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Ningaloo Station and Norwegian Bay Whaling Station, West Australia

November 8, 2018November 8, 2018 by Offgridmonkeys, posted in Destinations, Monkey See, Uncategorized

Ningaloo Station on the Ningaloo Reef was a real find. At $5 per person per night with pristine beaches and great 4WD tracks you really can’t go wrong if you are looking for adventure and solitude. You need to be well prepared and bring your own water, portable toilet and food etc.

Access to the dunes which lead to Norwegian Bay is via a locked gate at South Lefroy camping area and you need to obtain the key and advice from the station as the dunes are constantly changing the track in. The journey is well worth the effort with spectacular views, a good dose of history and great snorkelling. (We found several large anchors less than 50m offshore) with abundant sea life.

The whaling station eventually closed as the whales smartened up and started swimming further out to sea as they passed. This eventually made it unviable for the whaling station to continue.

SONY DSC — Norwegian Bay and Whaling Station

All camping sites on Ningaloo Station are spacious and close to the beaches but as mentioned above there are no facilities. Dogs are welcome, and Buster loved every minute of his stay.

Ningaloo Station can be accessed via a 4WD track (which we took) from Coral Bay which is pretty rough or you can go via the Exmouth highway and take a (not much) better dirt road in. You can also continue on this road to Yardie Creek and Cape Range National Park

Music: https://www.bensound.com

Swimming with Humpback Whales

September 6, 2018September 6, 2018 by Offgridmonkeys, posted in Monkey Do, Uncategorized

This time Offgridmonkeys were lucky enough to achieve another activity we have wanted to do for a long time.

Humpbacks up close and personal

Ningaloo Coral and Fish

Trying to be fish

The Ningaloo Reef is an amazing place with the best coral close to shore we have ever seen, and also hosts amazing wildlife. Our last visit here we swam with Whale Sharks and Manta Rays, and this trip to the outer reef was to interact with Hump Back Whales!!

We headed out from Coral Bay with Ningaloo Reef Dive and Snorkel. The team on board were great taking us south to clearer shallower water to give us the best possible opportunity of seeing these gentle giants up close in the water. A spotter plane was also up early looking for good candidates for us to interact with. Interactions can only take place with calm whales, so any breaching or excitable behaviour from whales rules them out as does any calves in a group.

5X4A8011-Web — Can you spot us? We look so tiny you may have to zoom in!

We were very lucky on the day to have numerous small groups of mainly 2 or three (often pregnant females with an escort whale) that were happily cruising north up the coast to calf and did not mind a few tiny humans floating on the surface nearby.

The first glimpse underwater gives you an idea of the immense size and power of these ocean giants and was truly breath-taking. To be honest they were not that interested in us – more intent on continuing their journey north, but this almost made it more special – to just observe natural behaviour without interfering or changing it in any way was such a privilege.

mba

An added bonus was Tom from @oceancollectivemedia was on board to capture photos and video so we could just enjoy the experience and also additional photos were available from the spotter plane pilot which you can see from the few we have posted were fantastic.

Whale Breaching

Baby whale breaching

The team at Ningaloo Reef Dive and Snorkel also arranged a dog sitter for Buster the wonder dog for the day which he thoroughly enjoyed (loads of cuddles and walks). As locals at Coral Bay cannot have dogs (only the tourists can bring them along to camp) there are many people willing to look after fur kids for a day.

So how do humpback whale and whale shark interactions compare? You get to spend more time with whale sharks as they swim slower and are closer to the surface however humpbacks sheer size and the extra adrenaline punch that goes with the shorter encounters are also exhilarating! If you can, do both!

Coral Coast – Red Bluff and Shark Bay

August 16, 2018August 16, 2018 by Offgridmonkeys, posted in Uncategorized

Offgridmonkeys have continued their travels up the Coral Coast stopping at Quobba Station and staying at Red Bluff which is a surfing mecca with a mean left break.

First stop was the blowholes on the way to Quobba Station where water spouts are pushed at pressure through the rocks creating geysers up to 30m high.

