superdavey

Ignore all the political and media hyped “facts” around the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice and just read what is proposed. This is a starting point. This will take years to see the impact, probably long after you walk this land. This truely is a way to pay your respects to Elders past and present. voice.gov.au

Coral Bay is located about 14 hours north of Perth. Super popular with everyone and as such super busy and noisy.

There are a few caravan parks to choose from and they all provide small cramped sites packed bumper to bumper. You can also look forward to multiple people cranking their stereos as soon as the sun goes down, it’s almost like clockwork. 😂

We spoilt ourselves straight away with a seafood platter at one of the restaurant/pubs.

The highlight of Coral Bay is the swimming and snorkelling. We did not know before arriving (I think they have kept it a secret) but in 2022 there was a natural event where the coral spawn caused the water in the Ningaloo region to become toxic. This caused the death of most of the fish and coral close to shore. It was a surprise for us and lead us to booking a glass bottom boat ride and then following up with a snorkelling tour further out from the beach. This turned out to be the highlights of the trip and I would highly recommend it.

If you are willing to deal with the large population and noisy nights, Coral Bay is a must visit for the region. I am not planning on returning for a while, but I am more than glad we went.

Warroora Station is located 11 hours north of Perth, close to Coral Bay. Its coastline is a part of the Ningaloo Reef. It can be accessed directly from the Quobba area via a 4wd track but we stuck to the bitumen. This provided an opportunity to restock in Carnarvon.

After leaving the bitumen road at the turn off there is 23km of corrugating until the homestead. We let our tires down to 25psi to make the ride in easier.

We stayed at the homestead on a powered site. The homestead has good amenities and an optional outdoor shower. Nia picked a site close to the live stock much to her delight. We all then had to enjoy the smell.

You can camp at points along the coast by booking via the Park Stay website. It’s cheaper but popular during peak times and you need to be self sufficient. Access to these sites requires a 4wd.

The weather was cool and cloudy during our stay and we only swam once, mainly to tick it off the list. We spent our couple of days exploring the 4wd tracks and driving the dunes to the beaches. You cannot drive along on any of the beaches which was not an issue for us.

Warroora had the most difficult tracks we had driven at this stage of our trip. We didn’t realise at the time but our truck had holes in the intercooler and was limiting its power. With a working vehicle we would have had less stressful moments. My confidence in 4wd’ing were improving all the time though.

The beaches were stunning and we were starting to see more varieties of wild life. The highlights were the beach crabs and the raptors flying overhead. We were told that you can see turtles swimming in the water but we had no luck.

We enjoyed our stay at Warroora Station and will go back one day, hopefully when the weather is warmer. I would be happy to book a beach site and drive the camper trailer in. The trouble being that you need to book so far in advance and the sites can be exposed to the strong winds.

I have started playing with the new Profiles in the latest Safari betas and it looks great. Took me a while get my head around what it’s doing. At first I thought it replaces tab groups but it does not. The main aspect appears to be the segregation. Best example is I can be logged into YouTube on one profile and not another. Great for separating work and personal stuff. I’ll keep experimenting and maybe write something longer. One note is that it is quite hidden and not necessarily discoverable even after you set it up.

Quobba Station is located about 10 hours north of Perth and could best be known as for its blow holes and the sign as you drive in.

Driving from Carnarvon you make your way west from the North West Coast Highway along the fittingly named Blow Holes Road. About half way along you pass over salt flats and at the end you are greeted with a T-junction and the famous sign.

Turning left you can find the spectacular blow holes and a free camping area.

The highlight here for us is the stunning snorkelling spot, the “Aquarium”. We stopped here for lunch and then spent a good couple of hours snorkelling. The bay provides protection and there is an ocean current that assists floating from the north end to south. The snorkelling here was better than straight off the beach at Coral Bay and felt safe.

Northwards there is Quobba Station, Red Bluff and Gnarloo. They are all accessible via a corrugated road and I would recommend dropping your tire pressures to about 25 PSI and sticking to 60-70km/hr (this is what I recommend for any corrugation).

Quobba Station is a working station and the property includes Red Bluff. I am pretty sure Gnarloo has a different owner. You can stay in all 3 places with various types of accommodation available. We chose an unpowered site at Quobba and it was perfect for us. The toilet and shower block was rustic but fancy at the same time.

The beach at Quobba is not good for swimming but it was great for an evening walk and the sunset was stunning. We had plenty of fun exploring and collecting shells

You can light fires on the campsites and they sell firewood if you need it. During our stay we had no issues with noisy people, though when we checked in we were told where they could be located.

Red Bluff was a 40min drive north of Quobba and was a tricky drive in. I would not recommend for big caravans unless you are happy with tight corners. We visited for lunch and had a wood fired pizza. The flies were beyond anything like we experienced anywhere on our travels so we ate the pizza in the car. I would love to camp here at some stage.

Heading north again you make your way to Gnarloo Station and Gnarloo beach. We had planned to go snorkelling based on a recommendation from the receptionist at Quobba but we could not figure where to swim in. We did swim and stayed for an hour or so enjoying the spot with very few people around. I would recommend either staying here or visiting when in the area.

I highly recommend visiting and staying in this part of WA. If you are happy with less amenities and being self sufficient it beats out Coral Bay as a destination in my opinion.

My recent travels instigated a rethink of how I access the Camera App on my iPhone. Straight to the point, I have removed the app from my Home Screen and the control from the Control Centre. I have spent many years with this setup, the logic being that the camera is available as quick as possible from anywhere in iOS and not thinking about it. In reality this caused more thinking as my brain got stuck deciding which method to go with; swipe to home, swipe top right, swipe top middle.

What I realised is the best and only place to launch the Camera App for me is from the iOS Lock Screen. The logic now being that it is immediately accessible when picking the up my iPhone and by swiping down from the centre (or left) of the top of the screen which can be done from anywhere in iOS. There really isn’t need for anywhere else.

I have been much happier with the process and I recommend giving this a go.

It’s been a year since I first saw the sports doctor and in todays appointment he pointed out that he has never had a patient take this long to heal. Next step is to get a EOS scan of my whole body and a CT scan of my spine fusion. Then discuss the results. There is a chance I will have surgery to detach my adductor tendon, which apparently is a reasonable thing to do. 🤷‍♂️