The mangrove swamp birding area and the bird blind near Cape Range NP
entrance were closed due to animal control (a dingo "bait and trap"
program from Feb 20 - 28). Bob had hoped to see shore species, and an
Australian Bustard bird, as two had flown up from the roadside on our
early morning drive to the swamp. Happily, on our evening drive back to
Yardie Creek camp, at the south end of Cape Range NP, we did see a
Bustard Bird, and Bob got photos!
As the bird area was closed, we shifted to a culture day! We first
stopped at the Green Turtle information bay and were thrilled to connect
with Andrea & Jens, whom we had met on our November 2018 Bukit
Luwang hike to see Orangutan in North Sumatra. What a super
happenstance! We organized to meet after dinner to maybe see turtles at
the beach in the full moon light.
We stopped at the interesting cattle-ship wreck at the head of the cape,
and then went 20K into the town of Exmouth. At the art center across
the parking lot from the "state-of-the-art" visitor centre, Yolanda
spoke at length with Anne, who leads the local art group, whose members
were busy at stations in the centre. At one point, Anne mentioned
Kristine, who was boning up on the internet so she could set up a
weaving program, as a media option for the art group and the local
community. Yolanda mentioned their Australian Tapestry Workshop resource
and chatted in general about weaving and Anne showed one of the four
looms they had purchased with a municipal ("shire") grant.
We also found
out that the art centre had been principal in creating the knit Yarn
Reef we had seen at the Cape Range information centre previously. Anne
explained how it had started as a "yarn bombing" (see our BLog April
2018 for Port McNeil, BC yarn bombing example) and then it became the
incredible installation it is. Shortly after lunch, Yolanda brought in
her loom and spoke with Bronwyn. It would have been super to meet
Kristine, who was to be around the next day, but we needed to press on.
At the Exmouth visitor centre we booked a snorkel trip for Bob for
February 22 and made a picnic lunch in their cafe, which was closed for
the season. We stopped later at the headland light house and learned a
bit about the role of Exmouth as a military post.
Jens & Andrea (from Berlin) arrived just before sunset and we had a
super visit and catch-up since our North Sumatra hike in November. We
also spoke furthur of the responsibility that comes with freedom, and
how people are not equally equipped to deal with freedoms. The sunset
and moonrise were spectacular! After our pals left, we went back to the
beach. It was amazingly clear in the moonlight and so we expected to
see a turtle hatch, as gestation is 28days and so the timing should have
been perfect. While we didn't see a hatch, we did see a crab scuttle
along dragging an unfortunate baby turtle from the edge of a sand dune
into his lair.
In the morning February 21 from Yardie Creek camp, we embarked on an early shore
walk towards the creek mouth to first check for turtle tracks and then
go up-creek to possibly see a black-footed rock wallaby. There were
crab, shore-bird, adult turtle, baby turtle, snake, paw, and other
tracks everywhere, but no more baby turtles.
We did see one adult turtle
in Yardie Creek and, happily our Swiss camp-mates Marcus (S.African)
& Katia (German) pointed us to where we saw a black footed rock
wallaby!
From Cape Range NP and north end of Ningaloo Reef, we drove to Coral
Bay's Ningaloo Reef Resort for Bob's birthday weekend and were able to
switch Bob from a 2hr snorkel trip to an all-day snorkel trip February
22!
Bob saw dolphins and swam on four snorkel stops with rays, turtles and
sharks on his all-day birthday snorkel.
Yolanda stayed ashore to do some
administrative work, weave and prepare dinner. After Moroccan lamb
stew, asparagus couscous, salad, and an Australian Shiraz, chosen by
Bob, Bob enjoyed his chocolate b-day slice!
We departed the very beautiful and interesting Ningaloo Reef area and
drove to Galena Bridge (Murchison River). At some point, we came into
cell range and saw two calls from sister Sonia (likely for Yolanda's
Papa"s birthday), so called Victoria, but it was a few hours later and
Papa was no longer with Sonia. Brother Mike had hosted an event for
Papa's 95th birthday and they had called. Unfortunately, we recently
found out that Vodaphon has the least-best coverage in Australia. We
were needing to call from Exmouth to a private camp, but had no
reception, and the woman giving us the number rolled her eyes and
dismissively said, "Vodaphon". So, we researched the phone service
options and discovered we have half the sevice we could have. For our
second month in AU we decided to sign with Telstra which has double the
coverage.
