Quobbo Station

About 75km north of Carnarvon is a spectacular coastline at Quobbo Station. It is pretty much the southern tip of the picturesque Ningaloo Reef.

First up is the Quobbo Blowholes which is a natural phenomenon and awe inspiring site. The powerful ocean swells force water through the sea caves and up out of narrow holes in the rocks, where jets of water erupt up to 20m in the air. You could watch this spectacular site for ages and listen to the thundering noise of the water crashing. The waves are unpredictable and there is a plaque advising not to fish, as the area has taken lives previously.

An amazing fountain

Not too close!

Now that's power

Just 1km south of the Blowholes is Point Quobbo where we spent most of the day. It is a calm coral filled lagoon that is not much more than 1m deep. It is so clear that you don’t even need face masks to see the colourful fish. We did plenty of swimming and kayaking in the warm waters. It was an opportunity for Hayley to kayak on her own (she did a great job after a few pointers). Certainly a highlight was kayaking over the many reef sharks, stingrays & even a turtle. There must have been over 30 sharks around the kayak at one time, but they are afraid of the kayak and quick to dart away.



So clear and inviting

A hard day at the office!

Enjoying the day under our private beach shelter

Excellent for sand castles too

Carnarvon

The coastal town of Carnarvon is approximately half way between Broome & Perth. Due to its sunny and tropical climate, it is well known for its 176 plantations of tropical fruits and vegetables. It is also a big fishing town where you can attempt to catch a Mulloway or Tailor from the jetty.

We had a relaxing day checking out the town and our first stop was a history lesson for our kids with the OTC dish (Earth Tracking Station). It was built in conjunction with NASA in 1966 and it participated in the space race in 1969 by tracking the Apollo missions and in particular by helping put man on the moon. Buzz Aldrin is even coming to town soon as a guest speaker.

Australia also received its first satellite television broadcast from the Dish, but it was closed after assisting in tracking Halley’s Comet in 1987. Our Hayley was interested in this bit of information.

Can you make out Matt & Amy climbing to the top?

It was then on to the One Mile Jetty which was built in 1897 and is one of the longest jetties in WA and the southern hemisphere. Carnarvon was the first port in the world which loaded livestock on board ships for transport to markets. We had a train ride on the Coffee Pot train to the end of the jetty and back, following the original tramway line which ceased in 1966. Matt loved the train and wants one in his back yard (yes of course Matt!)

Just as well we didn't walk said the kids

Now that's a long jetty!

The old Railway Museum had some interesting machinery from the past, where the kids just had to climb on. It also has a memorial to the HMAS Sydney II, which was the greatest single maritime loss of lives during the Second World War. All 645 Australian lives were lost as it was destroyed by the German Raider, the HSK Kormoran off the shores of Carnarvon in 1941. One of the German life boats is on display which was involved in rescuing 100 survivors from the German ship. It is the only large tangible asset known to exist relating to the sinking of these 2 ships.

I am sure I can get it to go!

The German life boat from the HSK Kormoran 

Our final historical stop was the Lighthouse Keepers Cottage where we were given a personal tour from a relative of one of the original light house keepers. He was 79 and a grandson to the lighthouse keeper. He had some great stories to tell.

The kitchen last used in the 70's

Coral Bay

Happy 4th Birthday Matthew! Matt celebrated his birthday (8th June) in style at the cruisy & very popular holiday village of Coral Bay, which is still part of the Ningaloo Reef. Matt received some great presents in the morning but was adamant that he does not turn 4 until he has his birthday cake (put together with mud cake slices).

We wanted to take Matt on a quad bike ride for his birthday; however he has to be 5, so at least a free ride on the quad bike around the front of the park satisfied his curiosity. We also went for a walk around the bay, enjoyed morning tea at the bakery, had a kayak, and went snorkelling. To top it off we had a pub dinner with some friends we had met from Exmouth. Not a bad way to spend your birthday hey Matt!

I wonder what it is?

