Sunday September 16

Another week of our trip over and what a week it has been!  We travelled up to Point Quobba, which is on the coast about 70km north of Carnarvon last Saturday and quickly discovered that the description of the ‘calm coral filled lagoon where marine life abounds’, in the ‘Australia’s Coral Coast’ magazine was a seriously boring description of a very special place.

Even though this is still a very arid area, there has been a gradual increase in vegetation (no thanks to the bloody goats we keep seeing) in the coastal areas we have been visiting as we gradually travel further south.  Still no trees, which are confined to water courses (almost all of which are dry at this time of year) inland from the coast.  There was no access to water at Point Quobba so all visitors must bring their own supplies.  The good thing about this type of very basic camping (no water, no showers and one composting toilet) is that it limits the number of visitors – good for vulnerable environments and for us!

Despite the harsh environment, this banksia was flowering on some of the higher areas - this one was in full display up by the lighthouse.  Goodness only knows how they survive!

As often seems to have happened in coastal areas close to larger centres (not that Carnarvon is that large), over the years many old shacks have been constructed near the lagoon area at Point Quobba.  As each has its own dunny, the environmental implications are pretty huge and we heard from people there that the Shire of Carnarvon is about to start removing them and changing the way the area is used.  Let’s hope it can be done sensitively and without ending up with some tacky ‘resort’.

But, back to our visit!  We set up camp, once again right by the ocean, in our own superb ‘space’ further along from the afore-mentioned shacks. 

Our campsite

 

The beach on the other side of the sand dune.  The lagoon is off in the distance

Once we had done the basics, it was back to the lagoon for a look.  A conversation with a couple of ladies sitting on yet another white-sand beach with crystal clear water and what they confirmed was coral about three metres in, was enough to have us back to the car to round up the snorkelling gear and get straight into the water.  The lagoon, which is protected on the seaward side by a rocky island and the northern side by the rocky ledges between the island and the point, is quite shallow and as it was low tide it was even more shallow. 

The lagoon, looking north towards the point, island to the left

The lagoon, looking south

The lagoon looking towards the island and the Indian Ocean beyond

We swam along the edge of the coral, going further in along gutters where possible and it was so unbelievable I almost mastered the art of talking under water!  Fish, fish and more fish – big, little and tiny fish of all colours in and under the coral, which varied in colour and type.  I came out of the water exclaiming that it had been like snorkelling in an aquarium and because the water was so shallow, the fish were so close.  The area around the lagoon is a Marine Sanctuary Zone too, which is wonderful.

At the northern end of the lagoon, right by the point, was a large deep pool in which huge numbers of fish gathered and as soon as you got into the water they all arrived and just surrounded you.  As a diver, Murray has enjoyed the experience of ‘eye-balling’ fish, but I had not and it was remarkable.

We snorkelled at least once every day and made sure that we went in at high tide as well so that we could swim over the coral, which gave a very different perspective and allowed access to a wider range of creatures – a Green Turtle tucked in under the rocks for a sleep, Blue-spotted Fantail Rays, a yellow eel hiding amongst the rocks, a juvenile Lion Fish (treated with great respect as they are extremely venomous) and a huge Coral Cod.  It also seemed that many juvenile fish lived on top of the coral here - they probably felt safer as it would be too shallow for the larger predatory fish to swim across.  From the beach it was often possible to see reef sharks swimming in the deeper parts of the lagoon but unfortunately we didn’t see any close up. 

The really good news is that the partially drowned camera is still taking photos for us (as long as it is turned off after every photo ) and as the water was shallow, allowing the sunlight to penetrate well, we ended up with some pretty good shots.  I will put a selection at the end of the blog rather than stick them in here.

What a way to end the six truly wondrous weeks we have spent on the Ningaloo Reef.  Each of the three areas in which we have spent time has contributed in different ways to what has become one of the highlights of our trip.  Cape Range had some lovely coral over extensive areas, but it was the huge range and number of fish which entranced us, Coral Bay had fewer fish (although a large variety of species), but spectacular coral and Point Quobba had huge numbers of fish and some lovely coral in a very compact area.  How lucky are we to have enjoyed these beautiful places?  Very lucky we reckon!

