Morning All,

We (Wife, 6yo D, 3yo S + me) made our way up to Giralia on the 4th of July after being forced (like most) to postpone the Easter holidays. The way we plan, Giralia was a short notice camp with 'only' 4 weeks to get our shit together. Our van is a 2011 Jayco Swan outback towed by a 2010 D40 Navara and did we have both of them loaded to the brim!

First night on the way up was S-Bend. $5 per night if you're self sufficnent but I took the plug in + toilet option which set us back $30. Quick feed for dinner, a play on the grass. Extremely friendly camp hosts, like nothing I had ever experienced. We will go back to that one for an overnighter.

We headed off at around 0900 in the morning with plans to go to Nerrin Nerrin but as we went past there mid morning, we opted for Wintersun in Carnarvon which was good as we had some mates there and we had some dreaded Jayco lifting arm issues which needed a few hands to resolve. After a bit of swearing and time, we had the van ready to sleep in again. We managed to score one of the last two spots in the caravan park. Carnarvon was packed!

The remainder of our crew (two more families) arrived in Carnarvon at 11 ish and after a quick stop at Minalya, we headed for the final run to Giralia.

Arriving mid afternoon and being wary of potential lifting arm issues again, i was very keen to get to the site and we made our way down the final 35km to our beach camp. The track out had a few corrugations, dry creek crossings and signs that there had been water recently due to deep ruts in the track. It took a while to get to the site though when we rocked up, we were well placed around 30m from high tide with the 'track' to the other camps down the beach placed between us and the beach. Initial thoughts were that it was not ideal with 8 kids between 3 and 10 though over the next day or two we made it perfectly clear that people were to go slow past us, the majority paid us the respect.

Day two, we inflated the recently purchased Searano 3.3 inflatable floor boat and carried it down to the water for the christening and initial fish. With a 5hp Yammy on the back, we maxxed out at 5.2 knots but it got us out and about. First hand full of fish were butterfish though going for a walk at low tide showed us there was plenty of fish about, we just had to find the right spot. 

Day three, we ventured along the mangroves rather than out which had been prooving unsuccessful (and very shallow) and after noticing plenty of activity in the vegetation, we anchored on the mangrove line and casted in to be met with a plethora of different fish including cod, whiting, flathead, trumpeter, long tom, mullet, yellow fin bream and some unstoppables. We got a feed of whiting then headed back the opposite way past camp to different mangroves and found the motherload of whiting. We came back with 12 fish so everyone could have a taste. 

When walking the 50m from the boat to the caravan, I noticed some squid in the water just beside where the kids were swimming and after running to the van to get my jiggs, I managed to get two healthy squid. Pretty stocked!

Day 4 it was time for my family to head out for a fish and we did the old mangrove fish, firstly heading to the east. The kids had a ball spotting 20+ turtles and catching heaps of fish. My daughter caught her first fish off her first cast and my young bloke did the same. The mangroves are a hive of activity at high tide and at one point, when my son was winding up a grunter, a cod came up to it and grabbed on. WE had turtles sitting 2m away from us on the bottom watching us fish. It was amazing.

Time to head in for a feed and when walking from the boat back to the caravan, i flicked a jig for squid and again 1st cast 1 squid, 2nd cast another and 3rd cast another. This is literally 30m out the front of our van! Neighbouring vans heard my excitement and a few more people down the beach got onto some too.

Day 6, we headed to the creek for a bit of a fish and spoke to a few of the people down there who told me about how much of a pain the Mack's are so that was now on the agenda. We fished the creek for an hour or so for three trumpeter. 

That afternoon we spotted some Dolphins offshore so set off to see them and jeez did they play! Some neighbours down the track had a drone and managed to capture a bit of footage of us which is in some of the overhead screen shots. I took my cheap-o drone but naturally forgot the charger....

Day 7 we headed into Exmouth to knock that one off the list with the kids (we hadnt been for 7 years). Jeez it was too busy but good to see some of the retailers + operators making some cash after Covid!

