Arriving into Exmouth, the first priority was to restock food, water, gas, fuel then grab the obligatory coffee. We also had a heap of things to collect from the post office, mainly warranty returns (amazing how much stuff can’t cut the mustard being actually used!!), ebay purchases (to allow me to do more tinkering!!) & school books (not sure what they were for??). It’s surprising how long this all takes, especially with our normal 10mins to lunchtime traditional departure from the previous camp! With time ticking we couldn’t resist a cheeky meat pie from the bakery, where we stumbled into our travel buddies @littleaussieadventures. Needless to say it was late afternoon before we finally clambered back into Tinfish, destination Cape Range National Park, just round the corner from Exmouth, dusk fast approaching & that’s when the animals come out to play! Apart from the copious number of wallabies with death wishes, we came to a halt within a large pack of dingos trotting along the road… pretty cool.

Camping in the national park is in high demand and available spots are as rare as hen’s teeth. The only way we managed to get the number of nights we wanted was to spread it across three different campsites when we pre-booked online weeks in advance (see we did learn something from our Lucky Bay escapade!)… what?? TownsOnTour planning – crazy..!?!? So different from when we were here 13 years back where you pretty much had the pick of spots. I’ve said it before, but it still amazes me how many people are travelling Aus nowadays. First spot Tulki Beach and an early night as tomorrow was a bucket list day… swimming with the whale sharks and we were all very excited.

There are a few outfits running these tours and we chose Ningaloo Discovery with their sailing catamaran. It’s a well-run outfit and as with most boats they have a spotter plane up and looking for the whale sharks, so there is a high chance of an encounter. Once on board they move to the inner reef for a check snorkel around a few coral bommies. Although wetsuits are provided, I certainly wasn’t expecting the water to be as fresh as it was and let out a small whimper as I plunged in…! Back on deck the punters huddled to find the sunny patch out of the breeze, whilst the crew handed around hot drinks and a yummy morning tea. Now the wait.

Chugging south, all of a sudden right in front of us a humpback whale did a huge breach almost clearing the water, followed by a couple more breaches… what a show. Whilst we were all oohing and ahhing the call came through that a whale shark had been spotted and to get ready to swim, brilliant! At this stage the star of the show is oblivious, ambling their way along the coast. Unbeknown to them there are 10 excited tourists being herded into position, bobbing about upstream in a line waiting for a glimpse. Then out of the gloom they appear, effortlessly cruising, seemingly uninterested in all the tourists, now clambering to get a look and trying to keep up, legs and arms thrashing sporadically, knocking masks of fellow snorkelers in a bid to get a better look and that insta shot as the shark gracefully disappears back into the gloom.

The group is corralled and scooped back onto the boat as they reposition upstream for the next swim. Waiting for the call, we are all poised ready to leap back into the depths and get another look at this giant fish, the process like a well-orchestrated dance. Go go go… swim two. I’m not sure if the shark is surprised to see us again so soon, but they don’t deviate from their course and nonchalantly cruise on by. This is repeated until we’ve had 6 swims with the magnificent creature and you are left in somewhat of a whirlwind to collect your thoughts and process the crazy frantic last half an hour and remember the experience as an amazing encounter with the graceful giant of the sea.

Lunch is served as we cruise back to the inner reef under sail for a second snorkel on the reef, but as a bit of excitement they hang a cargo net out the back which you can jump into and get dragged through the waves, which of coursed the kids loved! As they say the shows not over until the fat lady swims (or is it sings..?!?!?) A small pod of dolphin splashed passed and then two dugongs lazily sauntered by, a mother and her calf. That’s a first for me to see dugongs in the wild. Lexi took to Holly, the pro-photographer on-board and spent much of the second snorkel being her model, the girl is a mermaid! The kids did really well… the day is strenuous and fast paced and hats off to the guys at Ningaloo Discovery they were a great team even chaperoning the kids whilst in the water so we could get a closer look. A top day out, so worth it, even though Reo still thinks the best bit was getting hot cups of milo on demand!

