Leaving Coral Bay early on another fine sunny day made the long drive to our next port of call even less appealing. We had enjoyed our time in the small beachside tourist retreat and by the amount of traffic we passed on the road the place was no small secret hideaway! Every type of holiday vehicle you could imagine was on the road and heading north for the start of school holidays. Weaving our way south through these escapees from the poor weather still lashing the south of WA, we reached the turn off for Point Quobba, just 25km north of Carnarvon.

The huge spray of white water that shot up into the air, and into our view, was the first sign that we might have reached the Blowholes. This intersection of the road meets the Indian Ocean head-on and provides some impressive scenery, as the huge wave's crash into the rocky shore and with the aid of the air they trap inside the caves shoot huge spurts of water many metres up into the air. Even with the windy conditions once again reaching gale force there were a few keen to try their luck tossing a line into the water while keeping one eye on the approaching waves. Seems all a bit too much risk for not enough reward to me all that rock fishing nonsense!? After a few quick pictures we turned north for our short blast up the dirt into Quobba Station.

Our Travelling friends John and Marlene had tipped us off to this place and driving in we thought they might have been having a go at us!? But looks can be deceiving, and being met with friendly people and the sun shining we set up and looked around. The girls actually left camp well before us as they had rushed straight towards our new neighbours and hooked up with the three little girls playing there! They really do help us meet people in a lot of places as they have no fear of meeting new people at all! So as we watched they all streamed off towards the beach with Jemma, the girls mum, trailing along. After setting up without the girls we met our new neighbours, Peter, Jemma and the girls Polly, Lucy and Banjo. Being a diesel fitter working at Tom Price, Peter and I had plenty in common and as they also had spent some time living in Mackay we all had stories to share over a couple of frosties on a windy afternoon while the girls all enjoyed the new company.

The next morning we made our way back to the Blowholes and spent the morning swimming and snorkelling in the lagoon at Point Quobba, that is well sheltered from the open ocean and most of the breeze. The beach here is really the main swimming spot as Quobba station itself is more rocks and fishing. It was here that we actually found the most colourful coral we had seen with some amazing purple and blue colours. The girls have really taken to the snorkelling, mainly the goggles as the snorkel still gives them a bit of trouble, and even with the water being pretty chilly could hardly be dragged away from the place. Arriving back at Quobba in time for happy hour with Pete and Jemma we swapped a few more stories as they had spent the day further up the coast at Red Bluff.

After surviving an extremely windy night that had Jemma seriously weighing up the advantages of a caravan over their camper trailer, (anyone had that conversation that we know, Tony?!) we loaded up and set off on the road to Red Bluff. Red Bluff is about 50km north and is well known for its clean clear waters that are enjoyed by many surfers and fishermen alike. It does have a few cabins but it is the real laid back and untouched sort of area that attracts the more self sufficient campers. It has most necessities and a small cafe run by the owners that seems to cater to your more basic needs, although we did here they do deadly wood fired pizzas! Like I said, just the basics!? Truly a beautiful spot and being reasonably remote and well looked after it has many people coming back more than once. Although the sun was shining the 35Kn SW winds made it difficult to fully appreciate the place and getting the girls even out the car let alone into the water was not going to happen, even I was walking around looking at the place and glancing over my shoulder at the warm cabin and shelter of our car!

While the wind and some short squalls of rain were a bit of a headache at Quobba, being able to watch whales passing by from the beachhead and the company of our new friends made it a very enjoyable couple of days. John and Marlene arrived on our last day and we all shared a laugh about the weather and what they had been told about the place. John actually drove straight past the turn off as they thought it could not be the right place! With super clean amenities and no shortage of room as well as cabins and donga style rooms Quobba caters well to large groups and apparently the fishing clubs from near and far make good use of the place. We even saw a group fishing with helium balloons from the rocks near the station. I did not get to talk to them about it but it must be better then feeding tackle into the ocean like Peter and I managed to do one windy afternoon!?

We said good-bye to Quobba and our new friends as we packed up and readied ourselves for our next day of travelling. We only had a short run into Carnarvon so we were set up early and having been without a major shopping centre for a while we set of for a look around town and a trip to stock up the fridge. We had been told lots of things about Carnarvon and not many of them were very flattering!? After our caravan park turned out to be one of the better ones and the town seemed to us to be quite comfortable we were left wondering what the hell all the negative feed-back had been about. Being a large farming centre there are plenty of produce stalls and markets and even the local Woollies stocks some local produce. Still amazes me that you can find Chinese apples or prawns from Thailand on the shelves of supermarkets in Australia. I find that a bigger mystery than global warming!?

Having booked a few nights here in Carnarvon to try and dodge the school holiday crowds we were glad when we found plenty of things to do and see. We made a day trip out of town and found ourselves at Rocky Pool, basically about a 10 acre water hole in the middle of the Gascoyne River. The look on the blokes face as he celebrated his nude swim across the water was soon replaced with a look of fear when his two sons pointed at us and we routinely gave him a round of applause! Ahh yes you see it ALL while on the road. After that we also spent some time in the cool water and after coaxing the girls into the slightly murky fresh water they joined Kylz and I as we paddled across and around the water hole. Our smoko break lead into a fish feeding session as the girls and I threw crumbs for the huge school of small fish at the water's edge.

While we had not used the girl's bike seats for a while Carnarvon was the ideal place for a tour of the town using pedal power. Although the trip into town with the wind in our faces made the girls feel as though they had put on a few kilos! Touring past the new water front development and seeing the many big and flash new homes built and being built was also a bit of a surprise. The girls enjoyed a few of the local playgrounds while we wound our way through town. However with once again no shortage of kids on holidays, our caravan park playground was by far the girl's favourite place in Carnarvon! This did leave Kylz and I with plenty of spare time in which Kylz managed to talk me into washing the car and caravan as well as catching up on our blog and a few other chores we had been putting off til we had better computer access.

Our time in Carnarvon had left us with a very positive image of the place and with what the locals tell us is a very moderate climate, apart from the wind, reminded us a little of towns like Bundaberg or Bowen, you know, more or less!? John and Marlene once again caught us up and we shared a few tales of the area and worked out that we would once again meet up at our next stop. It would be here that we could finally try and satisfy Charli's longing to feed a monkey, or was that a dolphin?!