Half-lap Day 84: Exmouth -> Cape Range National Park

The rain started again during the night, it was quite loud in the tent and we were worried about whether our repair job on the leak was holding up, so we didn’t get much sleep. Tony got up and checked it at one point and there was a small amount of water coming through, not enough to cause a problem, and by then we were wide awake and couldn’t get back to sleep for ages.

We slept in a bit later than I would have liked on a pack up morning (I like to be up by 6 so I can blog then get on with packing, today was closer to 7). When we had set up the day before, the weather forecast said the wind was coming from the South East, so we’d set up so that the tent was on the eastern side, so that the annex would be protected. The rain and wind came in though from the west, so a lot of our chairs were damp and it was very hard to keep stuff in the annex dry. We usually put it down first and try to get the tent packed up as quickly as possible – today we left the tent and the annex until last so that we could keep things dry. We packed the car and moved everything out of the tent – discovering that water was also coming in through the two end corners – we left the door open to dry out the floor as much as we could before we had to pack it up. The kids went up to the kitchen to watch videos on their iPads, and they did the dishes for us while they were there. There were a few breaks in the rain but it kept starting again, and by the time we had everything packed Tony and I were both completely wet. We’d managed to keep most of our clean clothes and our bedding dry though, so we figured it didn’t matter so much if the tubs or the chairs were wet, we could dry them out later and we could still be warm if we had dry clothes and blankets.

We covered our mattress with a tarp before we put the tent down, and once everything else was done we took down the annex and folded up the tent. Tony siphoned the pooled water off our roof before taking it down, so we have fresh rainwater to drink at Cape Range (there was quite a lot up there, despite doing a lot of work to make the roof flat, we never manage to get rid of all the places that water can pool). We hitched up and got the kids and headed out, leaving by 11 which was not too bad considering how much the rain slowed us down.

We stopped off at the IGA to get supplies for the next few days, and bought petrol, then headed out of town – north along the cape and then turning to the west then down the south side of the cape. It was very grey and wet and the clouds were hanging low. Just before we turned to the south we could see very tall antenna, lots of them, reaching up into the clouds. The tops of them were obscured by the cloud cover, and it looked like the antennae were holding up the sky – or else that we were driving towards some sort of portal to take us to another dimension. It looked quite eerie. (On my map it said ‘VLF antenna’ – not sure what that means, but at least we weren’t imagining them!)

Driving in to the National Park it was still raining and looking pretty miserable, so we decided to drop in to the Discovery Centre and see if the rain eased off later. I got lots of information on snorkeling, and we browsed the gift shop for ages, buying a few gifts for people and LiAM and Millie got a couple more souvenirs. We watched a DVD about the reef and marine area, and read lots of displays about all the animal life we might find in the water and the national park. We could see the ocean out the window and it looked exciting, even in the rain. We were there for about 2 hours, and eventually decided to continue on to our campsite even though it was still raining. Tony made us some sandwiches in the carpark and then we went on.

For the first 2 nights in Cape Range National Park we are staying at the North Mandu campground. Our site is right next to the path to the beach, and the path is only about 80m long. Once we’d backed into the spot we ran down to the beach to get a quick look – the beach here is covered in smooth round stones, some are white, some pink, some grey and all shades in between. The waves here break out on the reef, a few hundred metres from shore, so the water near the beach is calm and protected. While I stood there looking at the water a turtle popped it’s head out – so, so exciting. The waves breaking beyond the reef were huge, and the wind was blowing the spray backwards off the top of them – it was an incredible sight.

We went back to our site to get the tent set up – it actually wasn’t raining much now, just sprinkling really. The website had said the site was 4.5m wide, but it looked wider – I measured it and it was over 5, which meant we could set the tent up across it and then put our annex up (we’d thought we’d have to go the other way and there wouldn’t be room for the annex, not great if it’s going to rain). We decided it would be best if the tent was on the ocean side of the annex so we’d be more protected from the weather. This meant we had to turn the trailer all the way around – which was easy at first on the hard packed dirt, but the rain had softened the edges up and soon the jockey wheel started sinking in the sand, so it was quite an effort to turn it around and then get it close enough to the fence so that the tent would fit within the site. We managed it though, with help from Caitlin and LiAM as well.

Putting the tent up was a bit tricky because it was windy and things kept flapping around, we did it fairly quickly though. We got the annex up and tied it down with more ropes than we’ve ever used before, it seems quite secure despite the wind. I’d filled the thermos with hot water this morning and it was great to be able to quickly make the kids some noodles without waiting to get the stove out – they ate them gratefully and it helped them warm up. There was just enough water left for half a cup of tea for me too. We saw several kangaroos around the site as we were setting up – some of them were quite large, bigger than any wallabies we’ve seen for months. Very cool to have them around and close to the tent.

Once it was all set up we headed back down to the beach and saw more turtles, and some schools of some sort of fish with silver fins, it looked like they were all fishing together. Tony and Caitlin went back to the tent to get their snorkelling gear, and LiAM I sat on the rocks watching the water – and saw humpback whales breaching and diving out beyond the break. It was very cool – I’d been told we might be able to see them from shore, these guys were much closer than I’d hoped.