The waves certainly didn’t disappoint, neither did the wildlife. We had an amazing dog friendly campsite right on the top of the cliffs with constant sightings of whales, dolphins and manta rays. We literally could not look at the ocean without spotting performing migrating whales breaching, blowing and frolicking in the waves.

Offgridmonkey Camp Red Bluff

Red Bluff from the cliffs

Our Camp

Pizza night on Saturdays was also a hit with most of the campers converging on the outdoor seating at the site shop to socialise and swap stories with other campers. The waves were up to 5 meters high during out week stay so there were plenty of tales to be told from intrepid surfers.

We also visited Gnaraloo station for the day and Gnaraloo Bay is stunning without a sole in site and definitely worth a visit. The snorkelling is also good.

We then moved on to Denham and Shark Bay. Again very dog friendly and Buster even got to spend a day in doggy day care which can be arranged through the discovery centre while we went into Francois Peron National Park. Once again the dramatic colours of the scenery and wildlife spotting from the cliffs did not disappoint. The drive in is 4WD and fairly soft sand so be prepared, but good old Silver Foxy performed admirably once again (the park provides free compressors so you can let your tyres down and reinflate them with ease). Even better is that at the end of the day at the park gates there is an artesian hot pool to soak weary bones which we enjoyed thoroughly!!

Offgridmonkeys HAD to of course also visit MONKEY Mia. Once again we struck it lucky with the dolphins in the bay when we arrived. Check out the video for the eyeballing from a bottle nose dolphin.

Pelican Monkey Mia

We also stopped in at the Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites which are actually the earliest fossil evidence of life on earth. When you think that really they are whole communities of bacteria growing together over millions of years it blows these monkeys minds!!

Now we are hitting the road for more Ningaloo action at Warroora Station and Coral Bay, so see you all soon x

Music: https://www.bensound.com

Horrocks Beach And Hutt Lagoon – the drone’s first outing!

July 26, 2018July 26, 2018 by Offgridmonkeys, posted in Destinations, Monkey See

We Offgridmonkeys have really been enjoying our time so far on the coral coast. We spent some time at Horrocks Beach which was voted top mainland beach in Australia by Tourism Australia’s beach ambassador Brad Farmer.

Horrocks really is a quintessential little beach town with friendly locals and kids playing in the streets. The dog friendly caravan park was great with spacious sites, great hot showers with good pressure and was also close to the general store. Our site was right next to the golf course and park which was great for our fur kid.

We loved exploring the area with great 4WD sand tracks to Little Bay (which also had good fishing) to the north of town and the Bowes River Mouth and lovely beach spots to the south.

We also made a short detour to Port Gregory and Hutt Lagoon to see the pink lake which was very picturesque and gave amazing reflections of the clouds overhead. This little video shows our first attempts at drone footage of the area.

Hope you enjoy!

Music: https://www.bensound.com

Perth to Geraldton – the adventure begins

July 10, 2018 by Offgridmonkeys, posted in Uncategorized

SONY DSC

Week one has finally arrived and Offgridmonkeys are on the road. After a lot of packing and repacking and probably more to come we monkeys left Perth and headed north.

We stopped at the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park on the way. Handy to know that the Parks and Wildlife office at Cervantes has free kennels for dogs and you can also offload your camper or caravan for the day while you visit the national park.

SONY DSC

Continuing about 3 hours north of Perth we arrived at a lovely free camping site called Cliff Head South. These camp sites are right on the beach, with toilets, picnic tables, rubbish bins and a communal fire pit or individual fire lighting allowed between May and October. We shared our camp with plenty of wildlife including a pair of nesting white bellied sea eagles and a cheeky willy wagtail that helped keep our BBQ clean. There was also good fishing and 4WD tracks to explore.

Enjoy the video and see you again next week. Leave us any tips, feedback, or comments below

SONY DSC

Cheers

Offgridmonkeys

Music: https://www.bensound.com/

Ningaloo Reef – Swimming with Whale Sharks and Manta Rays

May 19, 2018May 19, 2018 by Offgridmonkeys, posted in Destinations, Monkey Do, Monkey See

Swimming with whale sharks had been on the monkey bucket list for many years. Having tried twice before and failed both times (by only a day or two), this trip was planned with military precision to give us the best chance. We missed them in the past because they left Ningaloo early in the season, so this time we did not make the same mistake.

