Coral Bay, Denham, Kalbarri & Jurien Bay WA

Coral Bay WA

About 150 clicks south of Exmouth on the Ningloo reef. Coral bay is fishing and snorkeling heaven! Unfortunately I saw a hell of a lot more fish than I caught.

Quad trekking the sand dunes to remote access beaches to go snorkeling. Nai was clinging on for dear life... 

I spent many an hour casting in towards the reef areas and lost a lot of tackle and no fish that were camera worthy!

Denham WA

Part of the Shark Bay World Heritage area and close (about 25km) to Monkey Mia which is famous for its wild dolphin feeding. To be honest I saw more dolphins than fish on my early morning fishing adventures so didn’t really see the value at Monkey Mia, but a good experience none-the-less to listen to Dave than marine parks ranger talk about his dolphins. He knew all their names, habits, siblings, probably what they ate for breakfast.... a bit sickening really!

  

Kalbarri WA

Great little fishing village along the west coast, unfortunately the weather was ordinary, but I finally got the catch I was after.. A couple of nice tailor for dinner. Must admit that photo is taken from quite a generous perspective but who's complaining.

  

Other than fishing the town also boasts about its National Park ‘Kalbarri NP’ and the Murchison River. We really had no expectations after just coming from Karijini but it was quite spectacular. ‘Natures window’, the hollow rock feature was pretty cool!

Jurien Bay WA

Awesome seaside town just 225 clicks north of Perth! This is where the crazy-ness overwhelmed Naomi and she decided to jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet just out of the blue...WTF! Good on her I say, but I’ll leave that crazy stuff to her....

Nai just a little spec in the clouds. 

So what did I do in Jurien Bay you might ask? Fishing dah.... And no, I caught stuff all.

Perth, Busselton & Margaret River WA

Perth WA

The second major milestone in our trip around OZ, and 20 thousand clicks later we were in Perth. The weather was ripping, the breweries were pouring and the Eagles were winning.. Great couple of days in anyone's book!

Outside Subiaco at the Eagles nest pre-game. Unfortunately it was v’s Gold Coast but good for a visit.

A cheeky Sunday arvo Swan Valley tour with the gang – Thanks to Damo, Bec (for making the trek over) and to Holt & Alisa (for their hospitality).

Down the Margaret River river for a few ales and a sneaky game of Jenga....

Bec into the free chocolate pascal tasters at the Chocolate Factory. Must admit I was guilty of a few too many return visits to the tasting bowl. Had melted chocolate in the palms of my hands on departure!

Busselton WA

Famous for its massive 2km long jetty, a return walk down the jetty left the quads a bit sore.. Sad but true!

An attempt to spot some whales offshore at Cape Naturaliste but no cigar!

Margaret River WA

Such a great area. So much so that Nai and I went back for a few more days to pick up on the Breweries we missed whilst with Bec and Damo.

The mouth of the Margaret River at Prevally. 

People who like ice cream..@ Coweramup Ice Cream Co.

80 Mile Beach & Karajini NP WA

80 Mile Beach WA

Heading south from the Kimberly down towards the Pilbara there's not too many places to stop... except the little oasis caravan park half way along 80 mile beach between Broome and Port Headland. Well it wasn’t so little and it was jam packed but it was still awesome.

The fishing was apparently awesome so I gave it a dab. No luck on the first night and if it wasn’t for old mate neighbour I wouldn’t have caught a thing – local knowledge is the best bait!

The second days catch after driving along the beach was good, but when it came time to clean the fish – not so good. 2 of the 4 fish had parasitic worms in their flesh which made me a little queasy – no fish that night, I threw them all the bin. Apparently 50% of the fish had worms. Yuk. Hopefully old mate could see properly when he was cleaning his fish in the dark the night before!

Karajini WA

Now we had seen our fair share of gorges, waterfalls and rock formations in our travels so far so Karajini had a lot to live up to. And it did! Best National park in Australia and something were glad we’ve seen/done before we’re too old. Agility, strength, youth and some balls are what you need to get through the gorge trails in this place.. Oh and a G-string – you’ll see what I mean!

She was a dusty and rough ride in but we all made it in one piece. Might need a few cans of WD-40 to the get the old pushies going again though.

Joffa gorge was right near camp. We weren’t planning of heading there but it was well worth it. You almost needed abseiling gear to get there but a couple of stubbies was enough to get us by!

Waeno Gorge rock pools. Shoes off to get through here and its freezing.

