27 March 2013 - 80 Mile Beach

Sea snails were devouring what looked like some sort of clam.

The sea was a long way from the beach when the tide was out. Hmm, I reckon about 80 miles away. .....lol

26 March 2013 - Dampier, WA

Grr! We're in Dampier. Woke up to millions of tiny ants all through the van. They were all through the food cupboards. Had a look outside. They're getting in through the power lead, water hose and Grey waste hoses. Went to see Red Dog today. Don't blink cos you might miss it. ......lol! Wouldn't have missed seeing it for the world though ;-)

21 March 2013 - Exmouth WA

22nd - Spent today in the Cape Range National Park. Snorkeled at Torquiose Bay. Current was a little strong. We had to start up the beach and travel down with it.  Ewan was a little panicky about it.  Managed to buy an underwater cover for my camera, so spent a little time testing it out.  D's birthday today so his choice was to not snorkel, but play on the beach with his birthday present. Went to dinner at Pinochios. Sumptuous pasta and prawns Paul had pork ribs. Very tender.

23nd - Today was the day to swim with the whale sharks. What an experience! Started the day off with a practice snorkel. Hard pressed getting D in but eventually he got in.

We had morning tea whilst we waited for the spotter plane to find a whale shark. We headed out to the whale shark and the boat dumped us out in front of it. We put our heads in and waited for it to swim past us. Then we had to swim along side it and look in awe. When we couldn't keep up with it anymore, the boat would then pick us up and we would do it all over again. The ocean was very choppy. Swells were about 3m high. D didn't get in at all. E did it twice and J did it the times. By the 4th  P and I were exhausted too.
It was a wonderful experience. I would definitely recommend it to anyone ;-)

19 March 2013 - Coral Bay

Yeh! We're in Coral Bay. We got here late but with just enough time to check in. Hung around carnarvon waiting for a water filter to arrive. Water is s#@t in Coral Bay. Tastes like the ocean :-( Walked on the beach and paddled our feet only to be surprised by a sting ray swimming so close we almost stepped on it :-) BEAUTIFUL! Can't wait to snorkel tomorrow.

20 March 2013
Went snorkeling this morning. Saw lots of fish but was a little disappointed that we didn't see as much as quobba blow holes.  No sting rays this morning :-(

19 March 2013 - Quobba Blow holes

Saw the blow holes, not blowing much. Bit early in the day I think :-(
On the plus side, we stopped for lunch just a bit down the road. We took a swim and there was heaps of coral with loads of colorful fish swimming around.  We loved it. A taste of what's to come in Coral Bay. Can't wait ;-)
Paul and Declan saw a sea turtle.  Paul said he thought it was a Loggerhead Turtle and it was huge! He wasn't quick enough to catch it on camera. E, J and. I tried to find it in the water but no luck finding it :-(

16 March 2013 - Carnarvon WA

Finally decided to leave Denham. Wetsuits didn't arrive and next delivery isn't until Tuesday. We're not waiting any longer. Onto Carnarvon we go.

The Anderson plug snapped off during our trip to Carnarvon,so I guess we have to stay here long enough to fix it. Don't think there are many places we have been that something hasn't happened :-(

Oh and a visit to Woollies to stock up on food that is soooo expensive everywhere else ;-)

$500 later and we're ready to roll.

12 March 2013 - Monkey Mia/Eagle Bluff

Went back to Monkey Mia. Managed to see two of the three feeds they have before 12pm. Ewan was asked to feed the Dolphin the first time, then jenna was asked to feed them the second time. Both times Declan hid behind his Dad so that he wouldn't get picked to feed them. ....lol. Went to the lookout at Eagle Bluff saw a tiny black floater that we think was a shark. Then we went down to the shallow water further down the road and there were heaps of sharks swimming around. Well worth the trip ;-)

Been fishing of the Denham Jetty over the last two nights. We've managed to catch a few different kinds of fish that were too small so had to throw back. And lots of squid. We cooked one lot. Still trial and error. Was a little tough. I'm sure it will be better next time ;-) kept one for bait. Named it 'hayley'. Tis in the freezer waiting for another fishing day.

04 March 2013 - Nature's Window/The Z-Bend Gorge

It was stunning to see they way water/floods can change the layout of the land in such an extreme way.