Day 8 initially had a fresh north easterly forecasted but the recent forecasts said it wouldnt happen.....so during a glass out we headed out towards Whitmore Island though a mile out the breeze came in from the North and started to freshen, and remembering that we were in  a 3.3m inflatable we took an abrupt left turn and pointed towards Roberts island. Joe (the other bloke that was on the boat) managed to get two small school macks and something that was the same size as his lure on the way across and close to the island, we found birds working. The fish were smashing bait and looked to be either tuna or fat Shark Mackies. EIther way they were big and fat though the wind was now touching 16-18 knots and we simply couldnt keep up with them. We headed to the beach at the south eastern corner of Roberts Island to re-fuel and re-evaluate whilst still watching the birds working. 
Now Roberts looks very fishable with rock ledges though the conditions didnt allow us to explore too far and being wary of the wind and the 4.3 miles to go back to the van, we started the putt home. 

We had another go at the bust up and positioned oureselves infront of the school and had fish either side of the boat but couldnt tempt one...

Around half way back to the beach, I caught a lump of seaweed and started to slow the boat to pull it in and right beside the boat, i realised I had hooked a school mack! Not a hint of a fight which i was pretty flat about though at the same time, stoked to get my first mack which was a keeper at 60cm. Quick cut to the throat and put it to sleep then had to keep moving as we were being thrown around. 

It took us an hour to get back to camp and managed to get the little inflatable toy surfing at one point. I was absoloutely exhausted with leg cramps after sitting down like a dog for the best part of two hours. Time for a rum! 

I cooked up the mack the next day so it was mackie wraps for two families. Pretty fishy fish but still it fed a couple of crew.

Day 9 was the day before drive out so a quick trip to show another family the turtles who put on a show again and as it was mid tides, we were only in 400mm off water so the stingrays were leaving wake as the shot off. 

Day 10 was drive out day so back to the station for a shower and air up then Minalya for lunch, Carnarvon for some food + water then Wooromal Station for the night. That place was choccas though good for the night!

Final night was at Northbrook Farm stay which got 38mm of rain the night we were there so we ended up with wet pillows. The van is still up drying out three days later. Again, overly friendly people and I am glad we werent at the mud pit of Wooromal who had their wettest July day in 5 years..

On the way up and back we stopped off at Wooromal Road House. Their chicken rolls were a food highlight! On the way back we got fuel there which bypassed the queues at Overlander and Biillabong with the latter being 17 cars long on the way north partially due to the Shell running out of Diesel.

Every caravan park/RV stop we went to was full of friendly people. Normally you expect a few grumps but the mood was very positive

Things to note:

Giralia allow you to collect firewood from the station but dont want you to cut things down. There was copeous amounts of firewood out on Burkett Road around 5km from the station, Mountains of dry firewood so no need to carry any in.

There is 'fresh' bore water available from the station. I ran out of washing water and had to top up (leaking pressure relef valve in my caravan hot water system). You can drink it if you were going to die. 

Showers and toilets are available at the homestead

You are 100% exposed to a northerly on the beach though the southerly/south easterly had minimal impact on our site due to a dune behind us

Sand Fly's were only an issue at the high tide line

Mozzies only came out one night

Next time i go, i will take two cans of diesel as i limited the amount of driving i did to make sure i had enough fuel to make it the 200km back to Minilya or 160km to Exmouth once you factor in the off road bit. For my car, fully loaded, i get 400km out of a tank so relied on the full can of fuel to get out. 

The best spot for whiting was the spot where the next camp along anchored their boat...Once they went out hunting for fish, we caught them where they anchored at night...

Personal opinion on some of the gear I have:

I own a Waeco CFX65 and used it as a freezer. -20 during the day and -4 at night. It didnt miss a beat and draws stuff all. The last night, without solar, I had to turn everything off, the fridge dropped only 2 degrees over 14 hours. 

I borrowed a 65l Kings fridge which was also a spurisingly good unit though the temperature varies between 0 and +4. It kept the drinks cold.

XTM 160W solar panel is a ripper. As soon as there is light, our van battery (running the feezer) was charging and was full by 0930 most mornings. 

XTM compressor is great and had all 4 tyres on the car + 2 on the van full in the same time as the ARB units the other guys have.

Jayco Swan Outback - whoever buys this rig off me when we sell it will get a good unit considering all of the components I replace with stronger bits...

Yamaha 5hp 2 stroke - This is the motors 3rd trip in 7 years and starts first pull. Shit they are good little tractors.

D40 Nissan Navara - Player of the series as jeez we worked her hard! Looking forward to a Hilux so i can maintain my speed up hill though to the Nell's credit, in low range, she dragged herself and the van between tracks on the beach and didnt dig a hole. 

Finally, thanks to Andy for a hand with some welding on my roof rack before we headed up!

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