exmouth

Bergerons in the canyon

as we got off the plane we realized 2 things. one, it was way hotter up in exmouth then it was in perth. and two, we were in the middle of f-ing nowhere. the airport, if you can call it that, was so small i can't even describe it. we got the keys to our rental car and drove off to our holiday apartment.

Emu!

exmouth is a small town (town? village?) on the beautiful ningaloo reef. i've been up this way before with john (3 years ago- coral bay)  but my parentals had never been. the "town" consists of a small shopping area with not one, but 2 IGA's directly across from each other, 3 restaurants, one mobile burger joint, a healthy cafe, a surf shop, 2 random clothing stores and lots of local Emus (woo!). that's pretty much it. it took all of 5 minutes to walk from our apartment to the centre of town. needless to say, there's not much to do there. which is fine, because ningaloo reef is amazing and what better excuse to explore?

unfortunately for us, the last weekend in october also happens to be the last weekend of the tourist season, and as such, many of the tour operators were already shut down. add to that gale force winds and that pretty much ruled out the other tours. so, alas, we didn't get to go whalewatching (humpbacks). but my dad managed to wrangle a great overland tour for us on our first day.

Charles Knife Road- looking into the canyon

as it wasn't a busy time, the tour operator was more then happy to take the 3 of us out for a half day excursion through Cape Range national park. we piled into his 4WD  and took off in the hot hot sun. our guide (Macca, a true australian nickname if i've ever heard one) was incredibly knowledgeable about the terrain, history and fauna in the park and along the coast. we drove along some sandy tracks (only accessible to our guide and a few army folk). as we drove, we saw a few wallaroos jumping about (wallaroo = wallaby + kangaroo). some breathtaking scenery made the incredibly bumpy ride well worth it. he took us to an aboriginal sacred cave and showed us the rock paintings. we then drove around the cape to Charles Knife Road. it felt comfortable for us in our 4WD, but mr. knife had to mark this trail out on foot in the scorching sun. a few treacherous places would have been deadly in the bulldozer flattening it all down. they were looking for oil when they built the road. they found none.  we then went to shothole canyon, another oil dig. and lastly, we stopped at Kailis where my folks had some local prawn, fresh from the boat the night before. apparently they were good.

Lakeside

the next day we rented some snorkel gear and headed to the western side of the cape to explore the ningaloo reef. again, strong winds made this experience a bit less then amazing- the water was somewhat murky and the waves a bit strong for the less experienced ocean swimmers in our group. we spent some time at lakeside, hoping to get our feet wet (pardon the pun). before heading off to turquoise bay, we stopped in at the visitors centre (to double check the weather patterns). off in the sky, because of the super strong winds, was a sheet of red dust. it looked ominous, like a tropical storm brewing. but we were informed that it was nothing but the wind dragging the red dirt off cape range. nervousness aside, we set off for turquoise bay to do the drift snorkel. it was cool, but because of the strong winds opposing the current, it was less of a drift and more of a normal snorkel. thoroughly swum out, we drove home.

on our last day in exmouth, we managed to get ourselves onto a glass-bottom snorkeling tour. those who were less inclined to jump in could watch the seas below from the comfort of our boat. others, like myself, jumped in and paddled around some big bommies (as the coral is known), which were teeming with fish. we even saw a monster fish, a queensland grouper (why it was in WA, i don't know...) but that was from the safety of the boat.

our trip to exmouth was enjoyable. sun, sand and nothing much to do. a pretty nice holiday indeed!
xo

karijini- part 3

we camped at the dales gorge camping area for 2 nights. it was cheaper and significantly nicer then the so-called eco retreat. from this base camp, we were able to explore dales gorge.

we set off early in the morning and made our way to our first stop along the gorge, fern pool. this pool is considered to be a sacred site to the local aboriginals, and so you must not enter the pool with a splash or be too rowdy in the area. it really felt like we'd stumbled into fairy-land, as the pool was surrounded with large red-iron rock, lush looking plants and trees and the water itself was a beautiful blue. there was a small water fall at the far end, and if you stood under it you got a little massage, as well as some warmer water. the pool was not hot, by any means. though comfortable enough to swim in.

we then followed the 4km walk to the falls, which were near the entrance we took as well. many people were lazing in the sun on the rocks near the falls, but we decided to head on to circular pool instead.

circular pool, much like fern pool, could be part of a fairy tale. only this time the rocks were a hundred meters high and the light was just reflecting as perfectly as possible. the water was much clearer, but the water no warmer. we stayed at circular pool for a while, enjoying the sun and the freshness of the water.

we meandered back along the trail to the falls, where we spend a good while splashing about in the water and cooling off before we made our way back up to betty for the evening. we sat out watching the sun set and enjoyed the fact that we'd made it to karijini- a feat none to many make, given it's complete obscurity on the map. in fact, many of my clients hadn't even hear of karijini- and it's in their own state! amazing.

the next morning we packed betty up and started the long drive home. it was a very short trip, but totally worth it. and now we know that betty is ready to tackle the open road.

xo

karijini- part 2

the next morning, we decided to visit weano gorge, comprising of 2 different sections: "hand rail pool" and "the spider walk". they had come as highly recommended walks, so off we went. we started with the spider walk, mostly because all of the other tourists seemed to be heading towards hand rail pool.
the spider walk is a small component of the hike down the gorge and is considered to be a class 5 walk. now, in canadian terms, this is probably more like a class 3. it was challenging but not too much so, as the families with young children proved.

after making out way down into the gorge, via ladder and steep "steps", we snaked along the gorge walls, mostly to avoid the unbelievably cold water below. some people chose to venture into the water, because they felt the walls were a bit too challenging. we felt fine and i hadn't warmed up enough to justify the freezing water. we finally arrived at the "spider walk", which wasn't too bad at this time of year because there was minimal rushing water, so you could just walk along it if you felt like it. apparently in summer (wet season) you actually have to "spider walk" along the spider walk. at the end of this loop, before turning into a class 6 (meaning you have to be a rockclimber with gear or in a tour group doing that kind of stuff), there was a rather large, deep pool of freezing cold fresh water. john was brave and jumped in (twice!) while i sat above and took some pictures.  we then headed back for lunch with betty.

after lunch, we chose the "hand rail pool" option. by now, we were actually getting quite hot, so felt much better that we'd saved this one for the afternoon. while in the spider walk we were able to chose to get wet or not, in the hand rail pool walk, you had no choice. after removing our shoes (and then keeping them off...) we waded sometime waist deep in really cold water, before having to snake our way along the gorge walls, then back into cold water, then back on the walls, etc.

hand rail pool itself was awesome. you climb down into the pool using a small hand rail (hence the name!) to help you down/up. we got into the pool and continued to explore a bit further down. again, a class 6 sign popped up and we had to turn around, but not after a full immersion in the frigid water. sadly, our camera met it's untimely demise at handrail pool, so we only have photos up until then.

we lazed around the entrance to the walk and jumped into the water again to cool off before we packed betty up again and headed to the other side of karijini, where we'd be staying for the next 2 nights.

xo