Kristy 5

Kristy 5

Same Same But Different!

It’s amazing what a difference a day makes, especially when there’s 300+km involved.  From the idyllic creek side freestay of the previous night we found ourselves in complete contrast at the New Beach freestay.  From the moment we pulled up the complaining commenced.  No Wi-Fi, no toilets, no clean water, no electricity …… nothing but wind and flies.  Some bribery and a couple of games of scrabble later and everyone seemed happy to stay the night.  What the kids hadn’t seen on the way in though was some of the weirdest, umm, let me see, product placement that I’ve ever seen on my travels.  Dolls placed on old wooden chairs beside the road, staring you down with creepy eyes as you drive past.  A strange makeshift grave where we’re to understand “Two Bob” now rest peacefully, oh and how can I forget the welcome sign that had been blasted with shotgun shells.  It’s no wonder I laid awake all night with a knife under my mattress.  It’s fair to say I deserved the silent treatment that the kids delivered to me the next day as we drove out and they noticed all the spooky surrounds.  As Tamsyn described it, “Wolf Creek meets The Conjuring”.

Safe and sound our stay at Carnarvon provided us with the opportunity to catch up with Sharon and David.  Sharon was one of Chris’ mum’s closest friends and it’s always such a pleasure to relive some of their memories.  Unfortunately Carnarvon was not at its best having just been battered by Cyclone Olwyn but as always Quobba remained unchanged.  A day of sunbaking, fishing and snorkelling lifted everyone’s spirits and wet the appetite for Coral Bay.

Quite honestly Coral Bay has a magnetic force that depletes all who enter the township of any stress and tension.  Settled 100mt from the beach we all exhaled any concerns and slipped into relaxation coma.  In such a safe environment the kids had the freedom to head off snorkelling along the reef on their own while I plodded about doing my own thing.  As always fishing was a priority for the boys whereas Taz and I had scored a couple of good books at the exchange.  The Zodiac was taken off the roof and we launched the boys out into the bay waving good bye to my hunter gatherers choosing instead to hunt and gather at the bakery with a quality coffee in hand.  Taz and I weren’t even bothered when we were peppered with phone calls from Taj giving us a blow by blow run down of the fish he was catching.  Things couldn’t be better, then the call comes in, “Um Mum, the boat has broken down you need to come and help.”  Dammit!  There was no sense of urgency in the first call however the following three calls bordered on tears as we stood helplessly watching the boys drift out into shark infested seas with Chris paddling madly (unsuccessfully).  Paddle, paddle, drift drift, drift, further and further they drifted ignoring my suggesting to make their way to a mooring and hook on until a fishing boat came past.  Finally, exhausted Chris hooks the mooring and after a 10 minute pause a fishing boat tows them to shore.  The good news was that we had plenty of fish for tea.  Delicious Spangled Emperor in breadcrumbs with homemade seasoned wedges.  Chris still argues that it wasn’t worth the effort!

The snorkelling at Coral Bay is brilliant, it’s so safe and absolutely full of marine life.  Whereas last time we were here Taj was nervous in the deep water and chose to sit on the beach most of the time we now find ourselves chasing him out into the depths to drag him back.  His head goes down, he picks a fish and off he goes, forgetting the importance of looking up occasionally to see how far offshore he’s gone.  Arghh, more grey hairs, more wrinkles.

 

Reluctantly we left Coral Bay and headed for Exmouth where my 40^th birthday present was going to become a reality aboard the Ningaloo Blue.  As an extra special surprise Chris had booked us in to a beautiful three bedroom villa.  Oh the joy of having my own loo, and a queen size bed, and air con, laundry and kitchen.  Heaven.  God I love this man. 

For those of you who have never thought of trekking all the way over here, and I won’t sugar-coat it, it’s a bloody long way from anywhere, this area is probably the most magical place in our country.  The last time we were here we watched in silence as a turtle laid her eggs so it was only fair to see the full circle of life completed and watch a clutch of eggs hatch and make a run for the water.  With the Easter moon on our side but the end of the hatching season upon us we headed out with some hope in our heart.  After about 20 minutes of walking, having spotted many hatchling tracks in the sand we were ready to concede defeat when we spotted a shell sitting in the sand being stalked by a large crab.  Investigation revealed a live turtle hatchling still hiding in the shell, weak but alive.  Taj and Ry made fast work of removing the predator who had brought our little flippered friend’s charge to a halt.  Scooping him up in a handful of sand we set him down near the water where he continued his journey.  Only one in every thousand hatchlings will reach maturity so hopefully it’s our little one that makes it, however even I know that there was probably a shark waiting a couple of meters off shore, just don’t tell Taj!

