It was a late night for me last night, as I struggled to figure out why the program I use to upload photos to Flickr crashed, deleting a portion of our happy snaps. A couple of hours spent on the computer failed to rectify the solution, but knowing I was in for an early start this morning, I had to leave it go for the night.

The early morning, for me anyway, was as a result of having booked ‘The Beast’ in for another service. With no Chrysler dealer in town, we located a four wheel drive specialist yesterday, who was able to slip us into his busy schedule. The only catch was that I needed to be at the workshop by 8:00AM this morning, which required an even earlier wake up call.

While getting ‘The Beast’ serviced will mean not having a vehicle to get around in for half a day, as an upside, my pushbike at least got an airing. I had packed the bike, with grand ideas before leaving home of getting out on it for 10 or 15Km each day. The 2 kilometres I rode from the mechanics back to the van today is the first riding I’ve done since we embarked on our trip. At least now, I can say in all honesty that it was worth bringing along, and I’m yet to ride back to collect ‘The Beast’ yet. Two rides in one day! Not bad, hey?

As for not having ‘The Beast’ for half a day or so, we won’t find that overly detrimental. For all the years we have talked about reaching Exmouth, after a previous trip here failed to materialize, this is the one place we have so far found the dogs to be a hassle. Exmouth is renown for swimming and snorkeling over Ningaloo Reef, but the best sites are all within the national park on the western side of the peninsula. Since we can’t get into the park with the dogs, and can’t leave them in the van, our snorkeling opportunities are limited. Not to mention the freshness of the water. We are probably here a month or so late to take advantage of the warmer waters. A month or so earlier would have also put us here in prime whale shark season, swimming with them being one of the big things Bec had hoped to do. In any case, with not a great deal left to do around Exmouth, living without ‘The Beast’ for the morning is hardly likely to impact out plans.

After dropping ‘The Beast off, I was back at the van by 8:00AM, and while Bec continued to sleep, I fired up the computer for another look at Flikr. It wasn’t all bad news, despite having lost a couple of our earlier images, most of our pics were still intact. The only hitch is that the main photo stream is terribly messed up, with the chronological timeline all out of kilter and multiples of many images being interspersed through the pages. While the issues with the stream were beyond my time and patience to rectify, at least the day by day sets are all in order and available again. There’s even a few new photos up and ready to be viewed. Thus, if you’re up for a look at the pictures that match the story, head to the ‘sets’ tab and pick a day, or follow this link: FLICKR SETS.

I was just finishing up when Bec raised her sleepy head and said “Good morning”. Perfect timing, and I got to preparing a hearty breakfast to chomp on while waiting for the call to tell me that ‘The Beast’ was ready for pick up. As well as getting through our feed, we rang ahead to book our next caravan park and decided what we were going to do today. It was decided that tomorrow we would head out for a spot of sight seeing, while today we would again try our luck, throwing a line in down at the beach.

It was a bit after 11:30AM when the mechanic called to say that I could come and pick up ‘The Beast’, so I jumped on the treadly and off I zoomed. Compared to the service we had done while in Rockhampton, I was pleasantly surprised that todays work cost only a little bit north of $400.00. Better that the $700.00 we were charged in Rockhampton.

Back at the van again, I readied our tackle for another big fishing adventure, this time feeling like I was going to get lucky and wind in a monster. In readiness for fighting said specimen, I Googled what fish I could expect to snag, then figured out what sort of rigs I needed to set, before ensuring that all the gear was in top notch condition, with brand spanking new hooks, swivels and even sinkers. With all the effort I went to, there was nothing that could stop me from reeling in a giant.

Is that awe or amusement on Becs face as she watches me fastidiously prepare the fishing gear?

With everyone loaded into ‘The Beast’, off we went. Our first stop was at the Town Beach, where we have been told that the fishing isn’t running too hot, but wanted to have a walk along with the dogs anyway. They spent the majority of yesterday cooped up in the back of ‘The Beast’ and today is likely to be no different. It is just too difficult to look after them on the beach while we’re busy fishing, especially when with every cast, Alvin thinks I’m throwing something for him to retrieve.

Town Beach was lovely, although the water was too cold to go any deeper than our ankles. We were happy to just wander along the beach, looking at hundreds of colourfully patterned pebbles, all washed smooth by the action of the waves and being scrubbed in the grainy sand, to the extent of looking like polished gemstones. Alvin and Bethany were far from excited about the rocks, preferring to nasally root through the seaweed and whatever other aromatic goodies that they could find buried beneath the sand.

Emus on the way to the fishing beach.

After wearing the babies out, we piled back into ‘The Beast’ and headed for Bundegi Beach where we had failed miserably yesterday in our endeavors to bring us home some dinner. With some new information and fresh bait, we had decided to give it another try. Heading along the beach in the opposite direction from yesterday, we baited our hooks and launched them seaward.

Down on the point was where we set all our bait free.

Bec didn’t even last a half an hour before she gave up, bored after not getting a nibble. She did rush back in though, when my line started twitching and the tip of my rod was dancing to the music of the breaking waves. For all my effort, after a fight that lasted for at least 30 seconds, I eventually managed to reel in a Chinaman Cod, a species whose table qualities are debatable. Not that it mattered, considering a 4 or 5 inch long fish was hardly going to provide us a feed, so it was delicately unhooked and returned to the water. I can at least notch up a catch now, so as it stands, I’m now only one short of Becs record effort of two.

After a bone wearying struggle, I landed my ‘monster’!

After a few more strikes, and a few more morsels of lost bait, but no success in landing the big one, we moved a little further around to where we had watched a guy who obviously knew what he was doing land a dozen Garfish. Our luck wasn’t to follow his, although we did unexpectedly stumble across a Mantra Ray sunning itself in the shallows and a turtle bobbing about in the swell just off the shore. The sighting of the turtle at least made our fishing experiment worthwhile. After a few hours, and many bored urgings from Bec, we moved again, this time well down the beach to the jetty and boat ramp.

You can just make out the ‘Ray’ taking flight from the shallows.

This was an exercise in futility, as fish swam uncaringly through the crystal clear water, right past our volunteered baits. At least from the beach I couldn’t see the fish ignoring our tasty morsels, but here it was just plain depressing. Regardless, it still took Bec repeated requests before I would admit defeat and pack up for the day.

As a result of our dismal exertions, we went to plan ‘B’ for dinner and feasted on a succulent, fresh, pan seared fillet of steak. Not quite the grilled fillet of sea creature I had been yearning for, but satisfying nonetheless.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.