I noticed our previous neighbours Rob and Amy give others around us fish a couple of times. When I commented on how kind they were, Rob said "any time you catch a trevally fillet it and give it to your neighbours-they'll love you for it". Russ caught a good sized trevally last thing yesterday, so he did just that-giving it to the 7 kids camped behind us in a coaster bus.
There is 7 of them aged between Erin 22 and Trousers 31, 8 people own a share in the bus, 4 of them are away on this trip. They are off to Broome, leaving here Saturday. It also happens mum and dad (Boris and Janine)of the twins Mark and David are here for a week, and we met them too.
So, Russ gave them the fish, they gave him a beer for the fish, then Annika (Estonian girl) sent over some of her delicious Estonian potato salad for us, then after dinner all of us sat round and had a lot of drinks and laughs. Right now Russ and Trousers have taken the boat out fishing, then after lunch Russ will take Mark out for the afternoon shift. Hopefully they'll get more than the tiny taste of fish they got last night.
The bus is amazing. They bought it 4 years ago to drive to Sydney for Youth Day. They bought it as a shell and put in big padded seats in a "U" shape. All those seats fold out into beds. It has a huge built in Esky and they carry chairs and cooking gear in the boot. They eat off plastic plates or (for breakfast cereal) out of zip-lock bags. All very simple. They really are a nice lot of people and fun to have as neighbours for a few days although I wouldn't like to many nights like last night or too much more Estonian potato salad or I'd end up right back where I started weight wise!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Coral Bay
My friend Wendy wrote and said I hadn't blogged recently but the days in Coral Bay get to be pretty much the same.26 of a day, 12 or so of a night, we fish, if we don't fish we swim. We were excited to see a big manta ray leap about 2 metres clear of the water the other day whilst we were fishing. We never get tired of seeing all these wonderful things
Friday we took a day off both and went North up the sealed road then into Ningaloo Station. Our neighbours Rob and Amy suggested we go look at the old whaling station just 3ks beyond the homestead so off we went. Rob gave us very specific directions but after travelling 15ks (almost to Yardie Creek) we admitted defeat and turned back. It seems CALM have taken over the station and we should have registered, paid and taken a key to unlock the new gate put up! Next year!!
We still had a lovely day out, stopping along the way to fish (caught a nice trevally off the beach) cook a few sausages on the beach for our lunch, and take some photos at my favourite sand dune.
(This bottom one was taken at the same place 12 months ago)
Yesterday Rob and Russ had planned to go octopus hunting. It's done on the reef at low tide with hooks to haul the ockies out of their holes. The skies opened up, down came the rain and Rob and Amy packed their tent up a day early and headed home to Newman where they both work for BHP. We've been invited to visit them at their farm in Nannup as they'll be living back home after Christmas or we'll meet again up here next year.
We've been catching and eating lots of fish. I've had the best time finding interesting recipes to use them in-whole fish, filleted fish, crumbed, curried, grilled and over stir fries. The end result of all this fish is me managing to lose 31kgs!
Russ and I have almost decided to do the boring old people thing and book here for 3 months next year. I had never really thought why I'm so happy here but Russ pointed out the fact I can swim in the sea or the heated pool and that the weather is just so right for us pleases me.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Ohhh
We both went "Ohhhh" as we drove around the bend and down to the boat ramp to launch our boat yesterday. The reef seen from the top of the ramp is amazing when you haven't seen it for a year.
Out fishing yesterday, we saw a number of turtles and a dugong went by our boat about 5 metres away (the closest we have ever been to one!).
Happy to say our 9 noisy camping neighbours are on their way this morning. I'm not at all sad to see them go. Now, if the crying baby (on our other side) that arrived yesterday moves on too, my life will be complete (until the next noisy group moves in).
The weather is ging to be around 12c over night and 25c through the day for the next week. Perfect for a couple of Southern Victorians!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Coral Bay
It felt like we were arriving back in civilization arriving here today. All bars on the phone and internet which is lovely after a month of dodgy reception (to say the least!!!!). I can't get the TV's one channel to work, but we may get something at night. We've had the ABC, then no TV for a month, so we are well used to it by now and having the other two is almost enough for me.
