Installment 8 Exmouth

That evening was some more football, Siobhan took off early, and the lads I was with decided it was time to check out the local nightlife.
We had a choice of 2 drinking establishments, the imaginatively named “The Pub” and its competition the eponymous “The Tavern”. We opted on “The Pub”. As these things go it was a fairly standard drunken evening, and I woke Siobhan up as I tried getting into the tent without opening the zip door. The following morning she exacted her revenge by making me get up and help pack before 9am.
We were planning on spending a couple of days in the cape range National park, and so we went to the local supermarket and picked up some supplies. On the way to the checkout I remembered that Danny was travelling somewhere in Australia, and that we should get his mobile number. I pointed out to Siobhan the reason I had suddenly thought of him, a tall chap with dreads at the checkout. Siobhan then pointed out that it was Danny.
Very pleasing 10 minutes of catching up and exchanging phone numbers, but we were hanging around for another week after we had come back from the park, whilst he was heading North, and decided to catch up properly further up the coast.
The Cape range park was something else, we were camped just on the beach and had another crack at fishing. Obviously I didn’t catch anything, but there was an abundance of turtles that Siobhan swam with, although my camera skills really don’t show how close she got. There were several dolphins showing off just off the beach, and presumably warning the fish of my presence, and at one point I was fishing in knee deep water when a meter long shark suddenly swam past about 50cm away.



We got up early on Tuesday and commuted back to Exmouth for Siobhan to start her PADI open water. It’s best that she tells that part of the tale. For my part I set up at the same camp ground, and in the afternoon wondered along to the dive shop to do a refresher session so that I could go out with Siobhan on the Friday.
It’s been 6 years since I had last dived, and 8 since I had done my open water course, and so was quite interesting going through the exercises on land. I assumed that we would be going up to the swimming pool in town to do the practical, and was a little concerned about walking such a distance with all my kit on, but obediently followed my instructor. So I was quite surprised when we went out of a back door, and into a courtyard belonging to the Potshots resort containing a round swimming pool with heaps of back packers sunbathing around it. Still once underwater who cares…



Siobhan came back from her PADI course and we were once again presented with the issue of where to watch England play Sweden at 3 am?
The Swedes tents were still there and when they got back from packing prawns I wondered over and asked where they were watching the game. They pointed to a site opposite and said that friends of friends had a TV. I went to say hi and was immediately impressed by the setup. Three Cornish lads, Dan, Ade and Tom, had a Pajero, circa our 4-Runner, and a vintage land rover. A tinny (aluminium boat) flanked a star wars table, and on the other side a trailer kitted out with a microwave, oven, cooker, fridge and Cornish flag. They had hired the same TV that Roberto had previously rented and it sat in a large tent. They were sat around with an Irish couple Del boy and Mo, and were cleaning wetsuits and spear-guns, and showed me and enormous fish and a larger cray that they had just caught.
Ah yes, these are my kind of people.
Earlier in the day I had bumped into Chris the German from the Whale shark day, and arranged to watch the Germany Equador match in “The Pub”. We went up just before it started, and became clear that the previous Saturday night I had been making friends as an assortment of people waved out “Alright Mike”. Chris was easy to spot with his enormous black yellow and red afro wig. We went back to the campsite at around midnight quite lubricated and no-one was up, Siobhan went to bed and I figured I would read for 3 hours and drink beer.
I was woken up by a cheer, and discovered that I had fallen off my perch and was lying across the front of the tent. So I grabbed a few Emu’s and wondered over. Everyone was wrapped up in sleeping bags and coats, and were so caught up in the match that it wasn’t till afterwards that they even noticed I was there.
2 all, so at least no one present was too upset. I managed to ask if I could come out spear fishing the next day and went back to bed.
Spear fishing;
There are an awful lot of rules around the sport, particularly which species you can spear and where according to Marine park boundaries. This ensures that only senior fish that have already bred can be caught, and hence stock levels remain even.
With this in mind they were trying out various spots to see which would be the best. Today’s spot was down a 4 wheel drive track just to the right of a sanctuary zone. Tom’s preferred sport was fishing, which has far more relaxed boundaries, and he wandered off to some rocks with an incredible array of equipment.
Dan had a rather nice waterproof housing for his camera, and kindly lent it to me, and as such I attempted to document the adventure.
We swam about and I took a number of photos, unfortunately the fish were all a bit small for spearing. Eventually Dan and I washed up on a beach, and looked out for Ade. A few minutes later he appeared and Dan pointed out that Ade’s spear was out, hence he might have a fish. In a sudden flurry of activity Ade jumped out the sea and clattered on to the exposed coral with his gun.
“There’s a f*cking shark darting about trying to get my fish,
“I dragged it miles back and then this shark just kept darting around me, you should have seen the speed of the thing.”
Empty handed this time, but I got a few photos and was starting to get the hang of the camera.






Tom mentioned he was going shark fishing in the evening, and I jumped at chance to learn some tips and watch how it should be done.
It was dark, and we tried a location on a pier that Dan had seen, but there were 2 fisherman there already with a generator and spot lights. They didn’t look particularly keen to see us so we left them too it. You could clearly see squid swimming about and they were using a specific squid hook to snare them.
We found a spot on the new marina, a massive development that is being built just on the entrance to Exmouth.

