TURTLEMANIA

Cape Range National Park and the cape near Exmouth is home to turtle breading grounds.Its like a real life discovery channel show apparently come october/november with thousands of turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs.
There is turtle sanctuary zones and everytime i went to the beach,in the water or for a surf,I saw a turtle.Now this was more than once a day too.
Turtles bloody everywhere, even getting hooked on ya line while fishing,
"yeah yeah i got one"
what is it
"dunno"
quick get it in
"arggh shit its a bloody turtle"
I even saw a photo of a massive turtle orgie in the shallows,classic.Go you good turtles.

WORRA STATION

Snorkelling the Ningaloo reef is awesome along any stretch of its 260km,but the best coral i have seen yet would have been this day down at sandy point camp,just on the inside of the reef near the lefthander surfbreak.
The water was so clear and bright and i took these shots with my new waterproof camera (thought i should buy a waterproof one as i dropped mine out of the boat).
I will get better shots as i have only scratched the surface of Ningaloo,maybe it will be the whalesharks next.

DAY OF THE RED EMPORER

Down at worra i went to meet up with leepin loose leeroy morris and chelsea (oh and their cute new bub),some fellow south gippy expats.Apart from being a bloody terror on land leeroy has a fair old boat and loves his fishing as much as his yager-.bombs.
The first experience was going 12km out into the big blue with leeroy behind the wheel whacked as and drinking many a emu export,hard at the ocean chop,holding on with tunes blareing.
I had a shocker of a day that day,(could have being the puff on the infamous "chronic" i had), but nonetheless i was the shittest fisherman on the water west of anywhere, tangled lines,birdnesting my reel,more tangled line, round the prop, fuck i had a shocker and got back on and feeling like a full spastic.



But as always my determination and needing to prove to myself i could land a RED EMPORER i hit it again,
and oh what a blessed time i had.
Obviously learning from all my mistakes i was into it, landing the first red of the day,
crikey it was hard work winding in a 7kg fish from 62 meters of ocean,all the while trying to do it quickly before a shark took my fish.
Half way my back was pulling and my arms were weak,but i was gonna do this shit.....today.
The water was unbelievably calm and clear this day,not a drop of wind and pure glass in the open ocean.You could see the fish from so far and it kept getting bigger,and bigger, and bigger till he was up and in the boat before i knew it.
I didnt even get time to soak it all in really, just bait up, drop the line and go again.
Fuck it felt good thouh to catch such a beautiful big fish,especially knowing its great eating and around $75 a kilo at the fish markets.
The other littler fish i nabbed was a Baldchin groper (baldy) and turned out to be one of the tastiest fish i have ever eaten,by far.
Anyway there were plenty more caught that day,and plenty of warm beers drank (forgot the ice) and i just wann go back out and catch more big fish now,hooked.

WILDFLOWERS @ CAMP PILBARA

Im up in Karratha for 1 months work before i head to indonesia.
Now take the fact away that in this area has mines galore,men galore,its a high-vis world and more blokey than a freemasons party,
it is actually a pretty beautiful area.
The wildflowers are out in abundance, natural fields of flowering color in a desert landscape with red ranges surrounding you wherever you are. With the fantastic climate (28 everyday of winter and usually clear skies) it makes for amazing sunset and sunrise color's day in day out.
As i am only here temporariliy and the cost of renting a room is around a whopping 350 to 450 dollars (yes thats right,just for a room at a share-house) i shit you not,things are expensive up hear and the people that work up here can afford it.At every bloody house sits a brand spanking 4wd and a boat.
Anyhow,as rooms are to dear im camping out here and there at a few locations out of town, i'm getting really good at finding wonderful campsites in places people just don't seem to look.
And this is one of them at a river south of Karratha,I work 11 hours so its here after work for a soap up and swim,Cook a big feed,read a little then sleep. Get up and do it all again,6 days a week. Not much fun but calling these spots home i feel pretty lucky.
Im gonna be pretty ready to hit the town in bali by the time i am finished here.

BIG ENOUGH TO HURT

Three shots that probably look a bit worse than they are.
The shark is a mako that took a fish we had caught off the boat at woora,i stuck my camera in the water as it got close and in the end got a pretty good shot.He was around the 5 ft mark,or big enough to hurt.
The stingray was also at worra,such beautiful and majestic creatures in the water (as are sharks) but unfortunately misunderstood and generally seen as a threat,but big enough to hurt.

.....and the jellyfish,well that was at Cape Range Nat park and it is one of my favourite photo's.They were everywhere that day and some had tentical's longer than my body.While snorkelling i had to always look up in front of me to dodge them.Im unsure wether they are poisenous but i did'nt want to find out as they looked big enough to hurt.

