Holiday and water

[Binataboy]

I have just got back from a week up north at Exmouth WA with the missus. We went to get away from the ratrace and do a bit of snorkeling on the reefs. The reefs up there are fantastic, with corals growing meters from the beaches. A short swim and you are on top of a marine wonderland.

The drive up took two days with a stop at the pinacles the first day and camping that night at the Murchison river, which was very low and barely moving. The second day we drove to exmouth doing a quick stop at Hamelin pool where stomatolites grow, very cool. One thing that struck me is how dry Australia is. On the drive from the Murchison river to Exmouth we saw no fresh water. That is 720km of driving, or over 600km as the crow flies. Even when you get to exmouth there is no fresh water other than the odd bore. It reminded me of a conversation I had with an Austrian friend who couldn't understand why Australia didn't simply irigate more land for agriculture. I couldn't get him to understand that the water simply doesn't exist.

It was school holidays so there were thousands of screaming kids everywhere, or at least thats what it felt like. The roads in Cape Range National Park were littered with road kill which was bad to see but not surprising when you saw what peolpe were like on the roads. Also Kangaroos are a pest at night because if you startle them they run to the brightst place, on the road infront of your headlights!! But the road on the park is an 80km zone because of the wildlike there. I had a roo jump infront of my car, another sat in the middle of the road wondering what this strange thing heading towards it was, a Perentie monitor wondered out infront of the car forcing me to slam on the brakes and swerve around it. All this at 80km/h. So when an echidna was walking on the road I stopped to move him off the road, a car came flying past with a hand on the horn because I had stopped in the road, and the car had to have been doing well over 100. No wonder there was so much road kill.

I didnt see any cp's, I didn't bother looking as it is still to dry. We didn't go Whale shark watching either, next time :)

We took a few photos but I have not downloaded the cameras yet, cant wait to see the under water videos but will need more internet space before I can show any of these.

Apart from the lunatics on the roads and screaming kids it was a great break and well worth the trip. Exmouth is nice quiet town and a pleasant place to spend a lazy arvo with a coffee or beer. The only other thing was that the coral spawned while were there, the next day, in the more sheltered areas, the water stunk like rotten eggs and visibility was quite bad.

We have been greeted with some good rain today which as we all know means the start of the CP season soon.

Cheers

George

[alexa]

Sounds like a great trip, would love to see some photos when you can upload them. You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but are there any salt water crocs or other dangerous animals in the area, blue ring octopus, sea snakes etc? This is one trip that I would love to make, swimming amongst the coral!

Alex.

[Binataboy]

You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but are there any salt water crocs

Don't wory about crocks they are not usualy found that far south. Ocasionaly one will swim south but is quite rare.

or other dangerous animals in the area, blue ring octopus, sea snakes etc? This is one trip that I would love to make, swimming amongst the coral!

Alex.

Well how do I put this... Yes...

General rule, don't touch it or it will kill you. You can buy posters with all the stuff that can kill you, but they put some stupid things on there like kangaroos, then again when one is comming through your wildscreen at 110 kph they are a little dangerous.

But its not that dangerous just follow the do's and dont's. Don't pick up shells, wear sand shoes and if you see a shark don't panic. And the most important peice of advice, carry water at all times and take a hat!! Oh and have fun!!

Cheers

George