Ningaloo Station, 2nd week with our family (Nyinggulu Coastal Reserves)
We had a
lovely week with Merv and Jenny before the kids arrived.
Jen loves to bake, so we had cheese and Vegemite scrolls and pumpkin
muffins for morning tea. She also had cocktail glasses for every occasion
and we enjoyed Margaritas, Aperol Spritz,
Mojitos, Harvey Wallbangers and an assortment of wines and beers at sunset.
We had a
nice young family camped next to us – 3 kids under 5, and the Mum pregnant with
the next one. They had a black tinny
which was playing up so the Dad and the 2 little boys (5 and 3) took it out for
a run. No life jackets, no anchor,
no UHF (CB) Radio (mandatory here for emergencies) and neither of the kids could
swim.
We didn’t
know they’d gone out until the young Mum came to our van crying that she hadn’t
seen them for about 2 hours and she was worried.
Jayne got the binoculars out, while Alan grabbed our UHF radio and called
out to anybody who could see their little black boat.
We saw all these heads look up along the beach, as everyone has a UHF radio and
Ningaloo Station supply a repeater so the whole area can communicate. A
reply came back immediately from another camper already in his boat.
He raced towards the end of the bay to check a few boats down there, but
no luck. Then we saw him make a
B-line for something we couldn't see. It turned out to be a tiny black speck and
was their boat bobbing in the water about 3 kilometres from our camp.
He radioed that he’d found them and was towing them back.
By the time they landed back at the beach we all had tears in our eyes and were relieved to have a happy ending on what could have been an absolute disaster. On talking to the Dad later, he told Alan that he had drifted within 200m of another boat who were fishing with their backs to him. He lost his voice yelling at them as due to the wind they couldn't hear him. He even contemplated leaving the 2 little boys in the boat and jumping into the water to swim to this boat. Bloody lucky he didn't take this option!
According to
his wife, he’s known to do silly things, but he really excelled himself this
time!
After a week
camping with Merv and Jen, it was time to pick the kids up from Exmouth.
COVID panic set in when 2 cases were reported in Sydney a couple of days
before our kids were due to fly. A
decision was made that they leave Sydney a day earlier in case the WA border
closed before they got in. Alexis
waited online for Qantas for 3.5 hours, and eventually got everyone on a plane.
They
couldn’t get a connecting flight to Exmouth, so spent a night in a Perth hotel,
which meant that James was able to catch up with a friend from Perth.
View of our location from the top of "Telstra Hill"
We climbed up to the top of "Telstra Hill" (a sand dune) to ring Alexis regarding the flights, but alas the signal wasn't so good, so we ended up driving to the official Telstra Hotspot where we were able to call her.
Our family finally arrived on Mother's Day 9th May. Right up until they landed in Exmouth, this was subject to major COVID hassles.
We left our
camp at Ningaloo Station with Merv and Jen keeping an eye on things for us while
we drove the 1.5 hours along the corrugated, rocky Ningaloo road without the van, and then a
further 100 kms to Exmouth to greet them.
It was an
absolute relief to see them walking off the plane into the beautiful Exmouth
sun. We hired a Toyota Prado with
toddler seat which we picked up at the airport.
It had done 300,000 kms and Alan gave up pre-checking the car for any damage, as
it was covered in scrapes and dings. We couldn’t believe how much luggage came off the carousel that needed to
be crammed into our cars. And we
hadn’t even done the shopping yet!
We stayed a
night in cabins at the RAC Exmouth caravan park and had dinner at Whalebone
Brewery down the road. It was great to be a family again, but it was an early
night for everyone with a 2 hour time difference for them.
Casper at the caravan park check-in
Alexis and James, both very happy and relieved to be here
Whalebone Brewery for pizza and beer
Casper enjoyed the playground there
They have great play things for the kids
Next morning
was a shopping nightmare, with all of us buying groceries and drinks and then
trying to cram it all into the car. Jayne
was a nervous wreck wondering where we were going to put 8 cases of beer, wine,
mountains of food, and people.
Jayne was convinced we wouldn't fit
everything into the two 4WD's that we had so went off and hid while we
stuffed it into the cars with some very creative packaging. Not a lot of room to
spare, but just enough
Casper was stuffed into his car seat around luggage, boxes of beer and groceries.
As you can see, all the necessary things fitted it, as well as the kid!
After a rough 2.5 hour drive, we arrived back at our camp just as the 4 "Camp
Easy Ningaloo" guys had finished setting up all our camping gear.
Tents, toilets, gazebo, Engels x 2, solar panels, kitchen, wardrobes etc.
Everything securely pegged in with sand pegs and star posts.
We went back to South Lefroy Bay via Yardie Creek Crossing. This was the first time we've been this way and was just as bad as the main road in, and actually took us longer overall. Certainly would not be able to take the van this way without scratching the sides of it as the track is way too narrow. We had to stop at one stage to tape up a panel of the wheel arch on Justin's car before it fell off.
Lunch was a BBQ chicken with bread rolls on the way, but everything was jammed in the car so tight we couldn't even find a knife or plates.
Merv had
spent quite some time earlier in the day shovelling sand to level a spot for
James and Alexis tent, and we had done the same earlier for Justin, Mel and
Casper’s site. We had originally
planned to bring all the camp hire gear from Exmouth, but for $600 it was all
done for us (plus the cost of the equipment hire), and they came at 10:00 am the
day we left to pull it all down.