Camping next to the beach, we thought we’d try our luck at a bit of fishing, so Reo and daddy headed down rods in hand. It was a fairly fruitless endeavour once more, until suddenly, whack we were on. Surprisingly little fight and I reeled in a little grey reef shark, which Reo instantly eyed up the teeth for a ‘new’ necklace he had in mind! Explaining that sharks are a key part of the marine ecosystem and should be returned to their watery domain, he asked if he could just have one tooth then!! Talking of teeth, turns out I need longer pliers as mine had no hope of getting past said gnashers to extract the hook. Fortunately a more seasoned angler was just down the beach and lent me his pliers and after a bit of dentistry the hook was out and I was helping the shark in the shallows to get going again.

We moved camp the next day and whilst lounging about a fourby came round that I recognised from back on the road to Steep Point where we’d shared a quick trackside hello’s as we passed, so we got chatting. Turns out Michael had a fishing charter booked for tomorrow, whilst Gill was going to chill the day on the beach with their kids. Maz quickly got me an invite on the charter and plans were made for her & our kids to join the others on the beach. That’s typical of how plans can randomly change.

It was early doors for the fisher folk, up before dawn! Weather was good and all the signs pointed towards a fruitful day at sea. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. Except for one chap, David, we were hauling up fish after fish. Even David’s son was landing one after another. Amusingly his first hook up, after a frantic wind in, but within just meters of the boat, a huge shark swiped the fish, leaving David with just the head! It was pretty fast paced and incredibly by 10am we’d already bagged out with the max catch allowed for the number of punters onboard, which left us all a bit surprised the action was all over just as we were getting into a grove. Total tally, 25 fish of various emperor variety except for my prized trevally @ 90cm. You’ll never guess what was for dinner… bbq trevally, a feast scoffed down by all.

The obvious highlight of this area is the amazing Ningaloo reef, which comes in close to shore, in a few spots no more than a couple of meters off the beach. This makes it an ideal spot to snorkel and explore the reefs and being a marine reserve, the abundant marine life. The two prime spots are Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay. Whereas Oyster Stacks is a slightly precarious entry over sharp oyster encrusted rocks (hence the name), Turquoise Bay is a more pleasant entry across a sandy beach into a bay of turquoise water (hence its name!) Turquoise Bay can have a reasonable current flowing as the water crashing over the outer reef gets funnelled out of the gap which forms the bay. The current speeds up as you near the sand spit, which can be quite exhilarating, as you don’t want to miss the beach and get whisked out to sea, so you need to be semi-competent when it’s flowing fast.

As chance would have it, Jen & Jacob, friends from Sydney who left just before us on their lap, happened to be in town along with Jen’s folks and our ski buddies, Larry & Julie, who’d spent term two as Julie’s long service leave to fast track it across the country on their own adventure. We decided to rendezvous to try out both spots, which was a lot of fun to explore together. Lexi the mermaid really enjoyed splashing around seeing a vast array of sea life, from clams, eels, fish of all shapes n sizes, rays and a couple of little sharks. Reo enjoyed it too, but even with double bagging in two wetsuits he got cold quickly and preferred playing on the beach in the sun, definitely his father’s son! We pretty much repeated the day’s activities the following day with our on-road friends LittleAussieAdventures and finished the day with dinner at our camp.

With a move to our third camp, we took the opportunity to dart back to Exmouth to resupply and visit the bakery for lunch, inspired by our morning tea whilst on board Ningaloo Discovery, fresh sour dough baguette smothered in Philadelphia cheese spread – yum! On the drive back round, we stopped off at Lighthouse Bay to give Maz a blast on her drone. Note, you aren’t meant to fly in the National Park and the quick flight Maz did at Tulki Beach had the volunteer camp caretaker over quick smart reminding her of the rules, to which our own drone police, aka Lexi, piped up, “I told you so Mum” giving little chance for mummy to play dumb! Being out of the park it was fly time and our subject for the camera was the Mildura wreck, just offshore and breaking the surface at low water. The ship ran aground during a cyclone back in 1907 with a cargo of cattle and whilst no human lives were lost, the same can’t be said for our 4 legged friends. The crystal-clear water and dazzling colours certainly made for some great photos, whilst the kids went beach combing for shells and other bits of flotsam & jetsam in Reo’s case.

