064-068 - Warroora and Coral Bay (30/5 – 3/6)

Now rather than look at Warroora and Coral Bay as individual days, I feel it’s better that I look at the area as one experience, which is how we have started to remember the adventure. Rather than “that day” it’s more like “the time at Warroora”. So to synergise with this mentality I’ll join the posts together…

…OK… who am I kidding. The reception is getting fewer and further between and I’m yet to pick up a bluetooth keyboard for the tablet (I refuse to type on the screen and fast track my RSI) so I need to catch up. Once I can get the keyboard up and running we’ll be fine and I should be able to start back on the day to day stuff. Until then, I need to get a wriggle on or I will be finishing this from our next house, wherever that will be.

So, like Carnarvon, here’s a chronologically orientated photo trip through our time at Warroora Station and Coral Bay.

I think B’s favourite part about Warroora, above all else was the ability to watch the sunrise up and over the dunes every morning. And the sun rise, from recollection, was without fault the entire time we were there. No alarm clock needed, just the sun to tell you when to start the day. Oh… and James coming and jumping on the bed saying “get up!!”

B took the kids for a stroll, with the intention of getting James and I to pick them up from Sandy Point. Little did they know that Sandy Point was not the one far off in the shot, but another some 15km past. Suffice to say, we didn’t pick them up, but just met them back on the sand.

 In the meantime, James and I went exploring the Station in the comfort of the Rock Truck… As you can see, it was terrible weather for it, and we had to share the road with so many other users…

 Just another example of stunning Australian coastline. I’ve given up trying to work out how many types and kinds we’ve seen, but it’s been a lot. And none disappointing.

We’d reached the turn off to a place called Pelican Point and were met with a fun sandy descent towards the beach. James and I had particular fun going down this one.

  

On a few expeditions over dunes trying to find beach access, we’d come back to the car and see shots like this. From this angle we could really be in the middle of nowhere and miles from the coast. But just to our right, perhaps 150m, was that amazing shoreline.

Another view coming back to the truck. Amazingly, this shot isn’t in panoramic mode, but the curve of the road comes down off the dune at the back, and swings around to the low point near the truck. This one is one of my favourites so far.

 While walking around the dunes, James and I had a great time trying to work out what was going on with all the animal tracks. Here we think we discussed how close the echidna must have come to the lizard and whether or not it would have been the worlds slowest smash. Happy to be corrected if we’ve got the tracks wrong…

Here we can see the echidna on the left seeing another he likes, coming over to say hello and then finding out they barrack for Collingwood. A swift U-turn and on their way…

Quite the impressive cut in the dune… either that or the Rock Truck needs to lay off the pies.

 Meanhile Sam and Evie were keeping themselves busy in their own indeterminable style. Sam keeping warm and Evie deciding to draw and write about mermaids, given her imagination was being constantly stimulated by the sea…

Getting back and it was time to try out the awning on the truck as we realised that we’d need to unfurl the shade clothes for the van. We hadn’t actually unrolled the awning yet, so I thought I’d work it out without too many prying eyes from the public. I have to admit, it’s a fine bit of kit…

As the sun set, Sam took off with B and Evie to explore the aquarium again and have a fish. Here we can see Sam channelling his advanced ninja skills and fishing whilst hovering above the water. Quite the shot I think… In the meantime James and I simply fished and started to dredge the ocean of seaweed one bit at a time.

Well done Sam… advanced skills.

Here we can see Evie, who I wasn’t aware was enrolling in Ninja Training, creating yet another amazing adventure in her imagination… Another personal fave of a girl living purely in the moment.

The following day we did the 35km trek into Coral Bay, one of the snorkelling mecca’s along the way. On the way in we saw Jeff and Sonia from Hamelin Station Stay and caught up with them. Always nice to see a familiar face. I’d decided my foot would keep me out of the water for the day so I manned the beach and did the shopping in time. I should point out that anyone wanting to “stock up” at Coral Bay should do so with caution. It is definitely not the cheapest stop on a lap around the country…

As B went off to snorkel, we went about the usual sand castle making, hole digging and general beach life.

  

A view from the Coral Bay lookout at the end of the beach. We’d met up with the Butchers again who were staying in town and the rest of the crew went out to feed the fish in the bay. It truly is quite the picturesque spot.

Even after a long day playing with friends, there’s always time for some story writing (Evie) and dot-to-dot (James)

Due to the bugs, we came up with different light strategies to keep them away from a frequently opening door. Here we have my LED strip light which I hadn’t used before and it worked a treat. We also found ourselves cooking off the back of the truck a bit too, just because it seemed so much nicer outside the van!

