Half-lap Day 104: The Nullarbor

Once again it was a very cold morning, and LiAM and Millie had both woken during the night and come up to our bed. Caitlin had moved on to Millie’s bed because it’s a bit further from the floor and a bit warmer than hers. Her sleeping bag is so cosy though that she’s usually not as cold as the others – sometimes her hot water bottle is still slightly warm in the morning when she gets up.

We had enough wood left over from the night before for me to start the fire again, and I had a cup of tea and read Harry Potter for a short while, before we started to get breakfast ready and to pack up. We’d slept till after sunrise, because sunrise is much earlier than we are used to, and so the morning seemed to be progessing faster than we expected it to.

We had a fairly efficient pack up, and all braved the toilet one more time, then were on the road by about 9.30am. This morning it was wedge-tailed eagles that we saw not long after we left – standing on the road eating roadkill, and then flying into the air as we approached – Tony slowed down and beeped his horn at them so they had plenty of time to get away, and it was amazing watching them take off and fly over our car.

As we got closer to the border, we could see the escarpment up ahead of us (it ws still running along to our left) coming to a sharp corner. As we got closer we realised that the road turned and went up the face of the escarpment, and what we could see was the escarpment meeting the coast, and then turning to the east and becoming the Bunda cliffs which run along the edge of the Great Australian Bight. We could see a bit of the ocean to our right as we drove up, and then stopped at a lookout soon after getting to the top. Looking back we could see the plains in the distance and then the cliff face beginning. Down below, with a plateau of green land between the cliff and the shore, we could see and hear waves breaking on the beach. To the left the cliffs became more sheer and headed off as far as we could see to the east. It was pretty cool – the kids at first didn’t want to get out of the car, then we told them it was worth checking out so they came and had a look and quite liked the view.

We kept on driving, listening to Harry Potter Book 7 (which was extremely exciting as we approached the end of the book), and looking at the Nullarbor – it was varied enough and fascinating enough to never be boring. Occasionally we’d get glimpses of the ocean beyond the cliffs to our right. For a lot of the drive today, there were no trees at all, just low grass and bushes. IT ws all much greener than we’d expected too – a muted, dull green, but definitely green and not brown.

We’d heard from a few sources that stopping at Head of Bight to see the whales was a highlight, so we pulled in there early in the afternoon. We paid our money at the Visitors Centre then started down the boardwalk towards the lookout. LiAM bought his binoculars with him in case we saw any, but he wasn’t confident that we’d get a whale sighting. As we walked I could see dark shapes in the bay to our left, which occasionally puffed water out – obviously whales and LiAM started to get excited. A family walking back up the path told us that there were LOTS. The kids ran ahead of me and as the path started to zigzag down the hill to the lookout I could see a large whale in the water beyond the kids – I called out and pointed it out to them, and all of us were astounded. These were Southern Right Whales and they were SO BIG! Bigger than my brain could comprehend. By the time I reached the kids they had counted 12 whales, and we kept seeing more, then realised that most of them had calves with them as well.

In the water below the lookout there were 3 whales with their calves. They were swimming along near the surface of the water, sometimes ducking under a little, sometimes changing direction, occasionally the calves would lift their flippers and flap them on the water. It was so incredible to watch. Once or twice we had one swim straight towards the shore, directly in front of where we were standing. We couldn’t get enough of looking at them, then were so magnificent and beautiful and awe inspiring. Some started to dive a little so we got a good view of their tails, and they always came back up again quickly and we could watch them some more. A little further out a pair were rolling over and flapping their flippers and looked like they were having a lot of fun. Every now and then we’d hear one of them make a big breathing sound – it sounded like a massive wave rushing through a blowhole, a deep, moaning, whoomping sound.

There were two people watching the whales near us and the guy had a massive zoom lens on his camera, on a tripod. As they walked away Tony pointed out their jackets, which said ‘Sea Shepherd Crew’. So these guys were hard core whale lovers, willing to risk a lot to help protect whales.

We walked around to the other lookout, reading the signs about whales on the way. There were more whales visible from here (not quite so close, but still close enough.) From here we could also see west along the Bunda Cliffs for quite a long way – sheer, very tall cliffs falling from a very flat plain, straight to the ocean. Very much of a case of ‘Australia ends here’ – it looked like the edge of the world. Breathtaking.