Our two weeks at Yardie was good but the wind got me down in the end. We've been there 4 times now and done the touristy stuff to death. It was a bit boring with only getting out to fish 5 times out of 14 days-thank goodness we had the sense to take along lots of DVDs and that we met Perth couple Beth and Gordon who then introduced us to the very social people they were camped near. Our neighbours were nice, but just not particulary social as two couples were related and didn't need anyone else to talk to and the other side we had mister perfectionist and mrs nervousness. Just not our sort of people. However they all came out to kiss us goodbye and wave us off so it wasn't all bad.
It rained all the way here and is a bit grey right now, but we have no wind which is lovely and I know the days can only get better. We arrived to find the Perth office had stuffed our booking up and had us arriving on June 21st for 9 days. Luckily we had the receipt to say we were arriving today for 21 days. And lucky the delightful receptionist Jo could find us a spot (the park is really full as usual). 12 months ago, we were here with our friends Paul and Wendy. Today we are parked alongside ANOTHER Paul and Wendy!
Russ has his boat organised already and tomorrow we fish (I'm guessing).
Our two weeks at Yardie was good but the wind got me down in the end. We've been there 4 times now and done the touristy stuff to death. It was a bit boring with only getting out to fish 5 times out of 14 days-thank goodness we had the sense to take along lots of DVDs and that we met Perth couple Beth and Gordon who then introduced us to the very social people they were camped near. Our neighbours were nice, but just not particulary social as two couples were related and didn't need anyone else to talk to and the other side we had mister perfectionist and mrs nervousness. Just not our sort of people. However they all came out to kiss us goodbye and wave us off so it wasn't all bad.
It rained all the way here and is a bit grey right now, but we have no wind which is lovely and I know the days can only get better. We arrived to find the Perth office had stuffed our booking up and had us arriving on June 21st for 9 days. Luckily we had the receipt to say we were arriving today for 21 days. And lucky the delightful receptionist Jo could find us a spot (the park is really full as usual). 12 months ago, we were here with our friends Paul and Wendy. Today we are parked alongside ANOTHER Paul and Wendy!
Russ has his boat organised already and tomorrow we fish (I'm guessing).
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Port Smith and on to June 5th (Yardie Creek)
Our time at Port Smith went almost too fast. We really enjoyed the fishing, finding a great little spot on the second to last day and also coming to terms with the sandflies. You just have to keep indoors around dusk or smother yourself in repellent and be strong about not scratching the bites you get. We managed to catch 27 different species of fish (something we’d never expect to do at home) amongst them some great sized Spangled Emperors, Estuary Cod, Golden Trevally and I was so proud to catch a big Mangrove Jack.
Our waistlines have certainly benefitted from all the fish dishes we’ve been eating! We’ve both lost around 30ks each now so our little boat goes much faster (it’s like losing a third person as far as it’s concerned!). It makes everything we do on this trip so much easier than other times too. I wish we’d done something about our weight before we headed off a few years ago.
On Saturday 28th of May, we drove the 160ks into Broome for the first meeting of their race carnival. Beth got us tickets to a marquee right on the track which was great. We ate our share of the yummy finger food included in our ticket, then snuck up into the members to spend the arvo with Jimmy and Beth and Beth’s friend Janelle. What a fantastic day, but what a long way home after a big day out-in hindsight, we should have accepted Janelle's kind offer of a bed for the night!. It was really nice to get dressed up for a change and such a beautiful day for the races in such a pretty spot.
We left Port Smith on Monday 30th of May and made our way to Port Hedland where we spent the night in an expensive ($40) tiny site in a crowded park with not so clean showers and toilets (imagine termite mounds growing under the hand basins cos no one had bothered to mop there in a month or two!). We did manage to visit South Hedland's fantastic Coles supermarket and stock up, and go to an oriental restaurant (mainly Japanese) we we'd been to around 4 years ago with Jimmy and Beth, so the stop over wasn’t a total waste.
The following night though we decided to try our first ever free camping on the side of the road. It seems you have to get in early for the good spots and we’d almost given up when we crossed the Cane River 40ks away from the Nanutarra Roadhouse. We crossed a very big bridge over a somewhat dry river and there was our spot-flat, by the river and not another soul there. We drove back 1k along a dirt track and set up for a lovely night. We built a fireplace, collected enough timber for several hours, then sat and ate our dinner (sausages and a couple of salads), drank a bottle (or maybe two) of wine and watched the most amazing stars until the fire went out around 11pm. So much nicer than the night before!