Tony and Caitlin tentatively made their way into the water and we saw a couple of turtles pop their heads up not far away from them (the turtles had moved on by the time they went under water though). I saw 2 reef sharks swimming between Tony and the shore. Caitlin and Tone swam around for a while, occasionally surfacing, and came out excited, they’d seen a huge variety of fish, an eel, and sea urchins. LiAM and Millie and I had seen more whales while we sat on the beach, and LiAM had seen some crabs down in the rock pools. Millie and LiAM found the most amazing looking shells – shaped like shell pasta, they were pink on top then chocolate brown around the bottom half. Underneath the long sides curled towards each other to form a long slit with scalloped edges.  

As they walked out of the water Tony and Caitlin saw a blue spotted ray. LiAM and I went to get our snorkeling gear and Caitlin showed us the easiest place to get in. The tide was going out and there was a bit of a current heading out to sea, so we had to swim carefully to make sure we stayed close to the shore. We saw fewer fish than the others had, but still a cool variety – some blue ones, stripey black and white ones, grey fish with yellow along their sides, tiny little fish, some that camoflauged into the sand below, some sea cucumbers and lots of sea urchins. Clams too, and we’d also seen them on the rocks as the tide went out. As we walked out, being careful not to step on anything, I got a sharp pain in my heel. I ripped my shoe off and checked my foot, I couldn’t see any injury and I asked the kids to help see if we could find what hurt me. LiAM said ‘there’s something in your shoe’ – there was a large conical piece of coral sticking out of my shoe, and the point of it had been what hurt my heel. Obviously I need to be even more careful walking out of the water!

Back at camp we got changed and then got the chairs organised and I set the beds up. The ground is covered in tiny, sandy rocks, so we have set up towels to wipe our feet on as we go into the tent, and no shoes allowed in the tent at all. The kids played in the tent because it was much warmer in there, out of the wind – the wind was coming from the east, so straight into our annex. We would have been warmer if we had put the tent up the other way around, facing the shore. Tony organised some food while I hung up wet clothes and put some more wax on the tent in the places where water had been coming in. We ate leftover butter chicken wrapped in rice paper rolls, very yummy. Once we’d eaten we tidied and secured all our stuff outside, then went into the cosy tent and read a couple of chapters of Inheritance. It took us a while to get to sleep because the wind was flapping the tent and annex and making a lot of noise, and it started raining again (it had been coming in sideways for some of the time we were tidying up) and it was not a peaceful environment conducive to sleep!

Half-lap Day 83: Exmouth

It rained for a lot of the night, not heavy but quite persistent. Our temporary job of fixing the leak seemed to do all right, we didn’t end up with a puddle inside the tent, although there was still water coming through and running down the outside where we’d directed it (a trickle, not a flow).

I was up early and went down to the camp kitchen to catch up on the blog and organise my photos. Having been away from internet access for most of the past week, and being out of power for half of that time, there was quite a lot to catch up on and I had a lovely relaxing morning playing on the computer. The kids came and saw me and then brought me some breakfast, and they wandered around the park a bit more and I met them at the tent mid-morning.

Tony was cooking pancakes which were very yummy, and the kids had found a maths code/puzzle book in my activities tub – they’d always found this book a bit hard, today they were working at it together and between the 3 of them they were figuring out the puzzles. They played with it for hours.

It rained for a good part of the morning then, while it stayed cloudy, the rain stopped. For the rest of the day it sprinkled occasionally but was mainly overcast, dull, cold and a little windy. I did some washing and put it on the line – some of it got dry fairly quickly.

I went out to see if I could find out what to do about the leak in the tent, and do a few other messages. I was able to buy a heavy duty patch, although we’re not sure if it will work because it will need to be over a seam. I organised for us to get new tyres (desparately needed) when we come back through Exmouth on Thursday. I got some information on some tours we might want to do, and discovered that there is nowhere in Exmouth to buy a child booster seat. Millie’s has been damaged so we really need a new one – it will do the job until we can get to Carnarvon.

Back at the tent we had a relaxing afternoon. I tidied a few things up and the kids played on their iPads and did more of the puzzle book and played with the magnetic shapes. Tony went for a bike ride to buy some more reef shoes, another replacement for our toast mesh on the stove (this one only lasted a few weeks) and to get groceries. I spent a bit more time on the computer, and went up to reception to book us on a Glasss-Bottomed boat tour for later in the week. We had a closer look at the leak in the tent and Tony sewed parts of it back together, hoping that we’ve sealed the gap well enough.

The kids wandered around the park some more and discovered that the pool wasn’t too cold, so they went for a swim. It was colder than they had expected so they didn’t stay in long, only about 10 minutes, but they did enjoy it. I read my book and watched them, while Tony cooked Butter Chicken, then they all went and had hot showers. We ate our dinner and it was soon dark.

