The first week: Wagoe & False Entrance

Well, after a bit of a delay with car issues we finally hit the road on Sat 7th May. Our first stop was Wagoe (just south of Kalbarri) for 2 nights camping on the beach.

We took the newly opened Indian Ocean drive to Dongra and had a good run all the way, only getting stuck behind the grey turtles on a few occassions. The weather in Waego was nice and warm, but the swell was pumping which made fishing a little tricky. Russ caught a good size tailor using his kite fishing set-up which we released.

Got to False Entrance on Monday, the swell was pumping with waves crashing up onto the 10+ meter high cliffs. The blowholes were going off.

We spotted a seal sunning itself on the rocks when we went for a walk around the bay and there were turtles everywhere!!

Russ caught lots of fish. We kept the Pink Snapper, Whiting and Sweet lip for tea!! We are in Denham at the moment, and will be heading out to Francois Peron National Park tomorrow morning. We are going to the Old Pearler restaurant for a seafood dinner tonight- YUM!!

Francois Peron and Quobba

Bottle Bay at sunset

We left Denham on Friday afternoon after Russ finished a live radio interview with the 'Fish Heads' program on ABC radio Kimberley talking about kite fishing which he has just started. 

We set-up camp at the Bottlebay campgrounds at Francois Peron National Park and had an afternoon fishing session where we caught a heap of pink snapper, red throated Emporor and sand bass (no keepers though).

We saw dolphins swimming along the bay every morning, and a tiger shark cruising along only 10 meters off shore (glad I wasn't swimming at the time!!!).Caught half a dozen good sized whiting which we kept for tea. The weather wasn't great, so we didn't get to go for a swim.

Storm comming through at Denham

'The Caves' at Quobba

Next stop was Quobba. We camped at the Quobba Homestead which was nice. Quobba is a fishermans paradise, but it's a bit rugged for my liking. Russ fished at a few different spots- Whistling Rock, Camp Rock, High Rock and caught a range of fish including Spanish flag, Trevally, Dog Makerel, Red throat Emporor, and a 8kg Queenie. We saw sharkes everywhere!! They wait around for the fishermen to catch a fish and then they steal it from you. Russ lost 2 Dog Makerel to a Bronze Whaler shark at Camp Rock.

The full moon from High Rock, Quobba

 The rugged coastline at Quobba

Russ fishing from High Rock

We saw the damage caused by the flooding in Canarvon, with some of the Petrol stations buried in sand, some of the roads washed away, and cars buried. 





 Next stop is Coral Bay!! 

 Sid reaches the Tropic of Capricorn!!

Sid at the Blowholes, Quobba

 Sid at Quobba

Coral Bay and Exmouth

We spent 3 days at the beautiful Coral Bay which was nice and relaxing. We went snorkelling around the bay and saw loads of beautiful fish. We met some really nice people who were camping next to us who we played a couple of games of dice with and went with to the pub for a great meal and to watch the footy.

We did a bit of fishing and I caught a nice Spangled emperor which was delicious.

Sid getting ready for a Snorkel at Coral Bay

The Spangled Emperor I caught at Coral Bay

Our next stop was Exmouth. We drove out to the Cape Range National Park, but all the camp sites were full so we stayed the night at the Yardie Homestead Caravan Park which was nice. We then got up at 5 the following morning to line up at the National Park entrance to secure a camping spot, which paid off as we got a great camp site at Osprey Bay overlooking the ocean which was beautiful. The water is so clear and calm as it’s surrounded by an outer reef. 

Osprey Bay were we camped at Cape Range National Park

Sandy Bay

Me fishing at Sandy Bay

Russ and I caught a heap of fish at Osprey and Sandy Bay including Spotted Trevally, Permit, Queenfish, Spangled emperor and Bluelined emperor. Russ ended up with a hook in his thumb when trying to release the Queenfish, so I need to do a bit of surgery to get it out!!!

The wildlife at the National Park is amazing. I had a kangaroo and her joey drinking water from me at our campsite. We saw a dolphin feeding frenzy when walking along Sandy bay (the photos don’t do it justice!!). We saw stingrays of all sizes, and I saw a huge (2 meter long) yellow bellied black snake when I was driving out of Sandy Bay- gross!!