The guy with the camera was here as well, along with several more Sea Shepherd Crew members. I started talking to him about his camera, and then being on the Sea Shepherd, and he introduced me to the Captain. He and I talked for a while, about what they do when they come across a whaling ship, and what it looked like in Antarctica, and what they are doing at the moment (trying to document lots about the Bight, so that they can raise awareness and hopefully help stop BP from drilling for oil here). He was so interesting to talk to, he was very self-assured and calmly spoken and his passion came through powerfully but not in an overwhelming way.

While we were talking one of the whale calves started to breach, it jumped out 5 or 6 times and everyone was excited to watch it. It was cool to see even the Sea Shepherd guys get so excited, when they have obviously seen this happen so often. We also saw one whale spy-hopping (just popping it’s head up above the water) and then we reluctantly left the whales and headed back to the car.

We had a bit to eat and then kept driving east. We stopped for petrol at the Nundroo roadhouse, and asked if we could camp there but the girl said they were all booked out. We drove a bit further on to a free camp – without toilets, but there were no camps with toilets all through the South Australian section of the Nullarbor. We made sure everybody went while we were at the roadhouse, and figured we could go bush for one night. We sat in the car and listened to the end of the 7^th Harry Potter book – very exciting and a little sad to be finished, we’ve been with Harry now since Alice Springs I think.

We arrived around 4 (West Australian time, which was now 5.30 South Australian time) and set up as the sun was setting again. We gathered wood, there was plenty available if we looked a bit beyond the main part of the camp. I made everyone a hot chocolate and we sat around the fire and felt cosy. We had left over potatoes and tuna and corn and mayo for dinner, very tasty. LiAM read a bit more Harry Potter and I read the first couple of scenes out loud to everyone. Tony and I also spent time looking at the map trying to figure out a bit of a plan for getting home over the next 6 nights. We had hoped to go down to Streaky Bay or somewhere (we’d wanted to be at least to Ceduna by tonight, but travelling east and not starting early enough in the day each day made that tricky) but decided it was going to leave too much distance to travel in the last couple of days, so we’d just go straight towards Port Augusta tomorrow and hopefully get as far as Kimba.

We decided to start Millie off in our bed, she had a bit of a sore throat and a sniffly nose, and it was easier than having her climb in half way through the night. This meant Caitlin could start the night on Millie’s bed too. We also offered LiAM the opportunity to start in our bed, and possibly one of us sleep in his bed, but he decided to just rug up earlier and go to bed with socks and jacket on, and stay warm that way. I also reorganized the blankets a bit so that he would be warmer. We got the hot water bottles ready and went to bed to read more of Inheritance.

Half-lap Day 85: Cape Range National Park

I thought I’d be awake all night with the wind again, but actually slept pretty well. I was up early, not quite before sunrise but early enough to go to the beach and watch the ocean gradually get lighter. It was a beautiful spot. I saw lots more of the schools of silvery fish, and many whales out beyond the reef. Watching those huge waves break beyond the reef had me mesmerised – they are so big, and the extra spray created by the wind makes them look wild and exhilarating. Back at the tent the others were waking up and we had breakfast and played around our campsite, with trips back and forth to the beach to see the view.

Caitlin, LiAM and I went for a short snorkel, the water level was pretty low and it was tricky to get out beyond the rocks. There were lots of fish and some coral and it was quite beautiful – we thought it would be really great to come back in at high tide when the water was a bit deeper. LiAM wore my reef shoes as we only had 4 pairs, so I wore Tony’s, which meant we couldn’t all use our shoes at once. This probably wasn’t an issue cos some of us could use flippers, but we decided it would be easiest if everyone had their own reef shoes.

Tony was also finding it difficult without sunglasses (he’s missing a hat and sunglasses since Karajini) so we decided to go back to the visitors centre and get some shoes and glasses, and also a book on local fish, so we can identify what we are looking at in the water. While we were getting ready to go, a couple set up their annex off the side of their 4WD in one of the camping bays, and the wind blew it completely over the top of their car. I was impressed with Tony’s tie-down job on ours because even though it had buffeted, nothing had blown away.

Just before we left we walked back down to the beach, it was almost high tide and the water looked SO inviting – we wanted to get our things though and snorkel at some of the more popular areas, so we didn’t go in. We drove up to the Visitors Centre and Tony found some glasses he liked, LiAM found a pair of reef shoes that fitted, and we looked and looked for a local book on fish. We figured we’d be able to get one like the little whales and dolphins one Millie has, or the Western Australian Birds one the ranger gave us at Geikie Gorge. There were hardly any fish ones, and all specific to other areas of Australia. We looked around and talked to the lady at the desk and eventually decided our best option was a guide to Australian fish – it was $20, so more than we’d planned to spend, but hopefully will give us the information we are after.

