Tag Archives: rock pooling

Across Australia Trip, Animals, Destinations, Family Happy Snaps, Photography, Travel Journal

Day 396: Quondong

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Thursday, 3 July 2014

We woke to another cool morning. After breakfast we headed off to the rock pools again as the tide was low and about to turn. We found some blue crabs, but Hendrix missed all of them with his spear. We saw heaps of trochus again; another fish that we think is a stonefish, a long-legged starfish, and Hendrix found a green turtle. I took a couple of photos of it and got quite close, so when the phone ran out of battery power, I decided to attempt to give it a pat on the head. It didn’t seem to mind, and didn’t move at all. So the kids came over and gave it a pat too. Elokin went to pick it up but it didn’t like that and moved away from us. It seemed a bit freaked out then and went to a shallower part of the pool. Nath decided that it would be in the best interest of the turtle to release it back to the open water. Nath picked it up and after a short flap, she calmed completely. Elokin had a hold too but she was too heavy for her and she gave her back to her dad. Nath carried the calm little turtle back to the ocean and let her go. We think that she would have enjoyed the new experience and one that turtles don’t normally get to do… flying.

After the turtle experience we thought that our day was topped. But not yet. We walked further around the rock pools looking for more bait and to try to work out a good spot for fishing on high tide. We found a good spot but continued to look. All of a sudden Nath bent down and said he found a shell, but wasn’t sure what kind or if it was broken. He lifted a huge rock off it and out came a perfectly good trumpet shell, and a big one at that. While he was cleaning the sand out of it in a rock pool, I looked over and found another one. Not as big, but again under a big rock. Nath lifted it off and it too was in good condition. Awesome. Two good size trumpet shells within minutes. Who would have thought of looking under big rocks to find them. After that we kept looking, and found two more all in the same area, but those two were broken so we left them there. We then made our way back to camp to have a quick bite to eat as it was only a couple of hours until high tide.

Once we had a snack, we headed back to the furthest point to try our luck fishing off the rocks on the incoming tide. We got a few good bites, a couple of snags that managed to be temporary and came off, but didn’t catch anything. We had to make the call to leave as it was getting to scary to stay there. As soon as we left, I looked back and saw a huge way splash over where we had just been standing. Good time to get off!

We headed to our next spot near the rock pool where the turtle was and floating in the water was a turtle about the same size. Maybe it had something wrong with it, or just really likes this spot. Another one a bit bigger popped up right in front of us, so perhaps there is something here the turtles like. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t fish as we didn’t even get one bite between us. While we were fishing this spot, a pod of about 5 humpback whales surfaced about 200 metres off shore. They cruised along heading north and every so often they would surface for a breath. It was awesome and so close.

We decided that there was no fish here and moved to our last place on the headland. There was already one other guy here fishing and he had been getting heaps of bites. A fish had already busted him off. That sounds promising. We tried our luck and both got bites. I also got a really big snag that kept me stuck for quite a while. When I handed it over to Nath to break off for me, it freed itself and he retrieved both my hook and sinker, just no bait. I gave up at that point and headed back to camp with the kids as we were overdue for lunch. Nath stayed as there was bait left and his rule is that if we kill it we need to either eat it, or use it.

A while later Nath followed us back to camp after catching nothing. He did get more bites, but that was it. This afternoon we got organised and packed up most things. Elokin washed up and Hendrix dried up for the first time. As it the sun was getting low, Nath decided that we would leave them to it and take a beer and wine to the headland to watch our last sunset over the Indian Ocean. Elokin and Hendrix finished their job and joined us just as the last bit of sun went down past the horizon.

It was a really nice sunset too. It is rather sad to be leaving the WA coast after enjoying it for so long now. Neither of us is really ready, but we do have to leave at some point so it may as well be now. We are all going to miss the rock pools, ocean, beaches, coral, fish, shells and driftwood.

