Fri 4 Oct 2013 – Shopping at Exmouth and travelling to Coral Bay and Carnarvon

We left Exmouth this morning. Everybody at the camping ground was shocked that we were going so soon, they've all been there 2 or 3 weeks. Ned's Camp ground is so lovely and the camp ground hosts, two brothers (Greg and Terry), create such a welcoming atmosphere, are so helpful in every respect and make everyone's stay a really lovely time.  

We visited the turtle beach again on the way out and saw 2 turtles up on the beach and several surfing.

This photo sent to us by our friends Annabella and Claudio from Italy who have been following our Blog
and giving us helpful advice following their travels in Oz - thanks guys!

We stopped at the shops to get a few necessities. My thongs and my reef shoes have fallen apart but the good old IGA was able to supply both. More of a problem is a broken wire in the DC to 240 volt converter, which recharges all our electrical equipment while we drive along, so we're lost without it. Rodger was able to get a new inverter instead, so we're back on the air again!

On the way out of Exmouth, we went to look at a new housing estate and saw that all the houses have been built on waterways with their own jetties! They are like Lego, all new and built right on top of each other, in spite of being surrounded by miles of bush.

We headed South and by lunchtime we reached Coral Bay. As it's school holidays, it was very busy there. We had our lunch at the beach, in the shade of a big tree and then we went for a snorkel.

Although most of the coral was dead, there was an amazing variety of different shapes and they were often only inches below us so the fish were swimming around us as if we were fish too! It's a lovely beach for children as it's sheltered and there was coral with some nice fish only 2 or 3 feet from the shore.

We set off again about 3.00 pm and noticed a big change in the landscape. it's very flat, but no longer Outback. No more red soil, termite mounds and spinifex, but grass and small bushes. We also saw heaps of wild goats again, as we did in SA.

It was sad to see so many grave sites along the road where people have been killed.

As we approached Carnarvon, we saw banana plantations and all sorts of veggies growing. 

The only cultivation we've seen for weeks and weeks was mango plantations up near Darwin, so it looked strange to see the land "tamed" instead of doing it's own thing.

We found a nice caravan park for a reasonable price and enjoyed the luxury of a BBQ and showers, but when I tried to put a washing machine on, it malfunctioned - maybe our clothes are just too dirty for it to cope with!