Good news is there is no test on last weeks history lesson. So, whats’ the REAL Cleaverville like? Cleaverville is a sweet siren’s call, luring unsuspecting vanners to really overstay their three day limit. It really is a case of fatal attraction – 180 degree ocean views, warm water, cool afternoon breezes, private campsite and only 32klms to Karratha. Twice weekly trips into town to re-stock food and water and only the city lights across the bay at night to keep us anchored in some sort of reality. Oh yes, you buy your water in Karratha. They have this system very similar to credit card fuel bowsers. Bit of a culture shock, but a nominal amount.
We’ve been here over two weeks now and the days are blurred by a simple routine of swimming snorkeling, Netflix and the daily sangria. I’m of the firm belief that siesta is spelt incorrectly. It should be sea-esta. One swim in the ocean and all of a sudden it’s nanna nap time. The midgies did indeed have the welcome mat out for Tamika but we figured out some protocols, closing all the windows at 5pm, regular spraying of the sheets with Moretein and lashings of Bushmaster if she stepped outside. Even managed a roast lamb in our Camp Oven. We’ve gotten into the habit of researching our next destination as opposed to picking a town and just turning up, hopeful. We knew that there were reefs off the beach and this was going to be out first chance to explore without worrying about crocs.
On our first attempt, we were content to circle around a little rocky cove, near the shore. It was like swimming inside a large fish tank. With this kind of terrain there were plenty of places for fish to hide. Apart from the little schools of bait fish, sometimes it was only a fleeting glimpse of something tropical and they’d be gone.
Unlike the kind of reefs you see on travel shows, the reefs at Cleaverville are the back end of a 400 metre wide rock platform and are only exposed at the bottom end of those king tides I mentioned. So, to see bright coral and all the fish that go with it, you have to start snorkelling at the point where the rock shelf is permanently (or pretty much) under water, and go further out. A couple of days later, I took a walk out at low tide, and sure enough, the further out, the more coral and tropical marine life there was.
The next day was really windy and with the tide cycle starting to turn, it was the next day or not at all. Hit the water just after dead low and snorkeled out looking for the good stuff. Of course with it being shallow, your waiting for the drop-off to set your boundary. The water temperature dropped twice, but still in less than 2 metres of water. It’s only when I stuck my head up and saw that our van had been reduced to a little white square on the horizon, that I figured this was far enough Luckily the incoming tide turbo charged my retreat to the shoreline. I’m not sure if I’d be typing this if it had been the outgoing tide. Still, it was worth it. Octopus, clams, coral and many different tropical fish. If we had a tinnie, I’m, sure it would have created many more sites to explore. We are going to have even better opportunities further south, when we get to Exmouth and the Ningaloo Reef.
Now, where would one of our posts be without some kind of mechanical problem to report? Firstly the good news. We have been able to claim our van suspension repairs and the two worn tyres on our insurance policy. So that’s a win. Down side, another tyre to replace on the car, but even that could have been worse. One of the nuts refused to budge and losing the stud was a real possibility for a few hours. The Jeep was towed into the Tyrepower boys in Karratha and they had it off in a second. Seems our impact bit was a centimetre too big and we had been dumb-luck lucky that the other nuts had come off at all So as you’re reading this, we’ve just had our two van and one car tyres replaced and we’re heading bush to spend a couple of days in the Millstream-Chichester National Park. We had contemplated an inland run back to the coast, but 100klm of dirt road kinda put paid to that. We’ll just backtrack on the blacktop to Karratha, stock up and head south again.