On our way back to camp, we chatted to a man that had just arrived. They had just come off the Gibb and said that the road was good as they are working on it. There was also lots of people, and he passed a car about every half hour. Just as we thought. We are now swaying towards not going on the Gibb and going on the tar as we haven’t done it before, and that way we can keep the memories of the Gibb from last time when there was hardly anyone on it.

 

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.

Across Australia Trip, Animals, Destinations, Family Happy Snaps, Landscapes, Photography, Travel Journal

Day 395: Quondong

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Wednesday, 2 July 2014

After a restless night sleep, we woke to the smell of smoke. We rolled over and looked out the window to find smoke all around us. Nath and I dressed quickly and the four of us went to the headland to assess the situation. Smoke filled the air and covered the bay, but there was no fire to be seen. For now, we wait.

Just before 11am I decided to go for a wander to the headland again. The fire looks to have moved south away from us which is great and is nowhere near as big. While I was there I had a chat with a group of people from Melbourne that have just completed a one month Kimberley Tour. While we were talking some dolphins started jumping clean out of the water. It was awesome. The rest of my family came to join me and saw them too. Then we spotted a dugong in close to the rocks, followed by another huge one out further. Jeff was fishing there at the same time and he caught a bluebone but as he lifted it up to the rocks it shook and let go of the hook. Bugger! It was a good size too and would have been a keeper. We also saw a couple of turtles. The sea was so calm and flat and looking absolutely beautiful.

The kids and Nath worked on their spears. First Nath took some of the knots off the sides with a chisel. The kids then got to remove all of the bark off them using their fingers, and Hendrix also had a go with Nath’s assistance using the chisel. They then had to give them a light rub with sandpaper to remove the stringy bits. Nath then started a small fire and heated them over it. He then used his hands to straighten them out. Nath put a metal tip on Hendrix’s and carved a tip into the end of Elokin’s.

In the afternoon we headed to the rock pools for Hendrix and Elokin to test out their spears looking for blue crabs for bait. They found a few but had trouble spearing them. We told them to keep practising and they would eventually get it. Nath collect a few for bait for tomorrow, plus a couple of nice green trochus shells. We watched the sunset before heading back to camp. Tonight we are tossing up whether to travel on the Gibb River Road or not. We are totally indecisive.

 

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.

Across Australia Trip, Animals, Destinations, Family Happy Snaps, Photography, Travel Journal

Day 390: Quondong

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Friday, 27 June 2014

Last day of school for the term! Only problem is that Elokin still has lots to do. After breakfast Nath and I went for a walk to have a chat with the couple from QLD that were helping the injured lady last night to see how she faired. They said that the ambulance guys were very thorough in checking her over and didn’t think she had any broken bones other than her nose. There is the thought that perhaps she will lose her right eye as it looked to be dead. Once in Broome within the hour she was to be flown to Perth by RFDS for surgery. Her hubby was to drive back to Perth. Sue commented on how tough she was. She never complained, she was calm and even had to drag herself out from under the quad while 3 men lifted it off her. She stayed conscious and only went into shock for a few seconds. I hope that she will be alright. Given that she was riding a quad without a helmet, I think she was very lucky to come out of it the way she did. She could have easily broken her neck and potentially died. We had to explain this to our children as a reinforcement to always wear a helmet, no matter what you are riding, where you are and how fast you are going.

By this time Elokin and Hendrix had joined us so we headed back to camp to start school work. But before we could, the other couple that arrived yesterday afternoon stopped by to discuss last night with us. After they left we started school for the day. Hendrix got through all of his work, but Elokin still has a maths unit to complete, so we will do it tomorrow.