We have a long drive ahead of us, with our next stop 80 mile beach 1100km away. 

Russ with one of many spotted trevally

The popper that left a hook in Russ' thumb!!

Feeding water to a kangaroo at our campsite at Osprey Bay

The Bait fish the dolphins were rounding up for a feed

The dolphin with it's catch!!

Russ holding the Permit that I caught!!!

Eighty Mile Beach, Broome and Cape Leveque

We spent 3 nights at Eighty Mile beach arriving there at 7:30pm after a long day of driving. We stopped in at Karratha and Port Headland along the way for supplies, but spent the rest of the day driving.

Eighty Mile is half way between Port Headland and Broome and the Caravan park is situated on the beachfront, and you can drive down onto the beach and drive for miles on the uninterrupted coastline which is beautiful. Eighty Mile is famous for it fishing, particularly threadfin Salmon and Russ was lucky enough to catch a big 10kg Giant threadfin Salmon, along with a heap of sharks (small bull and reef sharks), some small blue nose threadfin Salmon and a couple of stingrays.

Fishing at 80 Mile

Russ with a giant threadfin Salmon

Russ with a little reef shark

Sunset at 80 mile

The beach is nice and hard and is so wide due to the huge tides there so it’s nice to run on, which is what I did each morning.

Our next stop was Broome for 2 nights. We stayed at the Cable Beach Caravan park which is one of the best caravan parks we have stayed at with big shady trees and a beautiful tropical pool, just a short walk to Cable Beach. We spent an afternoon having drinks and nibbles along Cable Beach, watching the sunset; saw a movie; went to the pub for a meal and I did some retail therapy which was nice.

The weather was beautiful, 30 degrees and blue skies.

Relaxing on Cable Beach

Traditional fishing at Cable Beach

Sunset Camel ride, Cable Beach

Russ going crazy with love hearts, Cable Beach

Cape Leveque was our next stop. We stayed out at Kooljaman which is an eco retreat owned and run by a few Aboriginal families without any government support. We had a camp site up on the hill overlooking the beautiful blue ocean. Cape Leveque is at the Northern tip of the Dampier peninsular.

Cape Leveque is such a beautiful spot with red cliffs, white sand and turquoise water. The tides are really big here too (up to 10meters) and it looks like a totally different place at high tide to low tide.

Cape Leveque at low tide

The road up to Cape Leveque is half bitumen, half dirt, and it’s pretty rough at some spots, making it a fun drive.

On the way out to Cape Leveque we stopped at Beagle Bay and checked out the church with the mother of pearl alter which was built by the Pallottine Brothers who ran the Beagle Bay mission. We also called into Middle Lagoon which is another beautiful spot to camp. We were going to stay there for a couple of nights on the way back from Cape Leveque but decided to head onto the Gibb river road instead.

Beagle Bay church alter

Beagle Bay church

We also went out to Lombidina where we were told that they bake the best bread, so we bought a loaf which was as good as they say, that we ate in one day!!

We also went out to One arm point and saw the most amazing thing at the boat ramp where 2 dogs where swimming with a group of sharks (we think they may have been lemon sharks). The dogs were rounding the sharks up into the shallow waters, and then one of the dogs swam down and bit onto one of the sharks tails and went for a ride. It was really incredible. We also saw a dugong that a group of Aboriginal men had speared and brought in, and also turtle shells on the camp fire that must have been eaten by the locals. 

Check out the video Russ took of the dogs swimming with the sharks:

Dugong speared by the locals

Turtle shell on the fire

We went out to the Trochus Hatchery which was really interesting. The locals farm the trochus until they are a certain size and then they put them out onto the local reefs where they continue to grow until a certain size and then they are collected and sold onto mainly Europe to make mother of pearl buttons. They also farm clown fish and other types of fish for the commercial market.  

The Gibb River Road

Wow what an adventure!! We had a week of walking beautiful gorges, swimming in freshwater pools and sleeping in beautiful surroundings with birds waking us each morning with their beautiful songs.