The beach where we were camped was dotted with many holes, so we investigated our presumption that these were made by Ghost Crabs by taking a walk with a torch one night.  It was just amazing – the beach was alive with white crabs scuttling in all directions.

Ghost Crab

 This area of coast is known as the Blowhole Coast and at Point Quobba the Blowholes are quite spectacular as water under huge pressure from the powerful waves is forced through sea caves before exploding out through holes in the rock.  The coastal rock is limestone, which erodes to create a surreal and somewhat harsh landscape of wind and water sculpted edges, ledges and large scattered rocks. 

 

To the left of the Blowholes - this limestone is fascinating (and sharp)

Last Tuesday we drove 60 kilometres  further north along the coast through Quobba Station (where you could also camp, but there is no coral there) to Red Bluff.  As we drove the cliffs became higher and more rugged and as it had been very windy for a couple of days there were magnificent waves breaking against the coast.

 

Red Bluff, on Gnaraloo Station, is a camping area very popular with surfers from Australia and overseas.  The beach is superb and starkness of the bluff against the indigo sea is quite spectacular.  The waves at the point looked pretty impressive and there were a couple of surfers out there, which I reckoned was very brave seeing as a yuong bloke was attacked by a Great White Shark there last week.  Luckily he survived, with serious damage to his arm and abdomen. 

 

The limestone rock was just as incredible as everywhere else, but where we stopped for lunch were what looked to us like ‘fossilised’ tree trunks amongst the rock – more investigation to be done!  If anyone can interpret these photos and tell us, we would love to know

 

On the way back to Point Quobba we drove the short distance to the coast to see the remains of the Korean Star, a bulk carrier which went aground during Cyclone Herbie in 1988.  From here we could also see the port facility for the Lake McCleod gypsum mine.  The cliffs here were astounding – huge and precipitous.  Murray observed that this is an area where one really feels like you are on the edge of the continent – no vegetation blocking the view of the rugged coastline and the land seems to end so suddenly .

 

Murray on the edge of Australia!

On Thursday we reluctantly packed up and drove back into Carnarvon to top up with groceries and have the wheels on the caravan swapped around, before travelling south to the Shark Bay World Heritage area.  Stayed two nights at Nanga Bay, which is about half way up the Peron Peninsula and yesterday came up to Denham, where we will stay for six nights, before abandoning the van once more to visit Francois Peron National Park.  We will then have two nights at Monkey Mia with Karina and Peter and the girls and another two nights down at Hamelin Station at the southern end of Shark Bay.  As we will save all this for the next blog update, we’ll leave you with some of our favourite snorkelling photos.  Have named the fish we have been able to identify and all suggestions as to the names of the others will be gratefully accepted!  There are lots, but as we know that some who visit the blog only look at the photos, the more of those the better we reckon!

The lagoon:

Beaked Leatherjacket (these are only about 8cm long and just gorgeous and have become serious contenders for my favourite fish)

Blackspot Goatfish, which has 'feelers' under the chin which it uses to stir up the sand and find food

Bluespot Butterflyfish and Scissortail Sergeant

Convict Surgeonfish and Chevroned Butterflyfish

Threadfin Butterflyfish, Eye-stripe Surgeonfish and Bridled Monocle-bream

Juvenile Bridled Monocle-bream

Moon Wrasse

Moorish Idol and Scissortail Sergeant

Clam and coral

Threadfin Butterflyfish and ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scissortail Sergeant

Threadfin Butterflyfish

The rock pool:

 

 

This is what greets you when you hop in!

And this . . .

Fish every way you look!

The patterns on this Thick-lipped Wrasse were beautiful

 

Convict Surgeonfish and ?

 

 

 

 

 

Raccoon Butterflyfish and Spangled Emperor

 

More Raccoon Butterflyfish - our second favourite fish!  Out amongst the coral these ones hide from you, but not in the pool.