In the late afternoon we went rock pooling. Today there is a very low tide of 1.9m pretty much at sunset, so we made the most of it. We walked out as far as we could on the rocks and saw some pretty cool things. We were surprised by the lack of life though. We thought there would be heaps more than we saw given how far out we were and how often the tide goes this far out. We saw 3 blue-spot sting rays, loads of live trochus shell;, green, purple, orange and blue corals, chiton (a shellfish), blue rock crabs, dead cowries, yellow stripe hermit crabs in very cool shells, 2 brown nudibranches and a funny looking fish that we haven’t seen before. We are thinking a stonefish but aren’t sure. We stayed out on the rocks as long as we could and watched the sunset while making our way home.

Tonight we have 2 other camps near us and neither have children with them. We enjoyed a fire tonight and looked for shooting stars. Although I couldn’t shake this feeling that something bad was going to happen. It did eventually pass once we were back in the protection of our van.

 

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.

Across Australia Trip, Landscapes, Photography, Travel Journal

Day 379: Quondong

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Monday, 16 June 2014

It was windy this morning, so we started the day with school work for both Elokin and Hendrix. We finished unpacking the van so we could access the table and gave us a bit more room. Just before lunch we all went for a walk around the point and up a couple of beaches. We found lots of cool sponges and plant skeletons. Plus hermit crabs that the kids collected to bring back for bait and a crab race.

We then returned to camp for lunch and by late afternoon the wind had eased off enough that Nath and Tom took the boat out for a fish. Me, Jac and the kids walked down to the beach armed with a bucket while they were launching and saw a pod of dolphins in close. They were rounding up fish and one brought them in pretty close like a torpedo in the water. By this stage the 3 boys were swimming and saw the dolphin come only a few metres away from them.

Tom and Nath caught fish almost immediately, although they were too small. A bluebone, a coral trout and lots of emperors. Back on shore, Oliver spotted the first live blue crab so I grabbed him with my thongs and put him in the bucket. I found the next 2, so we got 3 live ones and one dead that Jac had found. I also spotted a small octopus. We returned to camp to collect fire wood and get dinner sorted before the men returned.

Tonight it is freezing without the wind blowing. We have a lovely big fire to sit around, but it is still cold.

 

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.

Across Australia Trip, Destinations, Landscapes, Our Rig, Photography, Travel Journal

Day 378: Palm Grove, Broome – Quondong, Dampier Peninsula

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Sunday, 15 June 2014                                                                                                  74.8kms

We rose with the determination to get packed up quickly. I still had groceries from yesterday to finish packing away, plus the normal pack up stuff. Later than Nath had planned, but still in good time, we were leaving the park at 9.45am. A quick top up of fuel and a drive around town to kill time and then we were off to the Mango Place at 12 Mile. Jac did the wine tasting, but after seeing that 4 out of the 5 wines on the menu were port, I decided I wasn’t that keen and stuck with the chutney and jam tasting. I quite liked the Mustard with bush honey and mango dressing, but opted to buy the Mango Jam instead as I was limiting myself to just one. At $8 for 190ml it was probably the most expensive jam I have ever bought, but home-made and delicious.

After our stop we headed back towards Broome and turned onto the Cape Leveque Road heading north. The road was in good condition as the lady in the info centre had said it was. By 3pm we had picked our camp nestled in some trees for a bit of wind protection, set up the camper and were sitting enjoying a cuppa and biscuits while the kids played with their trucks in the dirt. Boy did they get dirty!

In the late afternoon, Tom took all of the children to the rock pools as the tide was out. Nath joined him after fluffing around with whatever it was that he was doing, and they made sure the kids had a bit of a wash off. But it didn’t matter all that much as they came home and played in the grubby sand some more.

Tonight both families enjoyed a roast dinner and sat around the fire. The temperature has dropped considerably since the sun went down. We could feel the cold creep in around us from the bushes. It was a bizarre feeling. Walk to the bushes behind the van and feel that it was cool, and then walk back to the van and feel the temperature rise. The whole area was soon engulfed in cold and so now I am sitting with my Ugg Boots on. I still cannot get over how cold it is up here in winter.

 

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.