We were hoping to see our friends from Kings Canyon here, they were staying at a different campsite, not far from the Visitors Centre. We drove up there to see if they were at their van, but they’d gone out for the day. It looked like a nice spot (Neds Campground) with a much more beachy beach than at our spot. Not sure what the snorkeling would be like from here though. Tony had a chat to the camp host about his solar set up.

We decided to go from here to Turquoise Bay – even though the wind was still blowing, the sun was out and the water in the reef was decidedly Turquoise, so it seemed appropriate. There are 2 areas to snorkel at Turquoise Bay – the bay area, which is easier and better for families, and the drift snorkel, where there is a current that takes you over the coral, then you need to swim back to shore before the point. We parked at the drift carpark, then walked around to the bay, along the shoreline. The water was so beautiful to look at, and we had to walk through it occasionally as it came right up to the fence at times. We could see lots of swirling currents at the point, as the water met from two sides and then attempted to leave the lagoon through a gap in the reef.

Around at the bay we got all our snorkeling gear on (I decided to use flippers today). The swell was not huge but was breaking quite hard on the beach, and it was a bit tricky to get everyone past it. Once we were in the water it was cloudy, and we couldn’t see much. Millie saw a few white fish, I didn’t really see anything. We stood up and looked around, it was a long way out to get to the coral, and swimming against the swell was hard. We decided to go back and give the drift snorkel a try – the swell was less there, and we figured Millie and LiAM would be holding our hands anyway so we could protect them against the current. I was impressed with Millie already though – she had gone in the water easily, using her mask and snorkel and flippers, and swam around confidently while holding my hand – I wasn’t sure if she’d manage to snorkel at all while we were here, so this was exciting.

We walked back around to the drift area, playing a bit in the waves as we went.

We swam around in the shallows for a little while, and saw lots of silvery fish, and Millie was quite confident. I took Millie out further into the water and Caitlin came with us. We swam straight out to the coral and saw an incredible number of fish, of all colours. The water was much deeper here, and we could swim over some large areas of coral, and the sea life was abundant. There were tiny little blue fish up to huge silvery sweetlips, 60cm long or more, and everything in between. Millie had enough at one point and popped her head up, swimming back into shore with her, against the current, while trying to hold her up out of the water, was quite difficult and just slightly scary.

Tony went out for a drift snorkel, swimming out to the coral and then drifting down towards the point and then swimming out. The other kids went with him a little way then came back in. He said he saw heaps, then I took the other 2 out, holding LiAM’s hand, with Caitlin swimming next to us. Again we saw a huge number of fish, sea cucumbers, coral – it was great going together and being able to point things out to each other, because we all noticed different things. Swimming back in was easier with LiAM still having his head in the water, so I felt more confident again. We went out 2 more times, this time walking a long way down the beach and then walking out in the water quite a long way, so we only had a short swim across the current to get to the coral, and then we could drift quite a distance before having to swim back in (and I came in quite early, rather than risking the current getting stronger as we got closer to the point). Each time we saw different fish and we soon discovered we could turn around out there and swim against the current if we wanted to show each other something, so we really explored the area well. We saw massive parrot fish and lots of angel fish, anemones, sea urchins, clams, it was incredible every time and so peaceful and beautiful. Whenever I was in the water I just wanted to stay there for hours.

I took Millie in again, this time I was more confident and again took her in from further down the beach so we could drift over more of the coral. She held my hand but was also able to kick and steer herself to see things she wanted to see – she was confident and handled it all easily. She saw so much while she was out there, and getting back to shore was much easier this time with her snorkeling the whole way. For her first day snorkeling she was amazing, this was supposed to be for experienced snorkelers only and she did it like she’d been snorkeling for years.

I went in for a snorkel by myself – amazing how much easier it was when I had 2 hands free for swimming, and then Tony went in again. The kids and I went for a walk further south along the beach, and thought we could see our beach from where we walked too (we checked later and we were right). The sun was getting lower in the sky and the light was beautiful, the water was a deep blue now. We could see whales from time to time our past the reef, breaching or blowing water or just surfacing.

