Exmouth

Have spent three days in Exmouth with the hope of wetting a line. However, like Fowlers Bay in Sth Aus, the wind is blowing a gale. Exmouth's claim to fame is being at the northern end of the Ningaloo Reef. Many people in WA has stated it's better than the great barier reef and far more accessible as it starts only a few metres offshore. Much of the area south of Exmouth is classified as a national park so there is no commercial or recreational fishing.

Ningaloo Reef plays host to a massive coral infrastructure that brings in the usual northern fish critters, but also, the whale shark, humpback whales and manta rays. Whale shark and whale season is now over but we are in the last weeks of the manta ray season. Tours venture out to the best spots allowing you to snorkel and swim with the whale sharks and manta rays. With the wind in Exmouth, all the tour operators (fishing and sightseeing) have cancelled their trips. However I'm off to Coral Bay for 2 nights, maybe 3, tomorrow (+- 150 km) , so fingers crossed the wind dies down. Forecast is for light wind from Sat onwards.

On the advice from the Tackle World experts at Exmouth, I went to the SS Mildura wreck which is close to shore. On low tide, walk on the now exposed rocks, 150 metres until the rocks stop and you are now at the drop off. Cast your poppers and you could hopefully land a GT. It's a sport fish only, not for the table, but apparently pulls like a train. 2 casts and I packed it in. As I was walking on the rocks towards the ocean, looking for crabs and small fish still within the rock pools, I knew this was going to be a futile effort due to the wind. But I had to try.

The SS Mildura looks far away at high tide, but once low tides kicks in, you can almost walk to it. It was a 1,394 tonne cargo steam ship and was ship wrecked at Lighthouse Bay  in 1907 with a load of bullocks heading to Fremantle. All crew swam safely to shore, however many of the cattle perished.  The captain was found negligent in his duties and lost his right to captain for 3 months.

SS Mildura - High Tide

SS Mildura - Low Tide

Check out some of the green coloured crabs in some of the rock pools. A little too small for the cooking pot. However I understand you can get mud crabs in the area. Left my crab net at home..... At least the weather is a beautiful 32 degrees.

Crab resting in a very small water hole

Emus galore in Exmouth. 2 resident but still wild emus wander the caravan park, hoping for a free feed from a muppet tourist or scavenging from the bins. No fear of humans and come to within 1 metre of you, looking at what you are typing on the computer. One muppet camper arrived yesterday and big noted himself whilst feeding them from his hand. When he ran out, they wanted more and gave him a kick. It would have hurt and yes I had a big grin.

Note for next time - bring your own flippers and face mask for snorkeling.

Karratha & Dampier

The trip from Broome to Karratha is a boring one, with little change in scenery. However I'm glad I was in a car rather than a motorbike (first time I had that feeling on this trip - I miss my motorbike and the freedom it gave me). The wind was howling, and made for some eye watering sand storms. When an oncoming road train passed me (going in th opposite direction) the pressure wave of wind hitting the car was like a sand paper dump. I hated that feeling, so I slowed down when they approached and moved as far left as I could.

Sand and strong winds. Felt and sounded like sandpaper rubbing. 

I'm staying in a motel in Karratha which is 18 km's from Dampier. Karratha has a population of around 20,000 whilst Dampier has much less. Karratha is the dominant living town, whilst Dampier is the working town for Rio Tinto iron ore, BHP salt and North West Shelf Project. Dampier has so many apartment style blocks which looked abandanded. I suspect most of the population works in or around Dampier but lives in Karratha. Karratha has a bakery!!! So looking forward to fresh bread rolls.

Dampier, on the coast is so far, my favourite seaside place. I wish we still had our 6.5 mtr ocean going boat so we could visit the Dampier Archipelago, which consists of 42 islands within a 45 km radius from Dampier. No beach boat ramps, they have proper concrete ones. I also wish I had a 4wd to drive to some isolated land based fishing sites. Oh well, next time.

Dampier harbour

Dampier is also the base for the north west shelf project. Gas and oil is sucked from the ocean floor from several sea riggs 145 kms off shore. The oil / gas is pumped via underwater pipes back to Dampier where it is processed and the gas is piped to Perth, via overland pipes or shipped overseas with the oil via tankers.

This huge site receives the gas and oil from offshore and does it's magic to purify and separate it ready for distribution. It's a very involved process as the gas contains other chemicals / gasses that are not wanted.

3 massive underground liquid gas storage containers. If I can remember the facts from the North West Shelf Project info centre, the liquid gas is stored at about minus 160 C.

"Red" dog - famous in the Pilbara. Died in 1979. If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, do yourself a favour....

Dampier Lawn Bowls Club - for those of you interested in cheap beer :)