Yardie Creek hasn’t changed-even the prices are still much the same. It was good to pay $24 a night rather than the $44 we paid in Broome! The park has a very old electrical system, so we can’t use anything with a heating element or too big, so no air con, toaster, jug, oven, hairdryer, jaffle maker etc. We are cooking on two gas cookers that use disposable butane cans and doing a little bit that’s not too smelly (pasta, rice, potatoes etc) in the van, but we are still eating well.
On the way out to the homestead over the last 5 years, I've loved seeing two old horses (a bay and a buckskin)on the side of the road. No fences, nothing to make them stay but they've always been there. I was so sad to only see the buckskin the day we arrived and so happy to see his friend, the bay, the next day. Now Idf like to see a few bustards!
We managed a couple of days fishing before the weather changed on us and we got our first rain of the whole trip. I don’t mind as I felt we’d arrived here, got the boat in the water and got fishing. The break has made me relax. We even managed a lovely long walk on the beach between showers yesterday!
Today we’ve just lazed around, then tonight the park puts on a roast dinner which we’re off to. Tomorrow we are off shopping then it’ll be fishing as normal on Tuesday.
Our waistlines have certainly benefitted from all the fish dishes we’ve been eating! We’ve both lost around 30ks each now so our little boat goes much faster (it’s like losing a third person as far as it’s concerned!). It makes everything we do on this trip so much easier than other times too. I wish we’d done something about our weight before we headed off a few years ago.
On Saturday 28th of May, we drove the 160ks into Broome for the first meeting of their race carnival. Beth got us tickets to a marquee right on the track which was great. We ate our share of the yummy finger food included in our ticket, then snuck up into the members to spend the arvo with Jimmy and Beth and Beth’s friend Janelle. What a fantastic day, but what a long way home after a big day out-in hindsight, we should have accepted Janelle's kind offer of a bed for the night!. It was really nice to get dressed up for a change and such a beautiful day for the races in such a pretty spot.
We left Port Smith on Monday 30th of May and made our way to Port Hedland where we spent the night in an expensive ($40) tiny site in a crowded park with not so clean showers and toilets (imagine termite mounds growing under the hand basins cos no one had bothered to mop there in a month or two!). We did manage to visit South Hedland's fantastic Coles supermarket and stock up, and go to an oriental restaurant (mainly Japanese) we we'd been to around 4 years ago with Jimmy and Beth, so the stop over wasn’t a total waste.
The following night though we decided to try our first ever free camping on the side of the road. It seems you have to get in early for the good spots and we’d almost given up when we crossed the Cane River 40ks away from the Nanutarra Roadhouse. We crossed a very big bridge over a somewhat dry river and there was our spot-flat, by the river and not another soul there. We drove back 1k along a dirt track and set up for a lovely night. We built a fireplace, collected enough timber for several hours, then sat and ate our dinner (sausages and a couple of salads), drank a bottle (or maybe two) of wine and watched the most amazing stars until the fire went out around 11pm. So much nicer than the night before!
Yardie Creek hasn’t changed-even the prices are still much the same. It was good to pay $24 a night rather than the $44 we paid in Broome! The park has a very old electrical system, so we can’t use anything with a heating element or too big, so no air con, toaster, jug, oven, hairdryer, jaffle maker etc. We are cooking on two gas cookers that use disposable butane cans and doing a little bit that’s not too smelly (pasta, rice, potatoes etc) in the van, but we are still eating well.
On the way out to the homestead over the last 5 years, I've loved seeing two old horses (a bay and a buckskin)on the side of the road. No fences, nothing to make them stay but they've always been there. I was so sad to only see the buckskin the day we arrived and so happy to see his friend, the bay, the next day. Now Idf like to see a few bustards!
We managed a couple of days fishing before the weather changed on us and we got our first rain of the whole trip. I don’t mind as I felt we’d arrived here, got the boat in the water and got fishing. The break has made me relax. We even managed a lovely long walk on the beach between showers yesterday!
Today we’ve just lazed around, then tonight the park puts on a roast dinner which we’re off to. Tomorrow we are off shopping then it’ll be fishing as normal on Tuesday.
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