Being camped at Yardie creek gave us no excuse to do the Yardie creek walk and get there before the Exmouth day-trippers arrived. With the normal lack lustre enthusiasm for a walk we cajoled the kids the 200m to the start where we read the trail board with Lexi exclaiming “it’s a 2hr walk..!!” in protest, which then set Reo off! Explaining the first bit is a dead flat amble we agreed we’d get to the end of the first leg then take stock… slowly, slowly catchy monkey. 10mins later we were at the end of the flat and even the kids were surprised, Lexi frantically checking her watch and scratching her head at the obvious inconsistency. We all agreed we could confront the second leg of the walk, which was a similar distance but this time a ramble up n down across little rock gullies. With the kids now enjoying the scramble, soon all protest was forgotten as we kept a keen eye open for the rare black-footed rock wallabies, which we spotted in all sorts of unusual places. Now how does hopping as a means of getting about and sheer rock walls make any evolutionary sense and still manage to dodge extinction..? Although perhaps that is why they are so rare – hmm?

With the walk done n dusted in about an hour, the kids both earnt a piece of their motivational jigsaw puzzle… what’s that you ask, well as you’ve no doubt gathered getting our little darlings to use the two bits dangling from beneath their bum takes some persuasion, so enter the jigsaw. The picture is something they really, really, really want. In this case it was FARM BOOTS that Reo has been desperate for ever since Lester & Kaye’s sheep farm in South Australia. One good walk gets them goals on their Garmin step counter and with no (excess) complaining = one piece of puzzle… repeat until said puzzle is complete and hey presto the reward is the picture on the puzzle. Knowing we had Karijini just up the track, which is basically a national park of walks/hikes/scrambles/ambles we needed to come up with a strategy… so far so good!

The creek is a great walk and has water in it year-round. Occasionally on big rains, it breaks through the sandbar separating it from the sea and the whole system gets a thorough flush through. That leaves a notorious sand bar for any travellers venturing south by fourby of which the information centre has numerous horror story photos of cars stranded up to their roofs after getting bogged and then the tide changed! Undeterred, we wanted to pop across the creek, off the blacktop and do a recce down to Ningaloo Station. We wanted to retrace our steps of 13 years ago, with fond memories of sparkling bays of pristine deserted white sand beaches where we once camped right at the waters edge and were keen to rediscover that long ago paradise.

Land Cruiser down, we have a Land Cruiser down! Arse that wasn’t in the plan! We’d just left the black top, drove down into the creek and easily crossed the notorious sand bar. I was making my way back up the other side when I got a strange feeling in the steering… bugger a flat tyre was my initial thought, so I pulled over and sprang out to investigate. What I saw I couldn’t believe… the front wheel was at a peculiar angle leaning inwards, resting against the suspension spring as if it’d fallen off! This was serious! On closer inspection I quickly ascertained the problem. The ball joint that connects the UCA (Upper Control Arm) to the top of the wheel hub and hence should hold the wheel in a vertical orientation, had popped apart. Without that important bit of support, nothing holds the wheel upright and it falls over. What was crystal clear, we weren’t going anywhere! Now every cloud they say has a silver lining, well that was my second thought… we were only ~300m from camp, where Minty was set up, so that was good and more bleak a thought, what if this had happened at 100 kph… that would certainly have been a different outcome!

So with us all safe, it was time to call the NRMA roadside assist. Of course, there was no mobile reception, no drama, out came our satphone, specifically for such occasions. Dialling 13 11 11, expecting to hear the friendly voice of the NRMA, all I got was “this number isn’t available from a satellite phone” Oops, wasn’t expecting that..! Never mind, plan B… call up our friend James back in Sydney. Surprised, but please to hear from us, we quickly explained our situation and he was onto it, calling the NRMA on our behalf. Maz took the kids back to camp whilst I settled down and prepared for the inevitable long wait for the breakdown truck. And waited and waited. Turns out I wasn’t bored as I got to explain the problem over and over again to the next 20 or so cars that passed by, each wishing me good luck… not quite the remote goat track of old.

