Time for a day out , the weather was a bit better today , the wind has dropped a bit . Speaking of weather , as soon as we crossed over the Tropic of Capricorn , the temperature dropped down to the mid 20's - and that was on a hot day !! Fortunately Quobba is northwest of Carnarvon and a bit warmer - it's only 70klms away .
On the way out we cross the southern end of Lake McLeod , it's a salt lake a little over 2,000 square kilometres in size . This is the southern end .
This is the other side of the road , the north side . Dampier Salt produce salt further to the north of here .
Out to the coast and found some banksia's near the lighthouse .
We pulled up at the blowholes and went for a walk around the limestone cliffs . The tide was on the way out , exposing more steep drop offs . The water here is very deep , previously we have seen whales swimming only 60 - 80m from the edge . There are a couple of people on the rocks top left of the photo for some size comparison . Such a rugged piece of coastline !
The tide traps fish as it recedes , they hide in these holes in the rock shelf .
If you examine this photo , you can see the fish swimming on their sides as the water is shallow .
This bird doesn't mind either , it has a fish in it's beak .
The blowholes were working well - they are different to other blowholes around the country . These blowholes are formed in the limestone shelf by the movement in the tides , gradually eroding sections of the rock shelf , and the water is forced in and then out the holes in the top .
These seed pods were sitting nicely in the salt water concentrate in a hole in the rocks .
You can get mesmerised by the movement of the water here , King waves are also possible here , and have caught people out - it can be a very dangerous section of coast . You definitely wouldn't want to get washed into the water here , you would be ripped apart on the rocks .
We went down through the campground , and kept going a far as we felt comfortable with , which was a fair way down -this end you're not allowed to camp in . All the darker green areas in the water are coral reef .
Back to the day use area and a spot called The Aquarium , it's a very popular swimming & snorkelling spot .
And with that I went for a snorkel , probably should have been in earlier , as the tide was on it's way out and there was only about 40 - 50 kms of water above the coral .
There were a variety of colours in the coral .
And many different types .
There were also plenty of fish of all sizes .
This is the coastline heading to Quobba Station and up to Coral Bay .
Time to head back to town , but with one more stop along the way - time for an aerial view or 2 .
This is a Betacarotene plant - only a small one - love the colours !
Another good day , here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1aBdZIay142kTvizLMtoozhh-DbjubB4&usp=sharing
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