Sid in the prison Boab tree

We left the coast at Cape Leveque and headed inland on the gibb river road. 

Our first stop was Windjana gorge where we camped for 2 nights. We had a great camp site overlooking the limestone cliffs of the gorge. There are plenty of fresh water crocodiles that live in the pools in the gorge and we saw lots of them when walking through the gorge. The birdlife is also abundant within and around the gorge. The campgrounds have fire rings which gets everyone together in the evening to sit around the fire and spin yarns which is fun.

Windjana gorge at sunset

Freshwater crocodile at Windjana gorge

We went to tunnel creek where you wade through water up to your waist, walking through a 750 meter tunnel under the limestone cliff. There are plenty of catfish and cherabin in the water, and Russ caught a cherabin with his hands. We saw some Aboriginal rock art on several of the cliff walls.

Russ with the Cherabin

The next day we spend the day goring, walking through Lennard River gorge, Adcock  gorge and Galvans gorges.

Lennard river gorge: the road had only just opened, and the track to the gorge was very overgrown and poorly marked, and I think we must have been one of the first groups to go through the gorge this season. We had to walk through long grass for ages to get the centre of the gorge, and then climb down the rocks to get to the bottom of the waterfalls and to the pool. The waterfalls were raging, and the water looked inviting, but it was a little to cool for a swim.

Lennard river gorge

Adcock gorge is a really beautiful gorge with a large pool and pretty waterfall. It’s quite an easy walk into the gorge through some beautiful rainforest terrain. We enjoyed a swim in the cool water and spent a while relaxing at this gorge.

Adcock gorge

Adcock gorge

Finally we went to Galvans gorge which again had only a short walk through rainforest vegetation to a circular pool with a 20mtr high waterfall cascading in, with a big boab tree at the top which was really pretty. There is also some rock art on the walls of the gorge. We had a quick dip here which was nice and camped here for the night.

Wandjina head on the wall of Galvins gorge

Galvans gorge

The following day we headed onto Barnett river gorge, however we didn’t make it in as there was mud everywhere and on the way in we saw two lots of vehicles being towed out, so we decided to give it a miss. We continued onto El Questro, and as it was a bit of a drive Russ asked me to drive for a bit, which was a bit nerve racking on the winding gravel roads. Little did I know that the Durack river, the highest river crossing on the Gibb river road was approaching. I thought it was just a small river crossing, and as we went through it, it kept getting deeper and deeper, until I could see water coming over the front bonnet of our 4WD!!! It was pretty scary and I was yelling at Russ the whole time, but it was pretty exhilarating afterwards. We also crossed the Pentecost River which is a wider river crossing, but not as deep as the Durack. We arrived at El Questro in the afternoon and I slept well that night!!

El Questro Station is a 400,000 ha working cattle station with stacks of gorges, water holes, rivers and hot springs. It is such a beautiful place to stay, with camping along the river bed, a little shop and bar, and a steak house. We had a great time exploring the gorges here.

El Questro gorge is one of the most beautiful gorges that we have seen. It is really tropical and cool with palms and ferns growing all though the gorge and down the cliff walls. It is also one of the most difficult gorges we have experienced with large bolders to climb, and negotiating water falls to get to the top of the gorge, and it took us 4 hours to complete the walk. There is a pool with waterfall half way through the gorge and then again at the top of the gorge. On the way back down we had to jump from a 4 meter high rock into the pool at the bottom which was pretty scary, and I slept well that night too!!

The walk through El Questro gorge

The middle falls at El Questro gorge

The final waterfall and pool at El Questro gorge

Amalia gorge is a really nice walk also, with steep cliffs, and a deep plunge pool and waterfalls half way and at the top of the gorge. The top waterfall is 32 mtrs high and very pretty.

Waterfall at Amalia gorge

Russ jumping into a pool at Amalia gorge

Emma gorge is another beautiful gorge with steep cliffs on each side, and an impressive and very cold plunge pool at the end with a large waterfall. There are trees and ferns growing up the cliff walls, and it’s really cool in the gorge. We enjoyed lunch here and had a nice refreshing dip. 

Emma gorge

We are currently in Kunnanarra where Russ is hoping to catch a Barra!!