After Karajini, we spent a night in the mining town of Tom Price. From there, we headed straight to Exmouth. Exmouth is pretty much at the top of the Cape Range peninsula & it marks the north end of Ningaloo Reef (roughly).

Exmouth itself is a nice place, we stayed in Winstons Backpackers. As we drove into the hostel car park, Dave noticed that Calvin (a German guy we met in Cairns) was sitting on the porch outside his room – small world!!

After buying some snorkeling gear, we headed for the beach. We went snorkeling at Turquoise bay and the Oyster stacks. I saw Octopus, Squid (big ones), Turtles, Sharks and loads of fish – it was incredible. I decided I would get one of those cheap waterproof disposable cameras. So armed with my camera, I went off looking for Sharks – I spent ages looking, but I didn’t find any. I decided to give up for the day and was swimming back to the beach when this big reef shark came up from behind me and passed across in front of me just inches from my head. I tried to get the camera out and wind it on, but it was too late – the shark was gone… Bugger.

Luckily I have bumped into loads of sharks since and I think I have a few good photos! I don’t know why, but they will circle you a few times in the water – as if trying to get a better look at you. It made for a few good photo opportunities.

Parents, don’t worry – Reef Sharks are pretty small and there are so many fish on the reef that they are well fed. They generally don’t attack people unless provoked.

After Exmouth, we made the short hop to Coral Bay. This is a really nice, relaxed place. The Coral seems to be dead close to the beach – but if you head out far enough, you can see some huge colourful Coral formations.
When I was snorkeling yesterday, I came across a Stone Fish close to the beach – that was enough to scare me out of the water for a while. I didn’t think they were around this area at all!

Click here to see:
A video ofMike trying to scare some fish – good job he does too! (No Sound)

Turquoise Bay 1

Turquoise Bay 2

The lighthouse in Exmouth.

When we left Shelamar, we headed to Karajini National Park – time for more running up and down Gorges. We crammed in quite a lot into our one day whirlwind tour of Karajini. We decided to spend only one day in Karajini, because we are getting a little gorged-out.

The highlight of Karajini (for me anyway) was definitely handrail pool. Getting to the pool involves a lot of climbing through narrow passages between rock faces & swimming in icy cold water. I don’t think my photos do it justice – this place is spectacular (ha, that was just to throw off all the people who were expecting me to say amazing).

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Fern Pool

The walk into Handrail Pool

With a long weekend off work on our hands, we decided to head back up to the Gibb River Road to check out the bits we missed due to our early exit the last time (car troubles).

Just a short round trip of 1215 Kms to visit the Croc infested Windjana Gorge & the Bat infested Tunnel Creek.

I’ve never seen so many crocs in one place. All of the crocs at Windjana Gorge are freshwater crocs – they are pretty harmless unless provoked. Generally they are scared of people and will run away if you get too close to them. They look really menacing when they are baking on the sand in the sun – big sharp teeth sticking out the side of their mouths. On the other hand, they look lanky, awkward and funny when they stand up and walk!!!

Tunnel Creek was a bit spooky (I know, I know, it’s only because I’m a wimp!). You walk into this cave in complete darkness, sometimes waist deep in icy cold water. Throw in lots of Bats and a Croc or two and you’d understand why I thought it was a little scary. It’s true, we do fear the things we can’t see! But I must say it was funny that each of the three of us refused to walk last in the line – you know, in the movies, the monster/alien type thing always picks off the person who is last in line, never the first person in line!!!

After that, we made our way back to Broome and checked into the Kimberley Klub (for a pleasant change) – It’s a nice hostel, but a bit too noisy.

Click here to see:

Fresh water croc 1

Fresh water croc 2

Hello,
Sorry about the long break in my news! But I’m here now and that is all that counts. ; ) There are three links to pictures below – make sure you have a look at them!

Well, we went picking Water Melons on a farm Called Shelamar. It was a bit of a shock to the system at first – I think the first thing that went through my head when I found out about the job was “Oh feck, I have to get up at 0530, breakfast at 0600 and then work at 0630… I don’t like it already!”

Basically we walk down a field full of melons behind a tractor and trailer. The trailer has a boom sticking out the side of it and on the boom there is a conveyor belt. As we walk behind the boom, we pick the melons ant put them on the belt. What I didn’t know before we started working was that some of the melons are over 20Kg!

Surprisingly , the first day went well, it wasn’t difficult work – I was tired but I felt good. After dinner, I just collapsed into bed. The next morning I try to get out of bed and notice that I have a lot of difficulty moving! I hate melons already!

After only a day and a half of work, it was the weekend. To be honest, I think the three of us felt broken at this early stage. The “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…” jokes were beginning to wear thin. So, despite our best intentions of staying on the farm and saving money, we decide to head for Cable Beach (in Broome) for some “much needed” rest and relaxation. We ran into the Marcus, Evert and their crew (they are the people we travelled through the Kimberley with) and had a great laugh! Dave and I also managed to fall asleep on the beach. To the amusement of all the lads on the farm, we looked like lobsters for a few days.

Unfortunately after the weekend in Broome, it was time to head back to the farm for more work (read agony). We worked for the next three days when the boss decided that the next few patches of Melons wouldn’t be ready for a few days – apparently the cold nights aren’t helping them! This meant that we had another long weekend on our hands. So we headed back up the Gibb River Road – check out the next story for details.

When we got back to the farm after our little excursion, I had a swimming accident and hit my face off the bottom of the pool (stop laughing, it hurt like hell). I cut my nose, lips and chin – I think I was pretty lucky not to knock out any teeth. Anyway, back to work… it turns out that the melons still needed a few more days before picking, so we were put planting seedlings (read making bits of my back).

Unfortunately we only managed four and a half days of planting and picking when the boss announced that the rest of the melons still weren’t ready, so we were going to be out of work for over a week! So, we decided not to waste money hanging around waiting for work that might not be there. Typical, I was just getting into the swing of things. When the lads left for town that evening, we said our goodbyes. When everyone was gone, being faced with unemployment, we did what any self-respecting blokes would do in our situation… we had beer, a lot of it!

I enjoyed my time on the farm. The setting was odd – the farm is located in the Great Sandy Desert, but everywhere around you – all you can see is huge Water Melons growing in the red sand!!!!