Day 13 - Monday 16 July - Exploring Exmouth

Day 13

Monday

16 July 2018

Exmouth

We were slow to surface this morning, feeling yesterday’s exertion. Paul had spent the first half of the night with cramping legs, so that wasn’t much fun and I woke feeling stiff all over and we a sore foot. The rubbing of the flipper had left me with a nasty seeping welt. 

We eventually fell out of bed at 8.30am and got into breakfast. There was certainly no hurry about anything. We did eventually take a wander through town, making it to the shopping precinct and finding the 3 Islands Shop, so that we could pick up our free disc of photos. We did a quick shop and then wandered our way back to the van. 

We made our pack lunch and then through everything in the car and made our way to the Charles Knife canyon, about 30km south. The road wound its way up and around, following the ridge line of the range. Most of it was sealed, but that finished abruptly and we were left with rocky limestone to navigate, as such, we didn’t venture much further. 

We found somewhere to park and then got out explore the rugged beauty of Cape Range NP. Much of this ancient coral reef reminded us of the Grand Canyon, though on a smaller scale. We climbed to the cliff edges and peered over to the floor well below. From the top, we had a great view out over the waters of the Exmouth Gulf. 

After exploring the easily accessible parts, we returned to the car and then ventured on down the road to the Learmonth Jetty. A short gravel track opened out onto the beach and a jetty just beyond. We parked nearby, Paul grabbed his fishing gear and then it was off to throw the lines in. There were plenty of little fish swimming below and every now and then a large splash would have us watching for one of 2 tunas chasing the bait fish. 

I was happy to wander around, returning to the jetty every now and then. I ate lunch in the car, out of the wind, then took Paul his roll. He had caught a bream by then and I had to take over while he ate, not my favourite task. I did however jag a bream that was just size. I felt sorry for the poor bugger. 

We hung around until 2pm, then began the drive back to town, stopping in at the new marina for a quick squiz. There is a new housing estate with canals as well. It is all a bit posh for something that is just a quiet back water fishing town. 

Once back at the van, Paul was keen to get over to the other brewery, Froth. We dumped our gear and made our way back to the shopping area, stopping at the big prawn first, for the obligatory photo. We then continued on to the brewery, where Paul bought a paddle and we sat watching the world go by. When he was done, he bought some of their beer to take away. I think this was particularly done because today was the first day they had canned their beers. 

We made our way back to the van for a 30min rest, but were back in the car at 5pm, driving out to the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse to watch the sunset, a must apparently. From the top of this hill you can watch the sun set and the moon rise and there were plenty of people looking to do the same thing. 

We parked and then did a walk of the area to check out the information about the various structures as well as find a suitable spot to set up the chair. We returned to the car, grabbed the camera gear and then plonked ourselves on the edge of the hill where we could see the surfers still catching waves below. 

Unfortunately, there was limited cloud cover, which meant the sunset would not be that spectacular, just a golden glow. It was lovely all the same. The pink hues were better to the east. 

Once the sun disappeared, there was no reason to stay on, so we packed up the gear and made our way home. We were straight into making dinner, then ate while scrolling through the photos of the whale shark photos we picked up this morning. They were very good, but none of them had us in the water with the shark. 

I caught up on the blog for a bit, before we finally thought about heading to bed, ready for another full day tomorrow.