Matt's makeshift birthday cake (could not buy a real cake) - now I am 4!

I am under this big, heavy red helmut

The beautiful Coral Bay - over the road from our caravan park

Darren & Hayley were first up for their 2 hour ride on the quad bikes. We travelled up and down some steep, soft & corrugated sand tracks and along the beach to reach the Five Fingers Reef and Turtle Cliffs (great spot to see turtles and sting rays). I would have to say it has been one of our real highlights of our trip. I want one of these bikes!

A view of the reef from our quad bike

Cool bikers!

I will show you how it's done!

Hayley at the Turtle Cliffs

A lot steeper than it looks - heaps of fun

Michelle & Amy did the 2.5 hour sunset trip on the quad bikes, which included a bit of snorkelling. They travelled north to the Lagoon and Oyster Bridge. Michelle thinks she is better than me on the bikes, but I think she is dreaming. They both came back from their ride all pumped up & excited.

Amy loved it (as a passenger of course) - she looks so small on the bike

Watch how fast I can go - must be faster than Darren!

The Lagoon

Another spectacular sunset from the quad bike

The next day we decided to return to the places we went on our quad bikes in the Prado. With low tyre pressures and low range we covered most of the same tracks, but it was not the same feel as flying around on a quad bike. The kids had an opportunity to explore the beach and run down some steep tracks, which they enjoyed. The day was quite over cast and windy, but still warm.

With the wind, we can fly

I wish all roads had this view

Hang on!

Flying down the steep hills with Amy about to headplant

Fish feeding back at the Bay

On our return back to the caravan park we were advised by the Park Manager to secure everything and pull down your awnings, as they were expecting gale force winds well over 100km/hr. It was a real site at the park watching all the preparation for the approaching storm. As it turns out the winds weren’t too bad, but the intense rain turned the caravan park streets into rivers and some had their annexes flooded out. We were fine. We had only seen 2 days of rain in about 3 months - very lucky.


Just arrived at Carnarvon. We finally have phone and internet reception again after almost 2 weeks without it.

Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef

After leaving Point Samson we headed back to Dampier to get some more information on Red Dog. We talked to a few people at Information Centres, but the gossip was that he was not as well liked as made out in the film. He was quite aggressive, dirty and a little thief (stealing from people’s bbqs etc). But he was smart!  We then travelled south to a road side stop for the night, known as Barradale (very popular free camp).

Red Dog's favourite beach where he would steal meat

The next morning we made our way into Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef. We stayed at Exmouth for a week (the camps at Ningaloo were all booked out) and made a trip most days to the reef. We have been without phone and internet reception (don’t use Vodafone when travelling Australia). Our caravan park had an abundance of cockatoos, emus & seagulls (the kids would chase them everywhere & feed the cockies).

The cockies have no fear, just like Matt

Ningaloo Reef is just spectacular. Where else in the world can you walk/swim straight out on the beach, with coral at your door step and thousands of colourful tropical fish (of all shapes & sizes)? One of the first places we snorkelled at was Lakeside. It was ½ km walk from the car park, but worth every step. We had our spring wet suits on so lasted longer than others. The kids were determined to find Nemo.

How good is this?

The walk from Lakeside

Probably the best place to snorkel at was known as Turquoise Bay. It had an area called the drift where you would enter one end of the beach and drift to the other.  The colour of the water was as the name says. We set up here on a few occasions as we considered it the ‘perfect beach’!

Fish at your feet

It was this big!

If you were not into snorkelling, Exmouth & Cape Range NP has many other areas to explore. We visited the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse, SS Mildura Wreck (1907 Cattle ship wreck), Bundegi Beach and went fishing at the marina (no luck this time – we tried soft plastics for bait).

SS Mildura Wreck

No fish, but beats working!

I have plenty of time to catch a fish

Although we had seen many gorges on our trip, it was worth trekking to Yardie Creek Gorge, where the creek meets the reef. The track was quite rugged at the end and offered some inspiring photo opportunities.

The Gorge meets the reef