The next day Sam and I hit the beach and he was pretty chuffed, as he should be to pull in this Dart. Sam’s first fish off the sand too which was cool.

As the sun heated up we decided to do some school work. Of all the classrooms we’ve had, I reckon this is one of my favourites.

Whilst the kids were doing this, I went over to help dig a bloke out who had managed to get his Patrol and van bogged trying to leave. The karma in this moment however was that it was the same bloke who I had met while I was airing up to heading Coral Bay. He had quizzed me at the gate about really needing to air down. I said it was really up to him, but better to be safe than sorry. “Ahh.. we’ll see how we go” and tore off throwing dust over me. Cowboy. Conscious I too had to get the van out soon, I thought I’d better help him get out.

And that was pretty much the theme of the day. Plenty of sun, sand and fun. A quick evening walk up a nearby dune provided this shot of the sunset over the Big Green Lizard.

The following day we headed back to Coral Bay for another snorkel and swim in the beautiful waters. We also spent the day again with the Butchers, the highlight for me going for lunch at the pub, Bills, an having a very impressive lunch with a couple of well timed beers (pints of Rodgers if anyone was wondering)

After begrudgingly pulling ourselves away from the pub, we headed back down to the fish feeding session. I’d missed this earlier in the week due to the foot, but with it slowly on the mend, I hit the water and joined the masses. Here we can see James pretty excited about it all.

And then, as if on cue (which is I suppose what happens when you feed ‘wild’ animals), this quite sizable emperors started swarming around our feet. For someone struggling to catch decent sized fish, all of a sudden I had them swimming between my legs! However, being a marine sanctuary, these fish were strictly off limits. Dammit…

We cheekily went back to the Butchers campsite in the local caravan park and ‘borrowed’ their shower blocks to clean ourselves up. Whilst The Big Green Lizard has it’s own shower, when we’re off-grid we tend to save the water in the tanks for cooking and drinking where possible so showers are often cut from the list. Heading home at dusk we played Roo Roulette along the road, and thankfully came up winners by not hitting one.

Cooking dinner later that night, I spied the boys on our bed doing fun maths games on the tablets. It was pretty cute.

Our morning routine is often varied and often depends on where we are and what we have to do. But this morning, being relaxed, we were being lazy. I looked up from bed and saw the boys making their own entertainment whilst Evie was reading and looking at the world out the window. Was a nice way to start the day.

And then it was school time. This time, inside.

As the big kids did their work, James and I, without shopping to do, decided that we’d do our lesson on the big bed. We’d been collecting the disks from Woolworths when shopping and they proved to be an excellent teaching aid as they had colours, numbers, patterns and characters on them. Add to that, you can make killer towers out of them.

As a reward for an excellent lesson, Evie got her nails done. And no, you aren’t mistaken, this is Sam. He too decided he wanted his toes done. As did James. I did not. Suffice to say, I think some people might be getting a bit too much sun…  It was a lazy morning as B was finally developing the ability to not do anything. I also managed to fix one of the kids reels which had jammed so felt a bit like I’d done a full weeks work… 😊

Here’s the view from Telstra Hill, the only space for quite some distance where reception is available. This is where I put my tips in, chimed in to say hi, and then went around the corner to empty the dunny. This was one of the cool things about this place, and really the only reason why you can stay here longer than a few days. With compulsory chemical toilets required and no drop toilets available, the station made available a tank to dump the dunnies in. Not pretty, but once again, I marvelled in the availability of modern conveniences. Oh the glamourous side of travelling.

Back to the beach, and for once James was happy to leave his rod behind in favour of some beachside dot-to-dot. He’s a unique kid this one.

Myself however, was happy to try out some of the bigger surf rigs I’d bought and set up. A bit of overkill for this location but for me it was about testing things out and finding out what works and what doesn’t. I did bring in a small while flathead that wasn’t to size but better than nothing. Spied a couple of turtles and rays passing by too, which is always a novelty. A few big waves did catch me by surprise, but not as much as stepping off into the dip at the edge of low tide and giving everyone a good laugh.

B, Sam and Evie took advantage of the abundance of cuttlefish on the beach, and realised that they were perfect for a bit of arts and crafts.

 A couple of their pretty cool creations.

As evening set on our last night at Warroora, we sat down to enjoy a very nice dinner under the stars. Only because I’d packed away the awning and shade clothes for an early departure!

Following on, it was an outdoors session of Harry Potter reading…

…which I wonder if James was really paying attention to.