Louise from Camp Easy Ningaloo reckoned our kids were spoilt, but we thought it
was an absolute bargain.
Jayne's been
dealing with Louise since our failed 2020 camping attempt, and she deserves a
huge shout out for her professionalism and sense of humour working towards
getting our holiday right.
From the water
Camp Easy Ningaloo did a really great job, the hire equipment was top notch and mostly all brand new. Definitely worth it and besides, we couldn't have fitted an extra knife and fork in either of our two cars, let alone the rest of the equipment!
Alexis and James tent
Happy campers
Anyone ready for some fishing?
Casper couldn't wait to go boating
Justin had success with his bread making using some basic equipment
The Great Red Jellyfish Invasion of 2021
Who would have thought that such a pristine location would be spoilt by an invasion of red jellyfish?
So many jellyfish
They were everywhere
After a day or two they started to clear and we were able to swim again. But then they came back! Bloody Red Jellyfish! Alexis found out they have a nasty sting when she was attacked from behind leaving welts on one of her legs.
Norwegian Bay Whaling Station
The remnants of the Norwegian Bay whaling station are still at Ningaloo Station, just on from the water wells so we all went on an excursion.
A Norwegian Whaling company operated steam powered whaling
ships with harpoon guns and factory ships in the seasons 1912 to 1916 and
eventually built a shore-based facility in 1915 featuring a 53m jetty.
The Australian North-West Whaling Company
purchased the station in 1920 and operated 3 whale chasers, the Fynd, Fin
(wrecked in 1923) and Frey. The Norwegian Bay Whaling Company then leased the
site and operations, and operated four whale chasers until 1929.
The station was reopened in 1949 until it
was closed in 1957 due to operations being centred around Babbage Island near
Carnarvon.
Between 1913 and 1916 they caught more than 4,000 whales making considerable profit from the whale oil and fertilizer they produced. That's 1,333 whales per year.
Then again from 1936 foreign whalers
operated off the North-West, killing 7,000 whales in three years.
They can't establish how many whales the Australian Nor'-West Whaling Company and Norwegian Bay Whaling Company pulled out between 1920 and 1929, and again between 1949 and 1957. But one estimate is somewhere near 2,000 a year.
That means in these 17 years a total of 34,000 plus the known 11,000 gives 45,000 whales taken just off Ningaloo Station!
They came close to extinction, but luckily their numbers have increased again, and are here for us to enjoy.
Sand Dune Traversing
While the jelly fish were around we took the opportunity to do some 4WDing. Justin gave his Prado hire car a work out.
The Prado performed rather well. Impressive
View of the reef from the sand dunes
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Merv lined James up to have a drive of his LandCruiser over the dunes. Thanks Merv!
Go James!
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Casper enjoyed the bumps, even though it doesn't look like it here!
Naturally sunsets featured as a special time of day for a few drinks and a wind down.
Casper learning to fly
.
Waiting for the sunset show to begin
Sunrises were also spectacular
Alexis teaching Casper some fishing skills
Casper's new shovel didn't last long once James starting playing with it!
He didn't catch much except for the plastic yellow fish tied to his line
Jayne on the other hand, caught a nice Red Lipped Snapper
Alan caught this pretty Leather Jacket type
Alexis and James walking back from the beach, through the lagoon created in April by Cyclone Seroja.
Casper in Alexis's fishing shirt
Sunset cheers!
Casper enjoyed a sunset bath in the blue tub most afternoons
Mel takes the most amazing photos
Justin's new hairdo
All too soon our 9 days with the family at South Lefroy Bay came to an end and we had to hit that terrible road back to Exmouth. It took us 2 hours to do the 52 kms back to the main road, 30 minutes to inflate the tyres and cram down some lunch before we drove on the sealed road back to Exmouth.
In total we drove it 5 times and the Yardie Creek Road once. That's 4 times too many! Unfortunately James couldn't stay the entire time, so one return trip was to take him to the airport. We made the most of it though by stocking up on yet more food, water and alcohol in Exmouth.
Camping on the beach means that everything is constantly covered in sand and our caravan and 2 tents were cleaned with the Dyson on a regular basis; the caravan every night before we crawled into bed.
We've trudged through many kilometres of heavy sand at Ningaloo Station during our 17 day stay, and would be happy to never see a grain of sand again (or at least for a couple of days anyway).
Back in Exmouth we stayed for two nights at the Exmouth Escape Resort in a Luxury Villa. We all enjoyed the aircon and long showers, washing machine and dryer as well as a swim without jellyfish! And no sand to be seen anywhere!
Casper's biggest smile ever
.
More sand dunes please!
Our last night ended where we started - Whalebone Brewery for pizzas and beer, but no James this time. It was just as busy as our first visit, mostly with locals enjoying their night out, and all the kids running riot around the place.
Alas, it was time for our kids to depart. Justin, Mel and Casper headed off to the airport early and we were going to follow. About 20 minutes after Justin and Mel drove off we got a text from Qantas to say the flight was delayed 2 hours! Nothing about the connecting flight from Perth to Sydney.
Again, what a mess, especially considering you can't actually ring Qantas in these COVID times.
Casper was ready to fly
After much ado Qantas couldn't fix the connection to Sydney and they ended up boarding the plane without seats on the Perth to Sydney leg. As it was again delayed due to the troubles with Qantas, they missed the connection to Sydney. They ended up on a later one with 2 hours wait in Perth, arriving into Sydney close to midnight.
What a day!
Fafa keeping Casper amused at the airport