(Charles Knife Canyon....)
Noddy and I have moved to Broome. So we decided to drive up the coast taking a few days as Noddy hasn’t seen any of the county past Kalbarri!
After stopping in to see my good friend Mel in Geraldton, we headed north… chewing up the kilometres and stopping for our first night at Coral Bay! It was lovely, and much quieter than my previous visits as the tourist season begins in another month. The air was humid and a dip in the ocean was essential! The water was amazingly warm… around 30 degrees.
The next day we drove the remaining 150km into Exmouth, stopping at the Charles Knife Canyons on the way. After grabbing some supplies and feeling the need for a swim (it was 40 degrees +!) we drove around to the national park to find a camp along the Ningaloo reef. We found one that was fairly quiet and enjoyed a refreshing but warm swim and enjoyed the sunset. During dinner we had an encounter with a snake passing through our camp much to Noddy’s horror! Haha
After stopping in to see my good friend Mel in Geraldton, we headed north… chewing up the kilometres and stopping for our first night at Coral Bay! It was lovely, and much quieter than my previous visits as the tourist season begins in another month. The air was humid and a dip in the ocean was essential! The water was amazingly warm… around 30 degrees.
The next day we drove the remaining 150km into Exmouth, stopping at the Charles Knife Canyons on the way. After grabbing some supplies and feeling the need for a swim (it was 40 degrees +!) we drove around to the national park to find a camp along the Ningaloo reef. We found one that was fairly quiet and enjoyed a refreshing but warm swim and enjoyed the sunset. During dinner we had an encounter with a snake passing through our camp much to Noddy’s horror! Haha
(This is our basic camp tucked in behind the dunes in Cape Range NP near Exmouth)
We arose early the next morning to another windy day but insisted we explore more of the park. So we drove down to the famous Turquoise Bay to snorkel along the reef. Noddy was a bit apprehensive at first considering the strong current, possible sharks and his first time snorkelling in the open ocean! Once our first snorkel session was over… Noddy was that impressed he couldn’t wait to get back out there again!! We swam with schools of fish in an array of different sizes and colour, a stingray, colourful corals and best of all a turtle!!
(Noddy and I enjoying Turquiose Bay all to ourselves!)
The next morning we set off at 6am on a huge day of driving (1008kms!!) to get to Eighty Mile Beach which is 325km south of Broome. We set off charged up on coffee and 4 eager eyes on the look out for “wandering stock” and kangaroos! We fuelled up paying the most per litre for the entire trip a shocking $1.70 per litre!!! Ouch! In the middle of nowhere we came across a dust storm, more cattle, a few goats, emus and a bush turkey, much to the amazement of Noddy! After passing through cyclone ravaged Port Hedland we were well onto our last leg of the journey… arriving at Eighty Mile Beach around 5pm.
(Explians itself really...)
Eighty Mile was quiet and is a popular stop for fishing and shell collecting… which I managed to take full advantage of, collecting a shopping bag or two!! After cooking up a storm and Noddy contending with the bugs, two very tired travellers called it a night!
(Me collecting shells on Eighty Mile Beach.)
The next day was fairly uneventful, travelling the remaining 325km into a humid and stormy Broome. There wasn’t much chance of camping in a tent for the night so we checked into the local backpackers. Since arriving in Broome we have been looking for a place to stay and work for us both, I have been offered a job working on a game fishing boat and Noddy is working for Nissan.
