Road Trip III

Snorkeling with Manta Ray, Coral Bay

I had seen a manta ray before. Only once, when I was at a liveaboard in the Similan Islands, Thailand. It was a beautiful site, to see such a graceful and large animal glide through the water. And now, I was looking forward to see it for the second time.

Our boat took us to the inner reef, just North of Coral Bay. Soon, the spotter plane was up in the air, on the look-out for these gentle creatures. After we did a bit of snorkeling to test the water entry in 2 groups, we had to wait until the pilot would see one from the air. And we were in luck! Close-by, a manta ray was cruising from shore to the reef at a steady pace and in a clear pattern. We all got ready to enter the water to see it with our own eyes. As the pictures on Picasa show, the water was murky, due to the strong winds which had stirred up the sandy bottom, but we were able to see it. Regulations state that we had to keep a certain distance and not disturb the animal, but I got quite close, as close as it was allowed. For some time it swam along the bottom below us, but several times it came up all the way to the surface. It was a magnificent site to see it glide through the water so effortlessly, while we had to snorkel at full speed.

After the snorkeling, I went for a dive on the reef. It felt great to be in the water again with diving gear. I feel now much more comfortable in the water diving, compared to snorkeling. I saw a turtle again and several sharks. Great to see these animals in their natural habitat.

After this water adventure, I drove up to Exmouth, a few hundred kilometers North of Coral Bay

Diving @ the Navy Pier, Exmouth

Exmouth is a very popular destination, due to the vicinity of a national park, the Ningaloo reef and therefore great snorkeling, diving and surfing. My reason for going to Exmouth was to go diving at the Navy Pier, supposedly one of the best dive sites in the world. The Navy Pier is, as it says, a mooring point for military purposes. It was built by the Americans for transporting all materials for their ultra-low bandwidth radio station which is one of three they use for communicating with their submarines. As it is a military installation, no mooring of private boats is allowed nor fishing. As a result, marine life is available in abundance.

Between the pylons, large schools of fish can be found, Sometimes in such great numbers, you almost need to push them aside to make your way through the water, resulting in very nice pictures where the light from above shines through the pylon and the school of fish. Many creatures are there to be found, such as box fish, frog fish, moray eel, trompet fish and others. Also various sharks can be seen. The white tip reef sharks were just resting on the bottom. I got so close as to be able to touch their tale, after which they swam away. No, they don’t attack you. All the fish were quite docile and easy to approach. Some giant cod fish were observing us as much as we did with them.

The pictures are only a limited reflection of this great dive!

Warroora Station

Warroora Station, Oz

I had decided in Exmouth not to drive up to Broome and cancel my trip to the East coast. It is much more a party area and very touristy. Also, Australia has proven not to be my worst case budget scenario, but my worst, worst, worst case scenario, so money-wise it is a better decision. I have decided to return earlier to Thailand and work there a month longer. My return flight to The Netherlands (via Düsseldorf, Germany) is still set on 22nd of September.

After Exmouth, I drove back South again, as I wanted to go to Warroora Station, located just South of Coral Bay. I had to go back as it was the best thing to do time-wise. My friend from Koh Tao, Jacqui, is working over there, and I wanted to visit her. Obviously, the best time would be when she would have time off, hence the detour.

Warroora station is a relative small station of approximately 50 x 35 km (about the size of the province of Utrecht (?) but with hardly any people living there), located along the coast, South of Coral Bay. It is a typical Australian station with wild bush land, sheep and some cattle, run by a great family. It is not only a farm station, but tourists can enter it for going to the coast and camp right at the beach and fish, all for a small fee. The landscape is absolutely beautiful and the sunsets gorgeous. The pictures give an impression of it. As the buildings of the homestead are located far from other sources of light, the stars and the Milky Way are incredibly clear to see.

The beaches are also magnificent and usually completely deserted. Kangaroos and emus can be found walking around, usually around dawn and dusk, when it gets cooler.

I also had to go back to Coral Bay one day, to go on my second (free of charge) attempt seeing a whaleshark. Again, I saw several people throwing up on the side of the boat as they were seasick, but again no whaleshark. I did see a Minke whale. Apparently, it was not meant to be for me to see a whaleshark. Hopefully, they might be still around Koh Tao when I go over there.

Jacqui works over there as a temporary hand, currently mainly in helping to build the fence of barb wire right next to the highway. This needs to be done, so there will be little chance of cattle crossing the road and causing an accident with possible fatale ending for both people and animal. With temperatures of over 35 C during the day and lots of flies around to buzz around your eyes and ears, this is not always a lot of fun. I went out with her and her boss, Marty, to check it out what they were doing, shoot some pictures and give a little bit of help. Unfortunately, this help resulted in a nasty cut when the barb wire cut across my skin in my lower right leg, as the pictures show. The nurse in Coral Bay did some thorough stitching with 5 of them in total, so I will also have a Ozzy tattoo. As a result, I could not do much walking for a few days and we therefore watched almost the complete first season of ‘Heroes’ on DVD which I had brought with me from Thailand. And now, we are both very much hooked on this series! :-)

I had a great time on Warroora station, most probably one of the best times in Oz. As such, I decided to stay a few days longer and drive the van back to Perth in two days.

Before that, I got bogged once with the car and had to be towed out. Also, we tried a bit of beach fishing Ozzy style - casting the rod and sit down and wait, while drinking a beer, we watched breath-taking sunsets and lighting a camp fire, barbecued on the fire and drank some beer and Margaret River champagne. Also not to forget, drinking some shots called ‘Mad Dogs’ as Jacqui had learned from some Polish guests who were staying there the week before. These shots comprise of ¾ part of vodka, ¼ part of raspberry syrup and 3 drops of tabasco and taste absolutely fabulous, apart from looking great in a picture!!! ;-)

On Saturday morning, I packed up my stuff and made my way back to Perth, driving for 2 days. I am glad that I have got my ipod and FM transmitter with me, so I could listen to my own music on this long drive. On the way South, I came across some special transports going North, delivering giant vehicles and vehicle parts for the mining industry. Some of these, took up the whole width of the road, so we were forced to stop and wait on the shoulder of the road until this impressive transport had passed.

I also got pulled over by Australian police, who wanted to check if my van was in good order, as they had seen several (wicked) camper vans before who were in less good condition. As mine is a fairly new one (2007 model), I had no problems, but gained an extra paragraph of text for my blog. ;-)

End of road trip

I arrived in Perth today, Sunday 18th. I am staying again in the YHA, this time for 2 days. Tomorrow, I will return my camper van. I have to say, a next time, I might consider renting from another company such as Britz, as they seem to have better equipped vans for the same price, as learned when talking to fellow travelers.

Also, tomorrow I will upload as many pictures as possible, as I can have access to some decent internet speed. On the 20th, I will rent another car and go to Dunsborough again and see Nicole again for 2 days. After all, I will leave Oz after this and I don’t know when I will see her again.

See'ya, maties!