Exmouth to Sunshine Coast

From our camp on North West Cape, to home: 6,377 km (3,963 miles).

Heading Home

We had seven fabulous weeks on North West Cape, snorkelling Ningaloo Reef (our last two posts).

With Tropical Cyclone Narelle heading south towards Exmouth and our camp at Yardie Homestead, we packed up and headed south before the roads flooded (it doesn’t take much rain to cut the only road south from North West Cape). We had waited to see if TC Narelle would head out to sea or keep hugging the coast. Ultimately it made landfall at category four over Exmouth with devastating consequences. We were two days in front of TC Narelle and the winds had picked up.

Near Perth we headed west, a large rain mass chased us toward the Nullarbor, with rain so fierce visibility was difficult. (This was not part of TC Narelle, it had come from the Indian Ocean.) Thankfully we were able to keep in front of it for the most part, but overnight stops were a little stressful not knowing if it would catch up or not.

Our other worry was the fuel crisis due to the war in Iran. In Exmouth the price of diesel was increasing by 10c per litre per day. With the Australian Government reputed to be threatening fuel rationing, as well as people panic buying, we wanted to get to the eastern side of Australia before fuel rationing was implemented or diesel became difficult to get.

Places we stopped

From Yardie Station, we restocked at Exmouth which was in full “cyclone preparation mode”. The power had been out all day so many of the stores were closed. (This was a planned outage, part of process of the town converting from generator power to solar.) Sand bags were being piled up around shops, shade cloth removed from public parks, people stocking up on water, food and fuel. A constant stream of RVs and trailer boats travelled out of town heading west and out of Narelle’s path. Including us.

In many cases, we used WikiCamps to find free overnight stops along the way.

Billabong Roadhouse, WA
Tammin Roadhouse. WA
Norseman Free RV Camp, WA
Mundrabilla Roadhouse, WA On the Nullarbor plain
Ceduna Shelly Beach Caravan Park, SA
Gulnare Free Camp, SA
Stub Tank Bush Reserve, Vic
Bacchus Marsh Caravan park, Vic to catch up with family and friends
Morley’s Creek Pump House, Gundagai, NSW
Morisset Show Grounds, NSW
Port Macquarie, Flynns Beach Caravan Park, NSW,
Yamba Calypso Holiday Park
HOME

a magpie keeping us entertained with his silly antics

Yamba

Our last stop before home. Such a beautiful place with a unique coast line. Yamba began to develop as a tourist destination in the 1930s following the arrival of the railway line at nearby Grafton.

Yamba Main Beach is a patrolled surf beach. In 1908, the Yamba Surf Lifesaving Club was formed and is one of the oldest surf clubs in the world. Nestled in the rocks beside the main beach is an Ocean Pool, built in 1969.

Dolphins are common around Main Beach and we saw a large pod of about 10 swimming amongst the surfers and swimmers. They would swim away then come back to the swimmers. It was fantastic to see.

Angourie Green and Blue Pools are approximately 7km south from Main beach. Once a rock quarry, the quarry works were abandoned when freshwater springs were hit during quarrying rock for the Clarence River break walls. They now form two magnificent swimming areas within this reserve.

Both pools are approx. 15-20 metres deep (50-65 feet)
very popular for jumping in from surrounding cliffs.
Unique freshwater pool formed by a natural spring in a former quarry
Perfect post-hike swim after the scenic 10km Angourie coastal walk
Nearby naturally formed saltwater rock pool offers all-day floating at high tide