Sections of gorge were almost impassable without some bravery and skill. One slip could end in tears, but it all adds to the excitement with these views at the end.

Note the essential-ness of the G-string! Spanish tourist decides to do the gorge walk which requires physical excretion and getting wet – whilst wearing denim jeans.... She takes her jeans off to pass through the water section and decided to wear a g-banger on the day of the hike – idiot. Now her fat ass is in everyone's photos! Amusing stuff.

Karijini is seriously awesome though and a must see for all!

Broome & Cape Leveque WA

Broome/Cable Beach WA

Leaving the dust behind, it was now time to hit the Western Australian coast. Rugged coastline, beautiful beaches and weather that the average Melbournite would give their left one for! Seriously next time you see Grant Denyer give the weather details before work, have a look at Broome – 30 degrees and sunny - $100 bucks on it....every single day! Bang.

 

Limestone coastline just outside Broome. Good fishing there I heard.

Cable beach morning walk.

Broome jetty = massive! Due to 9m tides and a central shipping port this jetty is awesome. Tons of fish, sea snakes, turtles – you name it it’s under there. 

“People who like ice cream”!

Nai looking real smug at the Broome ice creamery!

Cape Leveque WA

Definitely on the highlight list so far and probably going to be hard to top – Cape Leveque located 2 hours north of Broome on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula was an isolated paradise.

The hardest part was getting there – 100 km of heavy corrugated and sandy dirt roads. Was a prick of a drive but well worth it when you look out from your bedroom and see this!

A cheeky spot of fishing in the Indian Ocean.

Lake Argyle & Bungle Bungles WA

Lake Argyle & Bungle Bungles WA

After an amazing time in the Top End we cross the border from NT into WA. Quarantine is strict and after eating about 6 apples on the road as to not have them wasted I was all appled out!

Lake Argyle WA

3 nights at Lake Argyle was just about right. Walking, sight-seeing from lookouts and of course fishing! But once again, I was out-fished by Naomi... One minute shes sitting reading her book, she then sees me catch a fish and shes straight over poaching my spot with the good... She caught about 10 to my 1.... Bloody poacher.

Naomi with dinner.. A Sooty Grunter.

Best views from the lookout and the awesome infinity pool!

Bungle Bungles (Purnululu NP) WA

One of the sites on our wishlist to visit and it lived up to expectation. Giant honeycomb mountain ranges. But they don’t make it easy to get to... 52km over 2.5 hrs and 20 creek/river crossings. Naomi loved it!....But was worth it.

Amazing views of the Bungle Bungle Ranges.

Cathedral Gorge. Spectacular cutaway gorge, photos do no do it justice.

Echidna Chasm. Another major feature of the Bungle Bungles. A long walk through narrow towering rocks – makes you feel like you’re in an Indiana Jones film.

Kakadu & Katherine NT

Kakadu & Katherine NT

After Jonny and Renee department back to chilly Melbourne Ruch and Nic ventured on with nai and I to Kakadu and Katherine.

Our houses! Ruch and Nics Britz van... set-up time 1/10^th of the camp trailer.

Ranger V’s Road Train...............

Kakadu NT

Unfortunately a lot of Kakadu was still closed due the previous wet season. However plenty of rock art, fishing and hiking kept us busy for our 3 nights.

Fishing at Cahill’s Crossing in the East Alligator river was more successful than our overnight trip in Darwin. Ruch managed 2 small Barramundi – but at least he could say he caught one.

Yellow Water Billabong was also not yielding the Barramundi for us! My first Barra....tiny but still a barra.

Naomi gave us a bum steer via a 3km treck which was meant to be the Gilbadi rock pools. We were chasing a swim but all that was left was a puddle full of fish! Oh well...no swim!

Katherine NT

Centrelink capital of Australia.. At least we were out of town a little in an awesome self contained park. We had two days planned involving Edith Falls and Katherine Gorge both in Nitmulik National Park. 

The long 5km trek through snake country to Edith Falls & Sweetwater pools... worth every bit (see below).

Katherine Gorge was closed to canoeing (Thanks again crocs, have I mentioned how much I hate crocs.... they ruin everyones fun, look better as handbags I reckon. Now I’m on David Attenboroughs side when it comes to animals but. I HATE CROCS). 

As an alternative we went to the Northern rockhole. Short boat trip + 4km hike = amazing waterfall and swimming hole all to ourselves.