Information coming in regarding the fire is very limited and very repetitive so I guess safe is to say that nothing much had changed over night. We decided to stick with last nights plan that we'd wait it out today and see what happened...
Kids spent the morning playing in the pool. We started up a game of dodge ball and another girl joined in. Conversation was very difficult as she didn't speak any english however picked up the rules of the game very easily and laughter is a universal language so we all had fun!
Left camp around lunch time and headed out to Quobba, about 70ish kms away. Some of the road was unsealed and very dusty.
In places it was difficult to tell which was road and what was off road - it all blended in the same...
We drove past Lake McLeod a massive inland lake that the fire is heading towards. We were hoping that it would burn itself out if it got to the lake - the lake is bone dry so that's not going to happen!
We drove on down to Quobba and first stop was the blow holes. They were really blowing today and it was quite impressive to watch them. The rocks around were like something you would expect on the moon or mars. Quite different from anything we've seen anywhere else - so rugged and rough. Whoever said a rock is a rock is very wrong.
Further along from the blowholes is Point Quobba. You can camp down here for $5 a night. There is no power and no water and facilities are very very basic to say the least. Its really quite a different little place. There are lots of humpies - fishing shacks which are just sort of thrown together using bits of scrap metal. They have no windows and I imagine would be as hot as hell inside. It smelt quite fishy around there - not somewhere I could see myself staying.
Point Quobba Beach
We found a lovely little protected bay and spent sometime snorkeling here. The water was fairly clear although quite a bit of sediment on the bottom that easily got stirred up but there was plenty of fish life - quite tropical and some corals too. The kids thought it was fantastic, Thomas in particular didn't want to get out of the water. Jade thinks she saw a big sting ray and got a fright from it and was out of the water from then on.
Jade and I went for a walk up the beach to the shallower water and fed the fish a couple of slices of bread. There were quite a lot there and they were jumping and fighting to eat the bread. Jade really enjoyed it, dropping the bread close to her feet hoping that they would come in close to get it.
We took a drive down to Quobba Homestead. Mum and Dad stayed here when they came over last year. Quite a different sort of place very much Outback meets the ocean kind of setting and it would have been quite different staying there. We couldn't explore there too much as we weren't staying so drove a little further down the road to another beach where Jade and I went shell collecting. We found heaps of clam shells, Jade had so many she could barely carry them and had to make some choices as to which ones she was going to keep and which ones she'd leave behind for someone else.
It was lovely to be out at Quobba this afternoon and to be able to forget that we are stuck here due to bush fires. It was great to still feel like our adventure wasn't yet over and to be exploring again.
We headed back into Carnarvon and on the way back in past the road block.
A little further down the road the road trains are all banked up just waiting for the roads to open. The caravan park here has plenty of people in it also in a holding pattern like us. The decision we have to make is that if we wait too much longer it won't be worth going as we won't have sufficient time in Exmouth to make the trip worthwhile or if we waste anymore time here we won't have time for stops at other places on the way back.
There was a heavy shower of rain this afternoon here in Carnarvon - Dave ran around outside like mad thing trying to wash the car and the van in it. Didn't last for long but has cooled things down a lot. Hopefully the rain has fallen out in the fire area too. They also have a helicopter dropping water now we have seen if fly overhead regularly this afternoon and this evening. Last reports indicated that the fire situation has eased so we have all fingers and toes crossed for good news in the morning. The fire so far has burnt through 309000 hectares and is still not contained.
The fire on the nullarbor now is put out and there is no further problems coming through that way at the moment.
We are all feeling a little flat tonight, we weren't expecting for this to happen and are really disappointed at the prospect of not getting up to Exmouth. It will be decision time in the morning, for now just enjoying the cooler night and looking forward to a better night sleep.
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