The following morning we left our beautiful little haven and loaded back into the van for our following three days at Yardie Creek.  On our way we headed out on a glass bottom boat tour which included a snorkel on a local patch of reef.  The boat was great, whereas the snorkel was brilliant.  We were spoilt once again for company [with all types of marine life including a very rare sighting of three huge stingrays all relaxing together.  As we climbed back into the boat our skipper Alec cheerfully explained that he’s often joined on the reef by a 3mt Tiger Shark who he affectionately refers to as Terry.  I’ve got to say, I’m pretty happy to miss out on meeting Terry.

The following morning, with Terry firmly on my mind, Taz and I boarded the beautiful Ningaloo Blue vessel in search of the majestic Whale Sharks of Ningaloo. Our day began with a snorkelling session out on a reef with 1000-year-old bombies, it was stunning and Tamsyn was quickly labelled as “The Little Mermaid” by the crew as she showed off her free diving talents.  As the youngest on board I think Tamsyn’s confidence was a great relief to the crew, one less swimmer to rescue.  Shortly after morning tea we get the call that the plane overhead has spotted a shark and we’re full throttle out to the deepest water I’ve ever been in.  A quick briefing delivered on route and soon enough we pull up.  “Group one jump”, the deckhand instructs.  Taz and I watch as the first 10 swimmers jump, my heart is racing, I’m scared and excited, the adrenalin is pumping, Gopro held within the white knuckle grasp.  “Group Two jump”, the deck hand yells again, and we’re in.  Greeted by a mist of nothing but deep blue water as the hum of the boat motor drifts away.  Suddenly there’s silence, deep blue silence, the motherly instinct kicks in and I search for Taz who I find looking around in the eerie silence. The silence is suddenly broken by our guide, “Eye’s left he’s heading straight for us.  Swim! Swim! Swim!” she yells.  And out of the darkest of blue water he emerges, right in front of us, huge, stunning, and majestic and I’m frozen.  Stuck in this surreal moment, realising my insignificance in the world.  “Swim! Swim! Swim”, instructs the always cheery Naomi.  Finally clicking into gear I’m off.  Taz and I soon find ourselves in the drag behind his tail.  He sways effortlessly as our legs beat faster than Usain Bolt.  Under the water I clearly hear Taz say, “Oh my God”. Now I’m crying into my googles which blurs my vision, still we keep swimming until he simply sways off into the distance and we’re left once again in the 62mt of deep blue open ocean.  Only this time the noise is deafening as we all search for words to explain what we just witnessed.  We were so fortunate, some boats don’t even see a shark, and some groups only get one swim, whereas we were lucky enough to have five swims with two different sharks leaving us completely exhausted.  Each swim was completely different and all were breathtaking but by far the most amazing encounter was when the giant decided to change direction and swam, mouth wide open right at me stopping within a meter, he looked at me with his tiny little eye and simply swayed to the left and continued his merry way leaving me completely star struck.   To all our dear friends who attended our 40^th birthday party I thank –you all for this amazing gift.

Now it might seem like Taz and I were singled out as the lucky ones on this day however while we were swimming with fish the boys were catching them for dinner on a deep sea charter.  So when we met up at the end of the day barely anyone was listening and everyone was talking.  Exhausted and fulfilled. 

 

Our last day at Exmouth saw us heading to the National park for a snorkel at Turquoise Bay.  The boys had a ball, Taz and I on the other hand were experiencing somewhat of a snorkel hangover and spent the day watching the shark spotter planes wishing we were back out in the deep blue.

Thankfully the Easter bunny found us at Yardie Creek and after breakfast and the traditional Easter egg hunt (albeit reduced to the confines of the caravan) we packed up and headed inland to Karigini National Park.