We woke to the alarm at 6.00am, put the boat in and headed towards Pelican Rock. With the lines in, we started trolling and within 10 minutes I hooked and landed a barracuda of around 6kg. The cuda went back and over the next hour we all hooked and landed a couple of doggie mackerel each. They were a reasonable size and we kept 5 for the table.
The skipper with a 6kg barracuda
Kelsey with one of her doggie mackerel
Georgia with a doggie mackerel
The business end of the boat
We motored to a few other islands in the area and had another close encounter with 2 whales who parked on the surface and eyeballed us for a while. Another great experience that money can't buy.
The wind picked up and we decided to check out the small creek adjacent to the harbour and launch ramp. We put some small lures over on the baitcasters, not really expecting too much, but over the ensuing 1.5 hours we had constant action on trevally, salmon, flathead, cod and a rare catch, a jawfish (not one of nature's prettiest creations!). A real pleasant surprise. It had been a good day on the water.
Georgia with a nice blue salmon from the creek
Point Samson - 17 August 2012
We hit the water at around 9.00 today and headed straight towards the coal loading jetty at Cape Lambert. When we arrived, 3 tugs were in the process of berthing a large bulk carrier. Three other bulk carriers were already being loaded. It was very interesting for us all to watch the process, as they guided the large ship into the wharf.
Three tugs berthing the bulk carrier at Cape Lambert Wharf
Unfortunately the fishing wasn't as interesting. Trolling produced nothing, so we drifted over a small patch of reef with baits. We could only raise a small stripey and an undersize bluebone, but we did see some other action. While engrossed in our fishing, we got the fright of our lives when 2 humpbacks surfaced about 10m behind us and spouted with a loud, gushing burst. They headed straight at our tinnie but peeled off, one to the bow and one to the stern, missing us only by metres. Another unforgettable experience . . . . . . bloody whales!
We ate lunch and then gave the creek another try, but with no luck, so we returned to shore.
Point Samson - 18 August 2012
No fishing today. Instead we jumped in the car and drove around to the town of Cossack, a historical village at the mouth of the Harding River. Here we chatted to a fisho trying his luck from the rock wall. He'd caught a couple of wolf herring on pilchards, but nothing for the table. We drove up to a lookout, which gave us a magnificent view over the surrounding creeks and islands. It was quite a calm morning and many whales were visible.
Jarman Island from the lookout at Cossack
Another view from the lookout, over an adjacent creek mouth to the south.
We left Cossack, drove into Karratha and stopped at the Visitor's Information Centre, where we'd heard there was supposed to be a weekend market. Unfortunately it had been cancelled, as there was another market on the following day and they didn't want to double up with two on the one weekend. We got some autogas, ate lunch in the car and then hit the shopping centre.
After the shops we drove to Dampier and stopped at the statue of Red Dog, at the entrance to town. We all posed for a photo or two with the famous pooch and then did the quick 10 minute tour of the sites of Dampier. Dampier's claim to fame is as an outloading port for iron ore from the mines around Newman and Tom Price, but it is definitely not one of WA's prettiest towns.
The girls give Red Dog a pat at Dampier
We left Dampier/Karratha and hit the road back towards Point Samson, turning off to take the dirt road to Cleaverville, a popular coastal camping area. We'd allocated some time in our schedule to stay here, but thought we'd check it out first without the van. Just as well, as it wasn't as appealing to us as all we'd read and heard. Cross that one off the list.
Back at Point Samson, the girls made some new friends at the playground while I knocked up a bbq for tea and Sue rang one of her girlfriends for a chat.
Point Samson - 19 August 2012
I left Sue and the girls to occupy themselves at the caravan park, and headed off to the rock wall at Cossack, with the rods and a bucket of bait. Over the next 3 hours I managed to land a wolf herring on a lure, caught 11 garfish on small unweighted prawn baits and cast-netted about 15 mullet. So nothing for the table, but plenty of bait for the freezer, and thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process.
Sue had a ball doing laundry, stewing apples, cleaning the caravan and making lunch for the beasts. The girls were kept busy playing with their new friends in that playground.
After lunch we drove to Wickham and did some food shopping and returned for an early happy hour and another bbq dinner.
Point Samson - 20 August 2012
We hit the water at 9.30am and headed off over a glassed out sea to Pelican Rocks for another troll. There were 4 other boats out there when we arrived and we could only manage 1 small doggie mackerel. We left them to it and headed out to a couple of the adjacent islands, where we found a productive bommie, complete with it's own humpback.
