We’ve noticed that Station stays are quite a common accommodation option as we keep heading North, something that I noticed and admired when we stayed at Willow Springs in the Flinders Ranges. In this day and age, diversification for farmers is essential to keep their farms viable, and so in addition to farming sheep, goats or cattle, many of these stations have moved into farming tourists.

When we arrived, we hit the beach for a sunset and found it littered with shells, particularly clam shells! But the sunset was divine!

Quobba Station is located about 70km North of Carnarvon and is on the way to Red Bluff, located on Quobba, and popular with campers, anglers and surfers. In fact, the majority of Quobba’s coastline is a mecca for anglers looking to catch big fish whilst on the land. We harboured a wish to catch a snapper, and whilst technically, Corey did catch a stripey snapper, sadly it was undersized and the big prize alluded us.

Staying out at Quobba wasn’t without drama however as a day trip to Red Bluff ended up back into Carnarvon for a couple of hours observation time in hospital for Corey.  True story! It went down like this…

We headed out to Red Bluff which is approximately 60km from the Quobba homestead stopping along the coast to find a suitable fishing spot. We tried at one beach whilst the girls played in the sand, but after half an hour on some rocks, Corey had had no luck.

So we continued onto Red Bluff where the water was so gorgeous and clear!

After lunch, Corey went for a fish whilst I took the girls over to the little family run café there which was reported to make the best Mango Smoothies ever (and yes, they were pretty bloody good!). I had the mango, Miss B chose the banana and Miss A the strawberry, and we chilled out watching the waves and enjoying our drinks until Dad came to pick us up.

When Corey arrived, the girls were still finishing off their drinks so he had a sip of Miss B’s and finished off Miss A’s (after she decided that she didn’t want her $9 beverage) and then jumped in the car and headed for home. About 20mins into the drive, Corey pulls up feeling blurry headed and sweating like anything. Cold and clammy to touch, he clearly wasn’t well. I encouraged him to get out of the driver’s side so I could drive home. The only car we were to see on the way home stopped to see if we were ok, and at that stage, I wasn’t sure if perhaps it was a bit of sun-stroke so I told them we’d swap seats and we should be fine. Ah, nope.

As soon as I got Corey out of the drivers side, he crumpled to the dirt and after some pleading and cajoling I managed to get him up again and into the passenger seat. Trying to move a 6ft 2, 120kg+ man is next to impossible (trust me, I know this from past experience after a big night partying!) so I’m lucky he did get up.

Trying to keep a safe driving pace on a fairly rough dirt track was the challenge as we headed back to the station. By this stage Corey was complaining of being hot, even though he was cold to touch, and then of pins and needles in his arms. That for me was when I started to get worried, thinking of a heart attack or something similar, even though at the back of my mind, I questioned whether or not the smoothies were to blame.

You see, Corey has always had a self diagnosed allergy to bananas and although he had eaten them fairly recently in baked items, he’d not eaten a raw banana since he was a kid. But because of the tingle in his arms, I decided not to risk it and so we headed for the hospital in Carnarvon – over 100kms away.

Fast forward a few hours and the Dr was concerned enough to keep him in for observations so we left Corey so I could hunt down a motel for the night and some food for the girls. Several hours later we were able to go and pick him up and were left with the diagnosis of severe allergic reaction. We are still unsure of whether it was banana or strawberry, but given he only took a sip of the banana, but drank the whole strawberry smoothie, we’re thinking it was the strawberry one as the reaction was so extreme. So no more strawberries or bananas for him, and some allergy testing will be done when we get home!

The next day we headed back to the station and stopped to check out the Quobba blowholes, and to our surprise, there was actually water blowing through them – something that had been missing at the few other blow holes we’d looked at!

And the nearby Quobba lighthouse!

We spent our last day checking out the cliffs for some fishing and rock pool playing. Corey was feeling 100% better and didn’t want to waste our last day, especially as we were really hoping to catch a big one.  He was able to catch a few fish, but they were all small. He had two opportunities to bag the big one but the line broke on his line twice. We’ve since found out he needs a significantly heavier weighted leader light – he was running a 30/40lb when he needed about 100lb leader!

The girls loved playing in the rock pools whilst dad fished too!

Afterwards, we watched one final sunset on the beach and then we were done!

Quobba Station was a fabulous stay, even in spite of the drama. We weren’t sure what to expect as there were mixed reviews on Wikicamps but in my view, most of them were so unfounded. Yes, the shower water was salty (probably a salty bore) but it was super hot and great water pressure. The staff were so friendly and helpful, the sites were spacious and compared to some other Station stays we’d been at, the price was better value for money. We really enjoyed out time here and would definitely go back!

Have you ever had a medical drama unfold whilst you’ve been on holiday? Do you believe everything you read on review sites like Wikicamps or Trip Advisor or do you prefer to make up your own mind?