Pentz 4

Howdy Townfolk,

After once again really enjoying our time at Monkey Mia it was time to depart and say good bye to all the spectacular wildlife and the flog from across the camp ground. If you have never been to Monkey Mia and experienced the dolphins make sure you put it on your to do list, it is simply amazing.

That evening we headed in just past Denham to a free stay at Eagle Bluff, we camped close to the Oceanarium, so we could get their bright and early in the morning as we had been told the shark feeding was at its best at this time. The boys had been getting us a bit on edge, so if trouble continued we could kill two birds with one stone and watch the sharks feed on our own offspring.

The Oceanarium proved to be a huge surprise. It is ran by Marine Biologist and the information they shared as we headed around the facility was brilliant, we all learnt fascinating facts and witnessed some awesome sites. The sea snakes and rehabilitating turtles where my particular favourites. It is amazing to watch professionals who know exactly what they are doing share information and present the marine life so well. The sea snakes where so inquisitive and had these friendly little faces.

After our Oceanarium experience we headed off towards Carnarvon and after a long drive settled into a free stay at New Beach, selected by my beautiful wife. It was an interesting selection, looked a Blair Witch setting and the only sign of any life was the millions of flies that kept us company. Needless to say the pack up was brisk in the morning and we settled in a great caravan park in Carnarvon.

During our stay at Carnarvon it was great to catch up with Sharon and David and all their family. We also loved heading out to Quobba. The snorkelling was brilliant and the kids managed to catch plenty of fish, providing a great days entertainment. Although we had thoroughly enjoyed our time in Carnarvon we were all very excited about our next destination, Coral Bay, as it was one of our favourites from our first trip.

As soon as we arrived at Coral Bay you could feel yourself relax. We headed out for some snorkelling and fishing and enjoyed being in this beautiful place. On the second day we got Zodi out and went for a fish off Moor’s Head. Taj was the first to hook up and we were very excited to bring in a nice sized spangled emperor, all of our favourite fish to eat. Shortly afterwards, I hooked up to a nice little Cod, before Taj pulled in another big spangly. Ry then hooked onto a big blowie, before I got another spangly for the esky. Ry was desperate for his own emperor and before long he had one of his own. All feeling very proud of ourselves we decided to head in, however, Zodi decided it was holiday time for him as well, which meant I had to get the oars out and row in. Against a strong current it was no mean feat and was very relieved when a big cruiser came by and towed us in. Apart from losing the anchor, the boat not starting, snapping all our gear and needing to get towed in, it was a huge success.

That night we enjoyed our catch and shared it around with a couple of friends we had met on the road. With Zodi now out of action we took to fishing off the jetty and Ry spotted some sharks so we chucked our lines out. Ry brought them in following his float and in no time I had hooked up and brought up a gummy shark. It was very exciting, we didn’t get anymore up, but the kids snapped off several times trying.

After some more spectacular snorkelling and fish feeding off the main beach, it was with some apprehension that we left Coral Bay and headed towards Exmouth. At Exmouth I had planned a bit off a surprise and had booked to stay in our own private villa. It proved to be my best catch of the trip with the rest of the family falling for it hook, line and sinker. It is fantastic to have a little bit of a holiday within our holiday and we are all thoroughly enjoying spoiling ourselves a bit. It also helped to watch the World Cup cricket final on a nice 50 inch TV, Go the Aussies.

Hope all is well at home.