Day 89: Sat 15 Jun 24 - Exmouth

Sat 15 Jun 24 - Exmouth

Cloudy and 20 Deg C with no wind in the morning, reaching 26 Deg C with a gentle N wind and rain in the afternoon, continuing into the night.

This morning we packed some snacks and drinks to take with us on a drive to Yardie Creek, 89km away on the western side of the Cape Range National Park. Yardie Creek is a unique feature of the National Park as it has a permanent water source that flows into the Yardie Creek Gorge. There are a couple of easy walks along the gorge, but we explored it by water on a boat tour. The 11:00am one-hour tour was very informative, and the guide - a very knowledgeable local, kept us entertained with his wit and dry sense of humour. The views of the canyon's multi-coloured cliff faces reflecting in the water were amazing, and we saw a wide range of wildlife including many threatened black-flanked rock wallabies, ospreys, bower birds, herons and other birds that inhabit the gorge. Our assessment is that it was worth the drive from Exmouth and the $40 per person cost. With rain threatening the whole time we were there, it thankfully held off until after the tour. The cloudy conditions were perfect though for spotting so many wallabies (about 36), as they tend not to come out into the open on hot sunny days because of their warm jackets. After the tour, I went for a short 2km walk along the top of the gorge before returning to Noeleene at the car, and driving back to Exmouth with light rain falling. On the way back to Exmouth, we took a short detour to the north west cape to look at the SS Mildura ship wreck. The SS Mildura was a cattle steamer, wrecked in 1907 during a cyclone, and most of the 500 cattle on board drowned. The remains of the ship were eventually salvaged and used for renovations but the hull was used for bombing practice in World War II. The remains of the ship now rest 80 metres from shore.

Back at the van, after a light lunch, I began packing for an early departure tomorrow morning, while Noel drove to IGA to top up on some groceries. After refuelling, I called past Paul to say goodbye and ended up staying for dinner before returning to the van for the evening. It was so hot and humid though that we had to turn the air conditioner on. Tomorrow we are aiming for Tom Price which is a 570km drive, although, we'll have to remain flexible with all the rain we've had today. With the next 6 or 7 nights off grid, I'm also a little concerned with the forecast cloudy/wet conditions and how our batteries will hold up if we can't get enough sunlight onto the solar panels. Time will tell.

The coast and Yardie Creek Campground at Yardie Creek


Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek


Yardie Creek - Black-flanked rock wallaby

Yardie Creek - Flying Foxes

Yardie Creek - Spot the rock wallaby

Yardie Creek - Rock wallaby

Yardie Creek - Osprey

Yardie Creek 

Yardie Creek - Rock wallabies (A question often asked today - how do they move around the rocks without falling)

Yardie Creek - Heron

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek - Bower Bird Nest

Yardie Creek - Ospreys

Yardie Creek - Donald Trump Rock

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek - The reflections!

Yardie Creek - The reflections!

Yardie Creek - Rock Wallaby

Yardie Creek - Rock Wallaby

Yardie Creek - Rock Wallaby


Yardie Creek - Rock Wallabies

SS Mildura Wreck at the North West Cape









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 109: Fri 05 Jul 24 - Merghiny Gravel Pit (Ceduna) to Port Augusta

Image
Merghiny Gravel Pit (Ceduna) to Port Augusta (450km)  It was 8 Deg and feeling much less, raining on and off from 4:00am for the first 100km, then cloudy and very windy for the rest of the day. At Port Augusta it reached 18 Deg with strong winds gusting in excess of 60km/h. The past few days have been tiring driving in the wind and rain with lots of heavy transport travelling in both directions, so it was nice to have a quiet start to our 450km drive today. This post is a little light on photographic material, as we have now covered the stretch between Ceduna and Port Augusta three times in the past 18 months, so we kept driving with minimal stops.  Coffee was had at the Minnipa rest area, then lunch at the Kimba roadhouse, before arriving at 3:00pm at the Discovery Parks Caravan Park in Port Augusta for an overnight stay.  We have a drive through site for the night for a quick get away tomorrow. From here we have settled on a couple of nights at Clare for a bit of a brea...
Read more

Day 111: Sun 07 Jul 24 - Clare

Image
Sun 07 Jul 24 - Clare  The overnight temperature dropped to 6 Deg with 54km/h winds which eventually eased by the time we climbed out of bed. No surprise though when we woke, it was raining again, and it continued raining until mid afternoon, so it was a day of forced rest which we both enjoyed. The day comprised coffee in town this morning, then a visit to Hill River Wines to buy a few local wines. I chose this winery out of all others because t hey are a young cellar door and they are family owned. The wines also tasted nice. Back at the van, we had a quiet afternoon resting and watching a documentary series about one of Australia's biggest and strangest art heists on SBS.  It's about an investigation into the art heist from the New Norcia monastery where we recently visited - it's very interesting. Check it out.  The clouds cleared late afternoon, so I mustered the motivation to go out into the cold (6 Deg) for a late walk, before we drove back into town for an Indian ...
Read more

Day 11: Fri 29 Mar 24 (Good Friday) - Madura Pass to Norseman

Image
Fri 29 Mar 24 (Good Friday) Madura Pass to Norseman (530km) It was 14 Deg with a very slight SE breeze and a light dew, reaching 32, clear and sunny with no wind at Norseman. It was a lovely morning, and a nice change waking to early daylight, so we took the opportunity to get on the road earlier than usual. Today was a long haul, 530km along very good road, but with not a lot to see. We were amazed at how green the countryside was, and particularly so around Madura. This is clearly a reflection of all the recent heavy rain had in the region. One other observation from our trek across the Nullarbor, is despite the various Camel, Kangaroo, Wombat, Cattle and Emu warning signs, we did not see any roadkill. Disappointingly, Noeleene went another day without spotting a camel (dead or alive). The traffic today was well spread out, and the majority was Heavy Transport Trucks and caravans - all well behaved, and surprisingly a lot of three-wheeled motorbikes.  We also spotted a couple mor...
Read more