Category: Uncategorized

Ningaloo Station and Norwegian Bay Whaling Station, West Australia

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.

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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.

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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.

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Norwegian Bay and Whaling Station

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

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Norwegian Bay

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com

Coral Coast – Red Bluff and Shark Bay

by Offgridmonkeys, posted in Uncategorized

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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.

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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.

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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!!

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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.

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Pelican Monkey Mia
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!!

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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

Perth to Geraldton – the adventure begins

by Offgridmonkeys, posted in Uncategorized

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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.

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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

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Cheers

Offgridmonkeys

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

 

Our journey soon begins..

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.