4 Stray Katz: Turtles (and mice) galore at Cape Range NP.

We left Exmouth on Saturday headed for Cape Range National Park. The school holiday crowds had subsided and we got to choose our campsite, which ended up being at Osprey Bay, a gorgeous sheltered beach that was perfect for the kids to swim in. Their were so many turtles in the waters which were amazing to swim with, but unfortunately there were also heaps of mice on land, which were not so great. By the end of our 10 nights in the National Park Daniel and the kids had caught over 50.

The most memorable parts of our days were:

Saturday

Daniel - paddleboarding out past the reef and seeing heaps of large reef sharks.

Bec - snorkelling with Emilia and seeing a small strange fish with two horns.

Emilia - snorkelling without help, swimming on my own.

Jackson - swimming in the supremely calm bay without worrying about getting salt water in his eyes.

Sunday

Daniel - kayaking out to and snorkelling in a deep hole called the 'lagoon' which was full of huge fish and going on a predinner bike ride with Jackson.

Bec - swimming with a huge turtle whose head was bigger than mine.

Emilia - exploring the rock pools and playing in the shallows on the boogie board.

Jackson - finding two dead sea slugs and making them his pets, he carried them everywhere and even built them a sand house.

Monday

Daniel - lying in the hammock which he managed to set up between the car and the van

Bec - playing in the shallows at Sandy Bay with the kids after our bike ride there.

Emilia - snorkelling in the shallows practising and seeing 2 kangaroos and a rabbit on a dusk walk.

Jackson - rolling my glowing sparkle ball on a night time walk.

Tuesday

Daniel - paddleboarding and seeing heaps of schools of large fish, turtles, reef sharks and stingrays.

Bec - seeing 12 large reef sharks at different times during my 3 snorkels out deep.

Emilia - going on a snorkel with mummy where I saw a large stripy fish and a box fish and heaps of other fish.

Jackson - practising casting my home made fishing rod.

Wednesday

Daniel - fishing with Jackson even though we lost two fish when the line broke.

Bec - working with Emilia to try to shepherd a school of whiting down to Daniel to catch and snorkelling with two very large stingrays.

Emilia - chasing fish while snorkelling in the shallows and watching a movie with my own bag of popcorn.

Jackson - watching people kite surf and watching a movie with popcorn.

Checking out where he is allowed to fish.

Sunset on Osprey Bay

Our camp overlooking the ocean and the Cape Range.

Thursday

Daniel - seeing Yardie Creek and doing the cliff top gorge walk with Jackson.

Bec - swimming round and round with a friendly turtle in the morning then kayaking down Yardie Creek and seeing 4 of the near extinct black footed rock wallabies in the afternoon.

Emilia - seeing the rock wallabies, egrets, corellas and other birds while I kayaked with Mum down Yardie Creek

Jackson - finding more sinkers and fishing line and playing with my new monster truck (until I broke it). Seeing stingrays and an abandoned turtle nest at Yardie Creek

Spotting a black footed rock wallaby whilst kayaking up Yardie Creek with Emilia.

Checking out the animals she'd seen already on our walk up Yardie Creek.

Daniel and Jackson kayaking up Yardie Creek.

Yardie Gorge (Daniel and Jackson negotiating the rocky creek bed in the kayak).

On our walk (with Barbie) to the lookout over Yardie Gorge (before the trip and fall that left her with a bloody knee.

Friday

Bec - snorkelling over huge bright blue brain coral in a ferocious current.

Daniel - driving back from Exmouth in the dark, going 40km/hr to avoid the masses of kangaroos feeding along the roadside then being stopped by a man who'd got stuck in his JetSki at low tide on the reef and helping him find his mates.

Emilia - playing with Matilda and playing with Daddy in the waterpark at Exmouth and watching the sunset from the lighthouse.

Jackson - driving up to the lighthouse and having a picnic in the car because it was too windy outside.

At Vlamingh Lighthouse (picnic in the car as it was SOOOOO windy the kids were getting blown over).

Saturday (today we crossed Yardie Creek at low tide, 6.30am, then moved to a more secluded spot further south but still on Ningaloo reef)

Bec - making a book with Emilia detailing our experiences on the reef. A bad but still memorable experience was having a mouse frighten me whilst I was laying in bed reading then jumping so quickly off the bed that I kicked over a cup of tea and spilt hot water everywhere. I spent the next 30 min in the kids bed whilst Daniel tried to mouse proof the van even more!

Daniel - fighting with a shark for the fish I had just caught and was trying to get into the kayak. Not a good idea to snorkel holding a dead, bloody fish! I did not give in though and we ended up with half each!

Emilia - making a book with a Mummy, nudie swimming with Daddy and eating the lovely Sweetlip that Daddy caught.

Jackson - seeing a huge snake on the beach and getting the biggest fright ever then running as fast as I could to Daddy. (The snake was right down near the water, Daniel followed its track into the dunes but he didn't see it so we don't know what type it was but poor Jackson had the fright of his life, we're just glad he turned and ran and didn't try to pick it up like everything else interesting he sees. Daniel is still having nightmares about it).

Crossing Yardie Creek, 6.30am, lowest tide for the next two week (until full moon)

Walk on water, nah we drive on water.

2.5 fish thanks to a hungry shark, i think we got the biggest half though!!

Sunset at Boat Harbour, our secluded beach.

Sunday ( a very windy day)

Daniel - collecting oysters off the rocks with Jackson.

Bec - working with the kids to try to scare crabs out from their hiding places whilst on a rockpool walk and seeing a huge hermit crab in a shell as big as my thigh whilst snorkelling.

Emilia - making a noodle necklace, watching a movie with Jackson and finding crabs with Mum and Jackson.

Jackson - getting oysters with the hammer and screwdriver and watching a movie (he calls himself a hunter gatherer now).

Monday (a super windy day again)

Daniel - finally getting the rock lobster that eluded me last time we were here and having my hook bitten off four times by the several sharks hanging around in the shallows.

Bec - snorkelling with Emilia and making up 'Woofer' stories with Jackson.

Emilia - going on a shell walk with Daddy and Jackson and finding lots of colourful shells.

Jackson - collecting dead crabs in my used juice box and bringing them to my sand castle.