An other message was from Europecar, which caused us some grief. It was
an invoice and thank you for returning our car at Adelaide Airport (a
7-day drive away!). We were unable to resolve the issue in a pair of
petrol stop phone calls that were both disconnected. This was
disconcerting, but there was nothing we could do about it for three
days, when we would again have phone service. [Ed: As of Feb 27, we have
seen the Visa payment reversed, but have not heard from Europcar about
their mix-up. We had a free car for a few days, but the responsibility
was stressful.
We stayed February 23rd at beautiful Gelena Bridge area on the
not-right-now-flowing Murchison River. We had also stayed at Galena
Bridge camp on our way north and were happy to be there again! As many
waterways are dry, the bit of water in the river bed attracts large
numbers of wildlife to view, and the road trains at night are lit like a
Christmas truck parade!
In the morning we discovered a cray-net had been left or lost off a boat
trailer. Yolanda thought it might come in handy, but Bob thought not.
We've lost two items so far, Yolanda's Tilley hat and our four placements.
The hat has been replaced, but not the mats, as we now have our camp
table. In addition to the cray net, we found a fishing bauble - we kept
it.
We had some super sightseeing stops, but needed to be very careful in
the sometimes 42C heat. Nature's Window, the Murchison River Gorge and
the Cliffs along the west coast were highlights.
We arrived at Cliff
Head South municipal camp with just enough time to make dinner and look
for ant trails to avoid in choosing a best spot to pitch our tent.
February 25 was a short drive from Cliff Head South camp to Yenchep NP camp, so
we were able to spend the afternoon by a wetlands in the NP in the shade
of willow trees with a gentle breeze.
There were many kangaroos nibbling on the Yenchep NP information lawn,
similar to the Wapiti in front of the information center in Jasper NP!
It was interesting to see kangaroo movement and behaviour and one Joey
suckling!
We wandered a bit too far, for a bit too long, so we were happy that the
Yenchep NP camp cook shelter had motion lights, as it was dark by the
time our tent was pitched, avoiding the ant trail, as usual. The cook
shelter was a fun chance for Yolanda to speak French with a Swiss couple
there. They asked if she was German from her accent, and when she said
we were from Canada, they said, "ah, the French side of Canada". So,
they then wondered when we said we were from the west coast, "where
from is your accent?". Lord knows! But, Yolanda remembered later how her
French cousins rolled with laughter at their Italian-speaking mom's
house (Aunt Bianca) at one lunch gathering after Yolanda had been with
her aunt for 10 days. Apparently, Yolanda was speaking French with an
Italian accent!
Easy mornings :-) :-) That's what we like about camping! No choices or
decisions. Just sit, look at the trees and listen to the birds and
eventually start the porridge (with cinnamon, fresh apple and
nuts/seeds) and espresso pot. After breakfast, Bob went on a birding
walk and Yolanda filtered water to fill our bottles (recycled VOSS
bottles) and 4L dromodary (the large one is still 3/4 full). Bob
commented upon his return that he saw more birds on the roadway than on
the designated bush bird walk. This seems to happen frequently - the
bird/human interface is often active with birds (and humans) - some nice
spot on a river or beach edge, or on a cool forest path. Yenchep NP
sites were tricked-out, long-term camps, with lots of request signs to
not feed wildlife; some sites even had a satellite dish!
We stopped at the Yenchep seaside and had a mall stop in north Perth for
a Telstra phone for Bob.
We have been spoiled with beachside sites. The
sites are in the forest in the Margaret River area of Leeuwin
Naturaliste NP, which is a 100K+ cape to cape coastal park area. At 29C,
the forests are cool enough for thick socks and hoodie fleece, zipped
all the way up.
PM Feb 26: It is dark out and something large is just outside the tent -
probably a kangaroo, so we're getting the sense of being watched while
BLogging! Hope they hop off when we close our devices!
A birding meander day February 27 included Mammoth Cave parking lot, Red Gate Beach
access, Margaret River Rotary Park, Grace Bussell Memorial Park,
Ellensbrook Homestead, and Cape Leeuwin. We spotted, and Bob
photographed, a few new-to-us bird species.
With our new phone service (Telstra - same phone number as we had with
Vodaphon) we have had access most of the day, and at our camp site. So,
posting to the BLog has been possible!
