Wide open spaces

We headed off early from Karijini as we had booked a morning tour of the Rio Tinto mine in a town called Tom Price, a bit over an hours drive away. We made it in time and got our helmets and safety glasses before hopping on the bus. It was an amazing experience, with everything just being so big. The machines were massive, the volume of earth being removed every day was huge, and the dollars involved in both the costs of running the mine and the money being made from the mine were too big to comprehend. We had heard so much about the mining boom in WA over the last few years, and this tour really opened our eyes to exactly what that meant.

Having stopped to do the mine tour in Tom Price, we didn’t have enough daylight left to make it to Exmouth that day so we stopped for the night at the Nanutarra Roadhouse which was about half way. There really wasn’t anything there apart from the roadhouse and a small campground so we headed off early the next day, keen to get back to the coast.

Given we only booked a site at Exmouth that morning, when we arrived we found that our site was right on the border of the park in what appeared to be an overflow section but it worked fine for us. We got the kids’ bikes down so they could go for a ride around and find the park which they played in for a while allowing us to set up easily.  Having heard about a really good sunset whale watching tour we decided to book it for that afternoon as they were offering discounted prices which we always love! It was a great tour and we saw heaps of whales up much closer than we had ever seen from the shore. They also provided loads of snacks which the kids especially loved, and we could BYO our beers as well. It was so relaxing being out on the water, watching such huge but graceful animals putting on a show for us just by doing what they do naturally. They were breaching, tail and fin slapping and just enjoying playing with each other all around us. After an hour or so we slowly cruised back to shore enjoying a final drink while watching the stunning sunset.

The next morning we just enjoyed a lazy few hours sorting out a few domestic chores before we all rode down to Town Beach together. Although there weren’t many shells on the beach, there were heaps of cool little pebbles so the kids got to work collecting a bunch of them to add to their collections. After a while we headed back for lunch before Em and Kat gave a couple of the dirtier bears a much needed bath while Oli worked on his trip movie. We have decided to get the kids to each make a movie of their version of the trip on the iPad so they have something to show their classes when we get back.

All along the trip we have been keen to find places to take the kids fishing but up until now most of it has been beach fishing which didn’t work with their small rods. There was a jetty about 30 minutes south of Exmouth so we headed out there that afternoon. It was at a place called Learmonth and the jetty was perfect. It stretched about 50m into the shallows, and opened up at the end, with railing all around so there was plenty of room to fish. It looked out into the ocean, with the gorgeous turquoise shallows leading into the deep blue ocean before meeting with the blue sky at the horizon. Within about 10 minutes of the first cast they had each caught a fish, Oli a flounder and Em a bream. Em then also caught a baby flathead but in the end we went home empty handed as none were big enough to keep but we were very happy with our efforts all the same. We also saw a few animals in the shallows including a squid, stingray, dolphin and a turtle which just added to the beautiful scene.

We were keen to give snorkelling on the Ningaloo reef a go, so the next morning after the kids tackled their journals, we rented some gear and drove out to Cape Range National Park to an appropriately named Turquoise Bay. The beach was stunning, with colours straight off a tropical island postcard. We had some lunch before donning our gear and heading out. The kids kind of got the hang of it but tired of the snorkelling before we did. They still got to see some coral and tropical fish before they headed back to the beach for a play. They got busy making some sand sculptures, including a turtle and an octopus, before I buried each of them right up to their necks which they thought was hilarious. After releasing them from their sandy tombs, they headed into the water for a rinse off and saw loads of big fish swimming around in the shallows so they quickly grabbed their goggles and enjoyed seeing them up close. Kat wanted to head out for a snorkel, so I took the kids along the beach to a section which had a strong cross shore current flowing. Oli and Em had a ball jumping in one end and being taken down the beach in the current before hopping out and doing it all again. Having had a wonderful time at the beach, we packed up and headed back to the car to get changed. We spotted the Mystery Machine again in the carpark (the Scooby-Doo gang’s vehicle of choice, which the kids were big fans of) so we took the opportunity to get a few pics, given it was cleaner than the last one we saw a few days earlier, before heading back to camp for dinner.

The next morning Oli and I worked on his movie a bit more while the girls did the grocery shopping. We then all rode up to the shops so Kat and Em could check out the op shop while Oli and I enjoyed a game of chess at the cafe. We then treated ourselves to some takeaway lunch before riding back home to get the kids swimmers as there was a water park near the shops they were keen to go to. While Kat and I enjoyed some adult time catching up with some mates we had met a few times along the road over the last month or two, our kids had a ball with theirs in the water park, before I played a game of tip with all the kids. There was a flea market at the shops that afternoon so we all had a wander through there and the kids each bought a couple of things before heading back to camp to cook some pizzas and make a start on packing up as we were leaving the next day.

On the last morning, Kat took the kids to the camp kitchen where they baked some ginger bread cookies and Anzac cookies while I packed up. While they were cooking, an emu paid them a visit which they thought was hilarious. The poor emu struggled to make his way back out on the slippery tiles but eventually got through unharmed. As we drove off, we bought coffees and decided to make another stop at the Learmonth Jetty on the way through. We (somewhat irresponsibly) left the kids in the car working on their trip movies while we wandered onto the jetty to enjoy our coffees taking in the stunning scene. It was so nice to just stop and enjoy a moment alone in a beautiful setting instead of our usual approach of just pushing on to the next place.

The Rio Tinto mine at Tom Price

On the way to Exmouth

The whale watching cruise

Fishing off Learmonth Jetty

Snorkelling at Turquoise Bay

At Exmouth