More coral and fish

After tearing ourselves away from Osprey Bay we went to Coral Bay for a couple of nights. As the name suggests there is a coral reef here and it is easily accessible from the beach. The town is small; its only industry is tourism. There are two camping grounds and as they are side by side and close to the beach it was a toss of a coin as to which one we stayed at. We went snorkelling 3 times and saw a variety of fish and coral and on one occasion a couple of small turtles.

We carried on south, following the coast, and camped at Quobba Point for 4 nights, after initially thinking we would stay for 2. After we had spent 2 nights there our friends Bev and Frans and Sue and Jim turned up so we decided to stay another 2 days. At the Point there are exposed rocky cliffs and an impressive blow-hole (photo), which we visited 3 times to watch it spout and hear it roar. Here there are high cliffs with rocky platforms extending out into the sea and these made for some great viewing as the waves rolled in. A kilometre from this tucked in behind a small island and a rocky reef was a tranquil lagoon with a coral studded bottom. We camped beside this and as it was quite windy for the first two nights we parked our van in the shelter of a sand hill. The camping area was in a reserve and the system was to find a spot you like and settle in. There was no caretaker on duty so it turned out to be a free camp. Scattered through the reserve were many shacks of varying size and state of repair. Most of these belong to commercial fishermen and are occupied in the rock lobster season, which starts in November. The annual lease for land to put a shack on is $500/year. Not a bad deal we thought.

Around high tide each day we had a great time snorkelling in the lagoon. The lagoon was shallow and at high tide there was only about a metre clearance over the coral in many places. Being so shallow the coral and fish were very close. The fish were generally around the edge of the coral and there was a bit more swimming room there. We saw lots of different fish and seemed to see something new each day, one day I saw a small turtle. At low tide the top of some of the coral was exposed and we could walk on the sand out amongst it. There were a few clams exposed too. Most of the fish were hiding at this time but when we stood still a few ventured out into the open. The lagoon was in a marine reserve but there was a sandy beach nearby that was outside the marine reserve. It was quite windy all the time we were there which meant we didn't try fishing from further down the beach.

After being self sufficient for a few days it was on to a camping ground at Carnarvon. Carnarvon has the great resource of water and with irrigation many crops are grown on the river plains. The river is unusual in that the water flows under the sand where it is protected from evaporation. While we were here we had overnight rain and after 143 days without seeing any it was almost a novelty!

We took a slight detour on our journey south and went up the Peron Peninsula to Shark Bay where there is a large marine reserve. From a lookout over a shallow bay we saw sharks and large rays cruising around. We went on a boat trip to see dugong and saw two mother and calf pairs (photo) when they regularly came up to the surface to breathe. They didn’t stay on the surface for long so there were few opportunities for photographs. On the way to and from the dugong area we saw dolphins and also visited a pearl farm. At the farm we were shown how the pearls are seeded (an intricate job that has to be done in about 40 seconds) and the farming process was explained to us. The shells of the oysters need regular cleaning and with the first good pearl occurring at year five and with three good pearls being about all you get from one oyster it’s not surprising that they cost lots.

We visited the Peron Homestead area (now part of a National Park) that has a shearing shed, shearer’s quarters and stockyards built in the 1950’s when it was a working sheep station. On walking through the shearing shed (photo) the use of corrugated iron was very noticeable, not only were the external walls corrugated iron but also the inside fittings of wool classing bins and fronts of the sheep holding pens. This is so different to my memory of the shearing shed at home with wood inside just about everywhere. In this country, due to the thick scrub, the sheep couldn’t be mustered so they were trapped at watering sites in yards with one-way gates, a process that took about two months. The sheep were then herded along lanes to the holding pens at the shearing shed. One lane was about 40km long, a two-day trek for stockmen on horseback.

We also went to Shell Beach, a 120km long beach made up of millions of tiny coquina (cockle) shells (photo). Over time some these shells have naturally cemented together and this solid material was quarried to make bricks. Now days the quarry is only used to repair existing buildings in the area. A little bit further down the road we went to see some living stromatolites. These look like rocks but are actually colonies of micro-organisms that live in very saline water and bind and cement sedimentary grains together to form rock like structures of varying shapes. They are a very ancient and one of Earth’s first life forms.

We headed south again and stopped at Kalbarri where we viewed the coastal cliffs and went looking at wildflowers in the National Park. Although it is late in the season for wild flowers we found plenty. From the road we observed many different colours but when we stopped and wandered into the scrub we were amazed at the variety. We left Kalbarri and pushed our way into a strong southerly, which wasn’t good for the fuel economy. We passed a pink lake where beta carotene is harvested and visited the remains of a settlement where convicts went to be hired out. A large stone walled shed, which was the hiring depot, has been restored and restoration work is ongoing on the cell block and other buildings. Nearby was an almost restored stone walled house that was built in 1854 by the Superintendent of the convict hiring centre. He also had a pastoral lease of 144,000 acres.

We checked out staying at another beachside camp but decided to head inland a little and found a camp spot by a river, which was less windy. On the way there we passed through a large wind farm where 54 turbines were scattered across the landscape. The next day the wind had dropped a little so we headed back to the coast to the small seaside town of Greenhead. We had a nice wander around a couple of headlands and in the evening Al went fishing. For dinner that night we had a small herring entrée. While we were fishing a sea lion came by and had a good look at us. After the calm of the evening we were woken during the night with wind buffeting the caravan. The wind along this coast seems to be very persistent and this perhaps explains why it’s a popular area for wind surfing and kite boarding.

Since Kalbarri, apart from when we are in National Parks or Reserves, we have been travelling through rolling hills with cultivated land, the main crop being wheat. The area is referred to as the Wheatbelt and covers a massive area. The cultivated fields are such a change from the weeks and weeks of seeing little but flat land with sand and scrub. We headed inland making for Northam, to catch up with Jill’s nephew, and made a stop over at the country town of Moora. Here we visited a wild flower farm an 18,000 acre farm, that has a mix of wheat, sheep and native flowers. Licensed pickers also gather flowers from Crown land. The cut flowers are dried and many are exported. One order from Italy was for 1 million Banksia flowers, which makes this quite a large business.