The day started relatively early with a 7.15am pickup from Exmouth in a small bus by Ningaloo Blue who are the most experienced whale shark operator in the Exmouth region. Ningaloo Blue have a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence award and are a Certified Eco Tourism Business. They are accredited by the Tourism Council of Western Australia, so their tours adhere to best practice and standards for environmentally responsible tourism which meant they were are good choice for us.

Once on board, we donned snorkelling gear and stinger suits, and headed to the outer reef. All safety aspects for us and the marine life on the reef was covered on the way, which was just as well as our first whale shark seemed to be waiting for us as soon as we reached the outer waters!!

That first entry into the water I was not sure if I was going to hyperventilate or pee my pants I was so excited. However, as soon as I saw this majestic beast underwater all that disappeared to be overpowered by an inner calm and peace. This first gentle giant was such a chilled out guy, languidly swimming slow enough for everyone to admire him fully. His white dots appeared to have been painted with dabs from a brush and his stripes formed such intricate patterns they were breath-taking. Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the ocean and can grow to 18m long and weigh up to 15 tonne. They have recently been upgraded from a vulnerable to endangered species with numbers having halved in the last 75 years, so swimming with one fills you a sense of awe, wonder and responsibility.

Luckily we were in two groups, as we would only just have time to catch our breath and jump back on-board the boat, before we would switch and be swimming with ‘our guy’ again. (85% of the whale sharks in Ningaloo are young males). We did leave our guy in piece after a number of swims with him, all totally stoked and excited. However the day had just begun…. Over the rest of the day we swam with 4 more whale sharks and had 2 manta ray encounters to boot.

The strategy for mantas was completely different to the whale sharks. If you stay still in the water without splashing the mantas will come to you which is exactly what happened. It is hard to describe the surreal feeling of 6 manta rays heading toward you in a line formation like a choreographed dance, gently beating their wings and peeling off and back around so graceful and effortlessly. I did have goose bumps and a lump in my chest at the sheer beauty of the experience but still struggle with words to describe it.

All up the whole day felt like a privilege and an honour. Mother Nature, the Ningaloo Reef, whale sharks, manta rays, dolphins, tiger sharks – the whole environment blows this monkey’s mind!!

What we really liked:

Friendly knowledgeable staff who are all passionate about the Ningaloo Reef and the amazing life it supports
Details to safety – fully covered when first on the boat, comprehensive details when swimming with the whale sharks and manta rays and roll calls whenever we got back on the boat. Also a safety zodiac in the water at all times
Delicious food all day long, morning and afternoon tea, gourmet buffet lunch and access to drinks and biscuits all day plus Champaign with strawberries to celebrate at the end!
Videographer on board so you can concentrate solely on the experience and have amazing footage and photos to remember your trip

Ningaloo Blue Charters: www.ningalooblue.com.au

Video And Photos: www.bluemediaexmouth.com

Our journey soon begins..

April 21, 2018May 13, 2018 by Offgridmonkeys, posted in 1, Uncategorized

We are off on an adventure of a lifetime….

Well actually about to embark on a new lifestyle, with hopefully never ending adventure. It has been a long time in the planning but at some point you just have to leap…..

So here we go…. At the end of this month these cheeky monkeys (and their dog) are quitting full time work to see the world.

Starting in Perth, Western Australia in a 4WD and off road camper we plan to head north. There are must see destinations on our list and must do action and adventure, but we are sure in between will be a whole heap of exploring, discoveries, and hidden gems.

Australia is one place in the world where you can get off grid relatively easily with a lot of 4WD tracks and camping away from it all. We think we are pretty self-sufficient – solar panels, dual battery system, generator and other kit, but time will tell.

Thanks for joining us! We hope to keep you entertained if nothing else and perhaps give you some ideas on new destinations, tips and tricks we pick up along the way and a few reviews on gear and the like.

Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Review -– these monkeys are off!! Catch you on the road less travelled.

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