There is some debate as to whether the marina’s completion will destroy both the Ningaloo reef, and the relaxed atmosphere of the town, but this is mainly from people that already visit the place. The majority of the residents I spoke to were positive about its economic value.
The plots of land are going for around 500,000 dollars including a mooring, and about 900,000 for ones that the luxury apartment is already completed.
Personally I was glad that I came before it was completed, but you can’t stop progress.

Tom showed me how to rig up my line properly and put the bait on, he then corrected my casting technique and I let loose. He advised me to cast in then take up the slack, so the bait would sit on the bottom. I tried to do this but the more I wound in, the more slack I seemed to get. Eventually I elected to wind it in and start again, and was incredibly surprised to find that the reason I couldn’t’ get rid of the slack was because a fish was already attached.
Oh yes, my first fish.
It was too small to keep responsibly so we threw it back in, though in reality I wanted to mount it on my dashboard.
I was happy as a pig in shit yarning and got a couple more, but Tom was after bigger things and caste out a fish that I caught attached to a balloon. Unfortunately time wasn’t our side as the lads had work at 6.30 am the next morning trying out as plasterers at said marina.
I never ever thought I say it, but I had been fishing, and I wanted more.
Siobhan’s PADI course continued and I was catching up on chores, and got the car serviced. Due to the lack of washing facilities I had to battle with the flock of grey haired nomads fighting it out for a machine. It wasn’t pretty.
Exmouth seems to be a good place to do your dive masters. You pay a flat fee of 1400 dollars, and then help out until you have clocked up the relevant experience. As one of the dive masters in training pointed out, he’d done 4 whale shark tours and 50+ dives, which had paid off the fee alone. If you’re into diving it seemed like a cheep way of getting your dives. After completing the PADI Siobhan mused that maybe 5 or 6 years ago she would have gone for it.
The tour we went on seemed to have more dive masters in training than people.
I rather enjoyed the dive, but as usual was more interested in trying to do backward somersaults and headstands than look at the fish. It would have been a lot more fun if I was in Siobhans group, but this isn’t allowed until she has passed.






After the dive we went to the beach, and afterwards sat in a beach bar. The beach bar sold little hand painted whale sharks, which Siobhan had been looking all over for, and we bought one. Using some simple camera tricks we re-enacted the swimming episode and I think you’ll agree the method proved quite effective.




Siobhan had one more dive the following day, and was taking it easy, but it being Friday night I thought I’d join the lads.
Tom and Dan had passed their induction, and although Ade who had less experience in this area, the foreman took him to be introduced to some Pearl farmers, which was more likely to make use of the fact that he is a commercial diver.
Tom however had contracted an abscess on a tooth, and despite it being hidden behind the beard that the 3 of them were growing until England got knocked out of the world cup, it still looked like he had a ping pong ball in his mouth.
So I met Ade, Dan and Del boy in “The Tavern” and then rolled down to “The Pub.”
It was fairly feral and there was a fair bit debate around spear vs boat fishing with some local lads. One girl took a liking to us and was attempting to buy us drinks, but despite her interesting job of swimming with dolphins, even the single lads lost interest. She lost interest herself when I labelled her dolphin girl, and tried to communicate with a series of clicking noises and fin actions.
We moved next door to the “bimbo bar” with the Swedish contingent, and whilst Ade and myself pogo’d on the dance floor Dan was lining up shooters on the bar.
This time I crept into the tent as quietly as possible and would have got away without waking Siobhan if I hadn’t then started snoring.
The next day was slow starting, but seemed like a good day for spearfishing…
Delboy was out today, and we went to a different spot.
After about a minute in the water Dan yelled out that he’d found giant cray fish and we went over. It was hidden under a rock and he dived down to grab it. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good photo of what can only be described as Dan wrestling with a baby alien underwater. In the end it was just too strong and struggled free, and despite a chase we lost it.
Dan and Del then swam to the left and I followed Ade with the camera. After about 5 minutes Ade yelled out that there was a Dugong, and I flippered over to where he was.
Dugongs are similar to sea-lion in appearance, and feed on the grass on the bottom. They are approximately the size of a large cow, which is why I was quite blown away when in about 3 metres of water I caught site of this monster together with a number of sucker fish going about its business. I got a couple of snaps and it disappeared, so I decided to swim over to the others, about 150 metres away.
As I was swimming I got quite a shock when suddenly the dugong (the size of a large cow, remember) swam directly underneath me. Luckily I’d figured out how to use the video on Dan’s camera and got a few seconds as it did a complete circle around me. It seemed to follow me for another 50 metres before sauntering off. They must be curious creatures.



Over by Dan and Del it was game on, they had found a small hole in the reef and there where a number of large fish swimming around. Dan had already speared one and put it in a bag, Del now had the gun and was giving chase. After a couple of tries he got one, and we started to swim in. Near the shore the reef was quite high and a wave dumped over our snorkels. As the bubbles cleared a shark came out of nowhere and swam across the front of us, obviously interested in the fish. Needless to say we made a sharp exit.
Ade came in with a monster fish, and Dan went out and came back with one that he had accidentally speared when he missed one in front. This was a good spot. Dels and Dans second fish were just too small, and despite being speared happily swam away when thrown back.



Later on I met up with Siobhan in a state of excitement as they had seen 7 manta rays on their dive. We went out for dinner with her PADI chums and later went to Katerine and Jessica's caravan park , 2 German girls on the course to watch the Germany V Sweden match.
I had one more shot at spear fishing, but the location didn’t turn up much, so tucked into the beers and watched the England Equador match.



We set of the next morning, destination Karijni National park….