We wandered slowly back up the beach (Caitlin discovered that her footprints are exactly the same size as mine now, and that she takes longer steps than me. Not surprising since she’s nearly my height now, and her legs are slightly longer than mine…), packed up our stuff and headed back to the car. I discovered a couple of blisters on my toes, from my flippers, which might make snorkeling tomorrow a bit interesting!

Back to camp and went down to the beach to spot more turtles and the silvery fish, and to watch the sunset. We talked to our new neighbours, a family Caitlin had seen in Exmouth, who had a 9 year old girl and a boy about Caitlin’s age. We watched the sunset together and talked about what we’d seen so far, what we planned to do over the next couple of days. Tony cooked an egg and bacon pasta for tea, and the girls played with the girl next door until it was ready. We ate our tea and Caitlin browsed the fish book, putting post it notes on the fish that we’d seen. Once again it was chilly and the wind was picking up a bit – it had stopped through the afternoon. It was still warm in the tent, so we headed in there and read for while. Everyone was pretty worn out from so much snorkeling, so we were happy to get to sleep as soon as we could.

NSW Trip Day 13 - Newcastle

It rained all night so we were a bit worried that our beach plans for today wouldn’t happen. By morning though it was still cloudy and the rain had stopped, so we decided to go ahead with our original plans and change them if the weather got worse. We met my uncles G and B at Dixon Park Beach – their favourite beach, and one with a playground. It was threatening rain – looked very black out to sea, so we walked to Merewether Beach (my favourite beach) straight away to get ice creams. Caitlin and LiAM walked on the sand and the rest of us on the new, wide pathway that has recently been built. G bought us all a double scoop cup and it was delicious, and the serves were huge! Even Tony and I had trouble working our way through the whole tub. By the time we finished eating it was sprinkling so I suggested heading back to the playground quickly so we could shelter there if it got worse. The kids wanted to walk on the sand again and this time went right down to the water and had a play in the edge of the waves. Everyone got a bit wet…

Dark clouds and rain off Dixon Park and Bar Beach

We headed back to the playground and the kids played on the equipment and with G using the footballs he’d brought along. I went up to the toilets and on the way back saw whales out in the ocean, so we all came back to the path to watch the whales pass. There were several off them and they were moving fast, and breaching frequently – it was pretty incredible. A couple of them weren’t far off shore so they were really easy to see. The kids went back down onto the sand (the sun was out by now) and made sandcastles – Caitlin’s mermaid sandcastle was quite a piece of art.

Whale off Merewether Beach

Dixon Park Beach after the sun came out

Once the whales had passed we said good bye to G and B and I dropped Tony off at the wine bar to talk wine with T. The kids and I went up to Newcastle Beach to have a swim in the kids part of the ocean baths. It’s a large round area adjacent to the rocks, with a man made wall, and the water comes in through a pipe and also by the waves breaking gently (usually, like today) over the edge. When we swam there 2 ½ years ago it was nearly full and quite deep, today it was mainly sand with just a stream of water around the edge – plenty of depth to swim in at the far end, and then a little creek to splash and play in down the side. Waves trickled over the edge occasionally which was exciting. Also there were sand cliffs which we could jump off, or jump on to collapse them, and LiAM and I built a tunnel through the cliff – he started at the bottom near the water and me at the top on the flat ground and we met in the middle. I didn’t swim, just walked in the water and took lots of photos and played in the sand. Tony met us there when he finished, and he took Caitlin over to the big baths to have a proper swim. She used her body board to help her get to a pontoon in the middle of the pool, then the board floated away and she was nervous about getting back – it was deep water, with some seaweed in it, and more movement in the water, from the waves occasionally splashing in, and it took a lot of courage for her to jump in and swim back to the edge. She managed the swim easily but felt it was one of the scariest things she’d done.

Ocean baths at Newcastle Beach

Waves gently breaking into ocean baths

The kids showered off and got dressed and we drove along the foreshore, marveling at the number of apartment blocks that have been built, and out to Waratah – we grabbed some hot chips from Henny Penny (a Newcastle brand chicken and chips place) and checked out the first house Tony and I lived in together – it was still there, though lots of the other houses in that street have been demolished and new houses or apartments built – and then drove past the hospital where I was born. We took the new bypass road out to Sandgate then up to Millers Forest to see Tony’s Dad. We had a lovely dinner there with Poppy and D, great to have a relaxing catch up.  Everyone was very tired and by the time we got home just after 10 all the kids were asleep. Tony stayed up a bit longer playing darts with P.