Each time we trolled the bommie, we were mindful of the humpback's position, only 20m away. A bit close maybe, but the bommie was too productive. For the next hour, each time we trolled over the bommie, our lures were hit by trevally and queenfish in the 8kg class. We could even see them in the clear water before they belted the lures. Needless to say, we had an absolute ball and got well and truly stretched. This was the first time the girls had used the heavier trolling rods and one of our rod buckets broke as Georgia was fighting a big queenie. I think they both ended up with a few bruises on their bellies at the end of it all.
Our first GT - 8kg for the skipper
The next pass produced a nice 8kg queenfish for Georgia
The cook with an 8kg GT of her own
And Kelsey wasn't going to be left out.
You guessed it . . . . another 8kg GT
By the time the fish went quiet, the wind had picked up quite nicely, so we enjoyed a slow, wet trip back to the ramp. We bumped into our neighbours there, as they were cleaning a good haul of spangled emperor.
Point Samson - 21 August 2012
A lazy morning was spent at home, more laundry for Sue, playground duties for the kids and I tried to determine how effective our solar set up was working . . . . not so good as it turned out.
Two of the girls new friends left, and sad goodbyes were said. The sorrow didn't last for long though, as they found 2 other new friends within the hour.
After lunch, Sue did some work on her diary, while I packed up the tinnie and gear for our departure the next day.
Barradale - 22 August 2012
We left Point Samson at 9.30 the next morning and after stopping at Karratha and Nanutarra for fuel during the course of the day, we arrived at our destination, a roadside stop at Barradale.
Exmouth - 23 August 2012
We got away just after 9.00 and arrived at Exmouth just before lunch. After setting up the van and a bite to eat, we headed off to the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) office to check out camp site availability in Cape Range National Park. The park was full that day, so it looked like our original plan to queue up at the park gate would go ahead.
We picked up another jerry can and billy at the hardware store, and then went to Tackle World for a bit of local advice and some gear. While there, one of the assistants sold us on the idea of staying at the Pilgramunna camp at the southern end of the National Park. We'd planned to stay at the northern end of the park, to save money on fuel when travelling to town for water and supplies. He told us the fishing was better down there and that there was a good clean access to outside the reef nearby. He said he'd fished there many times with great success from a small tinnie.
Pilgramunna camp is one of a few that can be booked online, providing it is done 48 hours in advance. That left us only until that night to make a booking and secure a camp spot. We bolted home and fired up the internet, but found the booking system to be very confusing. With the help of a DEC officer on the phone, we managed to get ourselves 8 nights at Pilgramunna. We had wanted 3 weeks but couldn't get a booking for that long, so settled for the 8 days initially, followed by another block of 6 days, 12 days later. We hoped to be able to transfer to the northern end of the park for the intervening period.
With what was left of the afternoon, I dropped a couple of fishing reels in for respooling at the tackle shop and then we all did some food shopping. As this was our last night within phone and internet range, we stayed up until 1.00am updating our blog.
Yardie Homestead - 24 August 2012
We got up at 7.00 and packed up the van. I filled all of our available water containers and we left at 10.00am. We picked up the reels from the tackle shop, had some morning tea at Brumbys and picked up a few last minute groceries.
Leaving Exmouth we drove north, and then west, around the top of the peninsula and stopped at the Lighthouse Caravan Park for some fuel. We set up the van at Yardie Homestead Caravan Park and had some lunch before heading off to check out the National Park.
We paid our $11 entry fee and headed straight for Pilgramunna to check out what our campsite looked like. We'd booked site No. 1, but didn't know if it was the closest to the water or the furthest away. It turned out to be the furthest away, but that had its advantages, giving us somewhere to park the tinnie, and a bit more privacy.
After Pilgramunna, we drove 6km further south to Osprey Camp. We chatted to the hosts here and checked out the different sites, with a view to spending a few days there prior to transferring to the northern end of the park. It had beautiful scenery, with most spots having ocean views, but boat launching would be tricky due to very soft sand and a fair amount of wave surge on the beach. Beach access for a swim was good though, with good reef for snorkelling just offshore.
Leaving Osprey, we drove to the northern end of the park and checked out the Lakeside Camp. We chatted to the camp host here and he gave us a lot of valuable information about the transfer system within the park. We decided not to stay at Lakeside due to a lot of day visitor traffic, and he suggested Mesa or Neds might suit us better.
We checked them both out and they both had their advantages, with neither being perfect. More thought and discussion would be required prior to a decision being made. Before leaving the park, we had to drop in and check out Kori Bay, where Sue and I had spent 10 days back in 2001. We were there on September 11. Without power, we'd turned on the radio while we had breakfast and couldn't believe what we'd heard.
What was once the perfect one-caravan campsite, was now a day use only area. A real shame, as we had great memories of the water lapping on the shore only 20m from our caravan door, and enjoying happy hour with an Indian Ocean sunset as a backdrop.
We left the National Park and returned to the caravan park at Yardie Homestead for the night.
