of coastline you could imagine.

There are several blowholes where powerful jets of water are forced with terrific pressure through these holes in the rock, the highest sometimes reaching to a height of 20 metres, which is certainly the height it reached, and more, on the days we were there. 

What a spectacular site to see.

Whales - the blowholes were not the only spectacular site we saw here.  Humpback whales travel close to the shoreline between late June and October each year.

As we arrived we could see many whales not far off shore, and one was putting on the most spectacular show for us - he was slapping his huge tail on the water, with a loud crashing sound.

He did this about 20 times, we had enough time to get it on video.

How special was that!!

We saw lots and lots of whales in our short stay here.


Point Quobba - only a few hundred metres down the road we came across a great little free campsite

 just above a very peaceful inlet with a lagoon full of the most amazing fish.  A great place to snorkel, unfortunately the tide was too low, exposing the coral and rocks, making it a bit dangerous - a coral cut is not very nice thing to get.

But we did walk down into the water beside the snow white sandy beach, where you could feed the fish and be totally surrounded by a variety of colourful fish of all sizes. 

What an extraordinary country we have where this sort of thing is available to everyone at absolutely

no cost.

The contrast between the serenity of this peaceful inlet and the wild and powerful waves at the blowholes was startling, and yet only a few hundred metres apart.

We had an overnight stop here and asleep to the sound of the crashing surf, metres from our beds.

Next morning we had brekky by the surf and a few other travellers/campers came by for a chat as they could see us 'whale watching'.  There were whales everywhere this morning.

One gentleman told us that this area is renown for the occasional rogue King Wave, and that if one had occurred, it could have come right up to where we were parked. 

We were not sure if this was just 'a tale', but further along the road we came across this sign.
Lady luck is surely on our side.

On the advice of another camper we decided to go further along the road to check out the beaches at Quobba Station. 

12kms of corrugated dirt road - another of our 'off road adventures' - the beach was very nice, but very rugged. 

The bonus was it was full of large unusual shells, so we collected a few more shells to add to what we already have!!! 

Then we had to tackle the 12kms of track back out again - not sure if it was worth it, but hey! we weren't really doing much else.

Onwards to Carnarvon - we had pre booked our accommodation so we were in no hurry.  We arrived and set up our vans just in time for 'Happy Hour'.

Carnarvon - a feature of the town is luxurious plantations of bananas and other tropical fruits, all grown with the aid of water pumped out of the sand of the Gascoyne river. This extends for about 16kms along the river.  Besides bananas and mangoes, beans, tomatoes, melons, grapes, citrus and tropical fruits are also grown.

Carnarvon boasts a 'One Mile Long Jetty' out into the Indian Ocean, but we were so surprised to find that you were charged $5.00 each just to walk on it.

We met a lovely couple who were also travelling in a Geist caravan (whenever we see another Geist caravan, we always call in and introduce ourselves, it is kind of an exclusive little club).  We had a nice chat and invited them around for a drink.  We ended up having a great evening with them.

Up early for the Saturday farmers market in town to get our fresh produce, so we stocked up on fresh fruit and vegies for the next few days.

We spent the rest of the day being tourists, walking the 'Magnificent Facine' (Carnarvon's name for its waterfront boardwalk),

taking a drive down the HMAS Sydney Memorial Drive, this avenue of 645 memorial plaques and palm trees along the road identifies the individual loss of life from the tragic battle resulting in the sinking of the HMAS Sydney in 1941.

We walked the route of the Carnarvon Railway, a 2.5km trail which connects the town with the heritage precinct, and stopped for a welcome coffee at the kiosk at the end.  Of course we had to go to the famous 'Pickles' at the Small Boat Harbour where bought beautiful fresh fish for our dinner.