Today was the coldest day we’ve experienced for months – I think it was around 19 degrees, and rather damp. We had hot chocolates and marshmallows after tea. The kids wanted hot water bottles to make going to bed a bit more cosy, so we all went down to the camp kitchen and did the dishes and filled the hot water bottles. Back to bed and read Inheritance for a little while then went to sleep.

Half-lap Day 82: House Creek -> Exmouth

It rained a little overnight, our first rain since Batchelor. In the morning there wasn’t much dampness anywhere – the rain always sounds heavier in the tent than it actually is. While we had breakfast and started to get organised to move on, the rain came and went, never very heavy and it didn’t really slow us down. We did quite an efficient pack up, and were able to get the tent down in between showers, at a point where it felt quite dry. We chatted to our friends as we packed and it was quite a pleasant way to get ready. I went for a bit of a walk around the campsite. The kids played and had a lovely morning, and we were all ready to go by 9.30.

We’d decided to head all the way to Exmouth, I wanted power and phone signal and a couple of days to get ready to go to Cape Range National Park, our friends were going to Emu Creek Station. We said goodbye – then saw them again 60km later at Nanaturra roadhouse. We hung around there for a while, getting fuel and then looking at the souvenirs and the maps of Western Australia with distances from here to all the major towns – over 2000 to Kununurra, it’s amazing the distances we’ve travelled on this trip. Millie and Caitlin both bought a sour roller thing, which wasn’t too expensive. Tony was eyeing off the home made sausage rolls – we decided to get a couple and some chips, as the kids had been a bit restless in the car this morning and we still had a long drive – a nice hot lunch might cheer everyone up. This is the first time we’ve bought lunch on the trip and we quite enjoyed it.

We said goodbye to our friends again and also saw the couple that we’d seen at the Handrail Pool a few days ago (they had stayed at the same place we had overnight, Tony had seen them there). While we were eating a truck with a horse float came in to get fuel, Caitlin enjoyed having a long good look at the horses (who were not happy to be in the float).

We drove on from there and the landscape became flatter – there were still hills but not as big or as rocky, much more sandy now. The trees were stunted, we discussed how it looked as if they needed to work very hard to live in this area. It looked more like desert than we have seen for a while, and it was marked as desert on the map. Not much grass or spinifex here, and the trees were all dark. There were a lot of roadworks along the highway and we were stopped at stop signs for quite a while, several times. It made the journey take longer, although we were listening to Harry Potter, book 6, so that helped pass the time.

Driving north once we got to the cape where Exmouth is we saw a RAAF base (we didn’t know there was one here) and remnants of WWII history, a couple of bunkers and some memorials. Until recently I had no idea that the Japanese bombed anywhere other than Darwin, and I was surprised to learn they’d come as far south as Exmouth. Suddenly we saw the Exmouth gulf on our left – it was a cloudy day and the water was a deep grey and very choppy. Always exciting to see sea water though.

We decided to stay the Big 4 –it’s forecast to rain over the next couple of days and we wanted to be somewhere with lots of shelter and options for places to spend our time. Everywhere here was quite expensive so we figured we might as well go to the best set up caravan park. We got to our site and then it started raining quite hard, so we waited a little while before we set up. We talked to a couple who are about to head towards Karajini, and were able to give them some useful information about where to stay and ideas about what to do there.

The kids explored the park, and once the rain eased we put the tent up, and added the annex straight away. I went and found a quiet place to talk to a friend from home and it was nice to relax and catch up a bit on home news after 2 weeks without much contact at all. The kids roamed around – I’d found a very cute puppy and they went to play with it, and explored the park some more. After my phone call I helped Tony set a few more things up then went to have a hot shower – great to get all that red dirt off and really enjoy the hot water after nearly a week without a shower. There had been no hot water earlier in the day due to problems with the park’s gas supply – I was so glad they had sorted it out by the time I was ready for a shower.

We had leftovers for tea and Tony watched the Collingwood game on his phone. I took the girls for a shower (which took ages, Millie took a long while to get organised both before and after her shower) and then we were all ready for bed. LiAM had spent a lot of the afternoon playing with magnetic shapes and then Millie played with them for a while as well. As I was about to head to bed I noticed that the tent was leaking a bit – a seam near the middle pole had ripped a bit where part of the supporting fabric had pulled out, and water was slowly dripping into the tent – it had been raining steadily for a couple of hours now.

We tried several things to stop the flow of water, and ended up changing the height of some of the poles so that the water wasn’t pooling in this spot, gaffer taping over the worst of the area, then putting a cloth through the hole (where the annex pole comes in) in the side of the tent to direct the water outside. This seemed to work well enough for now and we’ll have to figure out something more permanent later.

Tony made me a hot chocolate, which I managed to spill as I was getting in to bed. I’ve been feeling a sore throat and stuffy head coming on (all the kids have had a bit of that this week too) and combined with the dripping tent and the spilt hot chocolate I was quite upset for a minute… Then I recovered and read Inheritance for a while until everyone was asleep.