Day 59 – Cape Range to Quobba – Travelling the Big Island

9 August 2019

A pretty big travel day today with around 500 km to cover to get to Quobba Station. Thanks goodness the wind didn’t get up too much during the evening and we all had a reasonable nights sleep. First stop was Exmouth for necessities (coffee, bakery and the actual necessities of water and fuel) and then we made a beeline for Coral Bay. It was a lovely day, sunny and no wind and I think as a result, we saw Coral Bay at its best. We had a lovely picnic lunch there overlooking the ocean and the white sandy beach. It was busy though. The town is basically two huge caravan parks, and they pack those caravans in there tight! Hardly room for the awnings. We almost went for a swim, but then thought that we’d hold off until we got down to Quobba, and a location there called The Aquarium. So, with lunch finished, we were back on the road. By the time we got to Quobba it was a bit late, and the conditions had deteriorated, so no snorkelling unfortunately. We made our way up the coast line, made up of high cliffs and pounding surf and checked in at the station. It is another working station – Damara sheep. The amenities were lovely however salt water showers which was interesting – although at least they were hot.

We walked down along the beach and across some cliffs and the waves were smashing in. It was incredible. My favourite way to experience the ocean. Rock fishing is very popular up here, although also very dangerous. There are warning signs around, and the government run a free lifejacket loan program to try and save the lives of those that get washed off the rocks. Although, after seeing just a small part of that coastline, I don’t know that a lifejacket is going to increase the chances of survival all that much.

It was a calm evening which is lucky, as the wind could really howl through this campground.