UP THE CREEK

Ran into a guy i first met in Bali in exmouth when i first got to town,keen surfer is ol shaun huk and always up for a surf.
There is a spot up here on the outer ningaloo reef 2km offshore where a little reef pass produces perfect indo styled warm water lefthanders.I have always heard about and wanted to surf this place and when the conditions were looking on and huk invited me it did'nt take long for me to froff my jox off.
Bit of a drive,a beach launch of the tinnie and we were out there.It was a little inconsistant but no matter,there were still waves and no crowds.Warm water and a blue sky i was amped.
Got some pretty fun waves but in between surf we went trawling for some fish.
I was pretty happy that after 10 minutes i pulled in my first Spanish Mackeral, was easier to reel in than i imagined too.
Another surf then return to shore to feast that day on the fresh fish and marvel at my first introduction to the Ningaloo reef surf-park.As you could imagine i was super stoked,so full of stoke i could not have being any more.....stoked

GOT CRABS

Its no secret the north west coast of w.a has shitloads of amazing fish and seafood,i have pretty much learnt that its the only reason most people live here. Also i learnt that the continental shelf is closer to shore here than anywhere else in australia, this makes for an abundance of fish,and also loads of big and scary fish.
Anyway there has being a few missions (thanks to mates with boats) but yet i am still a spastic at fishing,although i have caught a few.
But crabs are a reasonably easy target, just drop ya nets, have a beer, and recover your nets, usually (hopefully) full of crabs.
And this was the way it went last week in the bay of plenty half way down the gulf thanks to marco turner and the baldwin chiefs.
After feasting on these blue swimmer crabs i sat like a donkey for the next 36 hours, but a few beers in the sun and a very mellow mission....it was well worth it.

EVEN A SHIT DAY IS GOOD

Was down at worra station last weekend and the weather turned nasty and it got a little wet and strangely cold (for the pilbara/gascoyne).The surf was flat but the van made it in to yet another 4wd access track that it probably should'nt be on,the old transit will be rooted in no time after these western australian dirt road missions.I even drove on a bitumen road that was corrugated yesterday,strange!
Anyway even on a shitty day here the water and beaches are still so scenic and beautiful,so i thought i'd take a shot to remind me that "even if your life is a little grey today,it's still so beautiful".

THIS IS WHER I LIVE

Holidays anyone?, warm water(24degrees),sun shining,amazing beaches,amazing waves,turtles,whale sharks,emu's everywhere,lots of beer,friendly locals,insane fishing,ahhh the list goes on.
but be quick,knowing me i could be gone next time you change your undies.On to bigger and better things,
Ningaloo reef=simply stunning.Ill let the images do the talking

THE BLUFF

On my third visit out to "the bluff',there is nothing more exciting at visualising the roar and beauty of 'The big desert left".
The bluff is a surf-break situated at the bottom of a Big red bluff in the reaches of Western Australia's mid north.
Now they call it the desert, but its on the ocean.Well it is desert,take a walk 500 meters inland and you will feel like your stranded in the middle of the outback.
Anyway back to the trip.......
A quick visit via the blowholes at the end of bitumen, past the "king waves kill"sign (i have seen one of these waves before on this coast,a huge swell from nowhere,four times the size of any other wave that day),
a prerequisite stubby in hand (first of many), shirt off as the hot afternoon sun beams in on my chest. driving the dusty red roads north to the sounds of bob marley, i take a stop for a piss,grab another beer out of the eski and rummage the salt laiden bush for some sandalwood to keep me warm at night and cook the roast in the camp oven.Sandalwood is worth a buck or two in the insense and perfume industrie but out here its wild and a mans best friend when it comes to sitting around watching the bush t.v.
Ahhh the Australian surf safari,dust,dirt roads,goats,emu's and the odd corner in the road to keep you on your toe's.
I climb back in the van,turn up the tunes,only 60kms of this dusty pothole ridden road to go.I'm worried as water covers the roads from last weeks rains,but in third gear with plenty of speed i hit the puddles,aquaplaining and somehow making it through where i wonder "is it time to turn back" but three beers down the dutch courage pushes me on,and on, and on.......

The other thing about this spot are the stars,hours upon hours are spent here marvelling at the unknown, "the holes to heaven",and you wonder how many men before you have gazed at this sky canvas and wondered "just what is it all about".
First day,true bluff style,awake to pumping surf,2nd day,3rd day and so on for 6 straight days.
there is nothing like the warm water,the red backdrop and the amount of fish and sharks in the water at this place,
then....there is the wave itself.
Trimming high along the waves face,crouching down ready for the tube,and suddenly everything goes quite, time stops, the world is gone for hat can seem like an eternity,and the glistening lip of the wave is above your head and your deep in a fast moving tube of water.You make it out (some you don't) and it seems there is nothing more you want from this day,this life, until you paddle back out and forget,wanting more,getting more and this is a day at Red Bluff.



After surfing comes eating (and knocking the top off a coldie,watching the sun set over the surf and talking absolute froff about the surf with one of the many characters you meet at the bluff).
Now these waters are alive,with more fish than the vic market.Everytime i fished off the rocks i saw a shark cruising below looking for a feed as i did the same.My speciality this trip was sqiud (calamari aint bad in these surroundings) and there were loads of them to be caught,every friggin arvo.
Not a bad dinner daily for 200 miles from shitsville.
And on and on it goes like this at the Bluff.The place is timeless,the place is majestical,the place is the best fucken surf trip you could ask for.And even if your not a surfer,
This is the real Australia out here.