Then a message came through via the satphone from the breakdown crew asking which side of the creek were we and what the synopsis was? Transpires they aren’t allowed to take the flat-bed truck over the creek and the alternative route via Ningaloo station was via arguably the worse corrugated road in Australia which would take hours and a down payment/re-mortgage/first born/donation of a kidney!! With night fast approaching it was agreed to secured the car and reconvene in the morning with any fresh ideas. Worried that more damage might be done if left with the tyre at this odd angle I asked around camp for any blocks of wood and securing sufficient for the task I had in mind, walked back over the creek to try out one of my pre-trip eBay purchases, the air jack.

Now this seems an impossible apparatus, basically a big balloon, that you shove under the car, stick the inlet over the exhaust pipe, letting the exhaust gas fill up the bag doing the hard work for you, then voilà 4 ton (or 3,845kg to be GVM compliant) of Land Cruiser gets hoisted into the air. First problem, Tinfish has a big exhaust and the inlet hose wouldn’t fit over it… grrr. Never mind, fortunately the bag also has an inflate nipple which you can attach the compressor hose to… so out that came, oh & it had started raining by about now. With bag in place, compressor hose attached it was time to give it a go. With some trepidation I switched on the compressor and watched the bag grow and grow and grow, half expecting the inevitable BANG. But no, millimetre by millimetre Tinfish started to lift, creaking and groaning, a little more and I could get the last wooden block into position, hey presto success! What a smart piece of kit.

With Tinfish now secure, I walked back to camp in the dark, isn’t it funny how your mind immediately remembers the pack of Dingos we saw last week – eek! Uneaten, I shared the update with Maz that we had a predicament on our hands.

With the dawn of the new day we were up early to make sure we had Minty packed and ready for the arrival of the cavalry. The expected 8am arrival passed and soon it was 9am then 10am. Eventually they arrived, a Lexus 470 on the back of a flat-bed truck, but what was the plan? Well the Lexus was to get them over the creek whilst they left the flat-bed on the blacktop. They were late because they’d been hunting high and low for an old set of UCA’s! Turns out his son had a Land Cruiser and like mine he had changed the UCA’s and kept his original ones somewhere in the workshop. What a stroke of luck! The plan was to do a track-side replacement of the busted UCA so we could drive Tinfish the 200m back across the creek and onto the flat-bed.  So the recovery was on… yeah.

Without a hoist it was a little tricky and in true form for anyone that has had to do anything of a mechanical nature, if there are 4 bolts to come off, 3 are easy and the last is always a right @#$%..! Nevertheless with perseverance Kim completed the repair and Tinfish was mobile once more. From there on it was easy, however Kim admitted if he hadn’t have been able to find the UCAs he would have been at a loss what to do without applying brute force to extract. Don’t you just love it when the planets align?

It was a sorry sight to see Tinfish strapped to the flat-bed with Minty in tow, whilst we all jumped into the comfort of the Lexus. We chuckled knowing James drives a Lexus 470 and the likely jokes that would follow. Before long we were arriving back into Exmouth and the NRMA had arranged for us to stay in one of the van parks as it happens not too far from the bakery – bonus! But now the task of sourcing parts and getting the repair wheels in motion began. Knowing nearly everything comes over from the Eastern states, we were under no illusion that this was going to take a while. We were pretty exhausted by the time we hit the sack that evening, but we were pleased that we’d managed to safely get us, Tinfish and Minty back to Exmouth, it was now just a waiting game.

The next morning we awoke to the kids sneaking out of the van, we assumed to go looking for other kids that inevitably would be staying at the van park. Not so. A clattering and banging outside caused me to take a sneaky peek at what they were up to. And would you believe it, pancake production was in full flow. In a super kind gesture, the kids had taken it upon themselves to cook us brekkie in bed, given the events of the last few days… what absolute darlings! With some pre-booked excursions ahead of us in Coral Bay, we worked through a plan of likely scenarios based on time to repair. It was clear that we needed to get some wheels, but for now we relaxed and enjoyed a scrummy breakfast.