02 - 07 March 2013 - Kalbarri WA

Lovely place to visit and spend a weekend. Again, too many shore rocks to surf. Thought we'd try snorkeling but visibility wasn't too great either.  Spending some time here awaiting the delivery of the laptop.  Post Office advised me that they don't except deliveries from couriers. There started a world of trouble! We had to find out how the laptop was being delivered and where to. I tried to get a redirect on the delivery of the laptop only to be told that the redirect had to come from Toshiba, who I could never get to answer their phone.
Anyway, long story short, Toshiba delivered via Star Track. Australia Post do except deliveries from them!
Laptop arrived safely, but the wetsuits didn't arrive. After contacting the wetsuit place, we learned that they had sent them to the wrong address. They'd sent them to Geraldton. We asked them to redirect them to Denham.

20 Feb 2013 - Moore Bridge

Took the caravan to have the fridge fixed. It had shaken out of its cubby hole by about 10cm. We had managed to push it back in but had discovered some pipes lying on the floor of the caravan. Anyway, it needed to be fixed. While it was getting fixed we went to Rebel Sports and bought some surf boards for the kids. ;-) We free camped at Moore Bridge for the night. Lots of flies. .. . Yuk! And very hot. No power, so no air con :-(
Jenna was missing her girl friends so much and wishing she had a sister that she decided to do Declans hair. ....lol

09 March 2013 - Paul's Birthday - Denham

It was also very hot. We spent the day inside, the air conditioner on, doing school work. Did cooking as the subject and baked an upside down pudding for Paul as his birthday cake. Paul spent the day relaxing with a book. Took the kayak and boat out in the afternoon. It was windy and the sea was choppy, so the kids rode the boat over the waves and had an awesome time. Went to the local restaurant for dinner. Paul and I shared a seafood platter. The kids say and watched the guy singing whilst Jenna got serenaded by him. ......lol!

07 March 2013 - Denham WA / Monkey Mia

Monkey Mia WA Went to Monkey Mia today. The dolphins come in up to the times between 8am - 12pm. They had been in twice already when we got there. We didn't get there till about 10am. Needless to say, the didn't come back today :-( We fed a couple of emus our sole cores while we were there. Kids were freaking out cos the emus wanted their Apple cores before they had actually finished them so they were getting chased by them occasionally. .....lol! Declan found a starfish on the shore line. They had a little hold of it before putting it back where they found it.

01 March 2013 - Wagoe Chalets (free camp)

Wagoe Chalets Quite an unusual place to free camp. It wasn't free. It was power and water for $35 with 3 kids. It was out in the middle of nowhere. 1.2km from the beach. We could see it from our site, but it would have been a 4×4 drive on sand and after our recent bogging we didn't want to risk it. Great view though.

25 February 2013 - Geraldton WA

Geraldton WA Spent a week here. Received or wetsuits by mail. Wore them once and some derelicts came by that night and stole 3 of them off or washing line! :-(

22 February 2013 - Dongara/Ellandale Pool

Dongara WA and Ellendale Pool Stayed in a caravan park at Dongara. Tried a little bit of surfing but the waves were quite dumpy. There are a lot of sand bars and rocks. The water was beautiful though if you were happy to get dumped.
Ellendale Pool was a free camp. Really nice spot. Too many flies though. As with Lake Indoon, there was a sign saying not to put your head under the water because, depending on the temperature of the water, you would be at risk of getting meningitis. There were a lot of people there. It was a popular place. There were a lot of people putting their heads under the water, even the babies, but our kids were not allowed. It was a risk Paul and I were not prepared to take.

21 February 2013 - North Cliff Head

North Cliff Head Oh dear, disaster! We arrived at the free camp, about 40km outside of Dongarra. It looked like a really good place to stay. Right on the shore of the ocean. Paul located the sight he was happy to set up for the night in. Well! The worst think happened! We got bogged! In the sand, with the caravan attached. What a fiasco! We couldn't get out, so we tried to dig ourselves out with the aid of chocks and wood and bricks. But we were well and truly bogged! We had to unhook the caravan from the car and we managed to get the car out. But the caravan was still stuck. We had nothing to help us get out of it. So Paul went and asked some guys for anything they had. With the aid of those guys and their equipment we managed to drag the caravan onto harder ground, but it was late and everyone had had enough. We all went to bed. Our beds were heavily inclined. .....lol so we slept in our beds upside down. In the morning we managed to dig the Jack under the tow part of the caravan, get the jockey wheel into the van, hitched it up and away we went Phew! All without the aid of RACQ.. kol!

21 FEBRUARY 2013 - Lancelin WA

We stopped here for the kids to have their first surf. They did very well! They even managed to get up on their very first day of it. They had more perseverance than I had that's for sure. ....lol! I couldn't get up on the board at all! We were treated to the appearance of a pod of dolphins too. There were about ten of them riding the waves. It was a lovely surprise! ;-)