Blowholes, Devils and Kestrels - 5th September, 2007

As you may have guessed, we lost Internet access for a few days so was unable to get email or publish the BLOG but got wireless here at the moment so thanks to all those who emailed, SMSed etc saying Happy Birthday! I have been keeping up with writing and saving photos so I could upload when connected again so here it is:
The day started today with the sound of a text message arriving in my phone; it was a birthday greeting from my eldest sister Dianne, a little while later my sister Jen rang followed by my sister in law Jill. I also spoke to mum before we left Exmouth this and headed south to Carnarvon which is below the tropic of Capricorn and so is the start of the cooler weather for us. As we went along the highway we couldn’t believe our eyes when our old friends, the Gold Bus Ballarat entered from the Coral Bay turn-off. We wondered where they had gone after seeing them at the roadhouse on our way to Exmouth and now we know. We passed them and then saw them again when we got to the roadhouse where we had our lunch. Who knows where they are now since we left just after they arrived and we took the turn-off to the blowholes, which we had read about in the Carnarvon Tourist Information booklet, which is about 12km before Carnarvon. Along the road before the turn-off and also after there were carpets of wildflowers, yellow sometimes, or white, and occasionally a bright pink section; just beautiful! I was sorry I was driving or I would have taken some quick snaps through the window just to show how many there are.
We found the blowholes after going in the wrong direction at first because there is no sign once you get to the end of the bitumen road however we should have gone left and they are just a little way from the turnoff. The blowholes are holes in a horizontal rock platform; one bigger one with a smaller one beside it then some even smaller ones on a higher platform. When we first walked up the bigger two were making a fantastic noise like a dragon roaring (yes, of course I’ve heard a dragon roaring!) or something but a really good sound. The spray out was very impressive as well shooting high into the air but after we got there I am sure they got less impressive. Still, it was interesting to watch them and try to pre-empt a good one to get photos. I took a few burst shots to try to capture the most impressive spray out. There is a warning sign as you approach the rocks to say someone has died there and to be very careful and we could see how it happened; the rocks are very rough to walk on and the edges treacherous if you slipped and fell.
Following this we went to the lighthouse nearby and found it had two stick-nests on the railed walkway and one larger one on top. A crow was near the lower ones and two, what I believe are, Nankeen Kestrels were sitting on the ridge above and were occasionally calling out and looking a little ruffled by the wind. I suspect at least one of them was a juvenile but I’ll need a real birdo to help me identify them for sure.
We headed back down the blowhole access road and had only got about 100 metres when Fin braked hard and I looked up from checking my photos asking what he had seen. He said it was a lizard and I asked if it was a big one. He said, “A thorny one!” How cool! I had just said the other day that it would be great to see on in its natural habitat and there it was on the road! I went back stealthily to take photos but I kept getting closer and closer and it didn’t’ move. Fin said we had better get it off the road before it is road kill but it wouldn’t budge. I banged my foot behind it on the road, I gently touched my foot on its tail, jumped up and down to make a noise but it wouldn’t’ move. Fin got out of the car and grabbed a stick and tried to pick it up with it but it fell off so he just used the stick to flick it to the side of the road. The lizard didn’t look injured but it still just stood there as though it was an inanimate object. I guess that is the idea of its camouflage; to make predators think it is a thorny stick that is not worth eating. We certainly thought so!
When we got within mobile reception again, there were about 9 messages on my phone and I got two more phone calls once we had got to our cabin at Carnarvon. Thanks everyone! Fin went to wash all the masses of road kill bugs on our car – there were really big kamikaze grasshoppers or locusts all over the front of the car and splattered on the windscreen. It is obviously a very fertile area around here. Actually we noticed there are a lot of banana plantations which we were surprised about. There is no wireless internet in the caravan park and I still don’t have the Vodafone working despite 2G being available here.