Quobba Station, WA

 King Waves Kill and Coral Cuts - that is all you need to know from this week.

The most amazing snorkling on the West Coast of Australia - a sheltered little bay called "The Aquarium", highly recommended to us by Chris from DLO and it did not disappoint. We were always going to stay here but the only decision to make was to stay at the campground 2 mins walk away or at the station 10kms away. We eventually chose the station, mostly for the showers (and the washing machine!) and were pleasantly surprised by a very well equipped, newly resurfaced tennis court. The other campground was packed tightly like sardines, so we were very happy with our choice in the end.

The more Saul researched Quobba the more he discovered that it is one of the best land based game fishing locations in the country. But it come with a price and there were multiple plaques around the rock edges, marking the place where fishermen had lost their lives. Every time Saul went out fishing on the rocks, Kylie would breathe a sigh of relief when she saw his car drive back into the campground.

 Saul is learning lots of new fishing techniques and catching some new species, but nothing worth keeping this week. We were all fascinated by this new thing called 'Balloon fishing'. We saw fishermen driving out of the station in the mornings with their back seat taken up by giant balloons - a very odd sight, and then we see these same balloons floating over the cliffs later in the day. They use the helium balloons to float the bait on the surface of the water. Quite a lot of effort, and quite wasteful as the balloons often pop or the line breaks and they fly away.

Quobba is about an hour North of Carnarvon, which is the produce centre for the region. It was the home of the first banana plantation in Australia and driving through today, it feels like you are just driving through a huge banana farm. There are bananas everywhere, and of course we bought some Carnarvon Bananas, and they were delicious. We also went to the local farmers market and bought some fresh vegetables. Saul spent a fair bit of time and money at the local fishing shop getting set up to fish the rocks. We also made a visit to the Carnarvon hospital as Zara was a little bit unwell, but thank goodness for Tele-health medicine these days so we could consult with our family doctor back home.

Quobba is the place of polar opposite - harsh rugged cliffs that make you feel like you are at the end of the Earth, and then the most beautiful white beaches with perfectly blue water hiding colour and fish all the colours of the rainbow. The Aquarium was brilliant - however we were a little bit unlucky with the weather and the tides. It was a bit cold and windy, and the tides where highest in the morning before it warmed up, and then by the time it was warm enough to go in the water, the tide was getting too low. This is where the coral cut occur!! Kylie and Elsie wanted to try and swim to the other side of the little bay but got stuck on the coral reef on the way back because the tide was going out quickly. Unfortunately Elsie got her knees cut up quiet badly by the coral, which stings quite a lot. Being new to this snorkeling thing we didn't know the dangers of coral cuts and just cleaned her up and said " You''ll be right"- but then we realized out mistake and spent the next week applying antibiotic cream to her knees. She was excited by the letter Z on her knee though!!

Zara announced she wanted to live at Quobba - which was surprising given it was a very harsh dry environment, but when asked why she answered "Because the bathroom door is pretty and the tennis court is fun." Sometimes it is refreshing to see the world through the eyes of the kids. The bathroom door was an old style saloon swinging door and the bathroom had big clam shells as the soap holders.

We camped just behind the sand dune to the beach and next to the old shearing shed. Some very nice sunsets and sunrises hitting the old buildings. The kids would ride their bikes to the tennis court multiple times a day - and Kylie would offer it as their reward after getting some school work done.

We did enjoy some nice sunsets on the beach, and watched the moon come up behind us at the same time. One day Saul saw some people waving and shouting to come look at something on the beach, and it turns out they saw a whale not far from shore. Unfortunately it disappeared by the time we all got there. But it was exciting to know the whales were so close.

We explored the lighthouse and some of the beaches north of the station as well. They had the most amazing shells and washed up coral.