7th June - Made it to Exmouth and the sun is shining. Camping at Yardie Homestead for a week and will go into the National Park from here each day as you have to wait in line at the Ranger station from 6am to have them tell you at 8am whether there will be any camping spots available and considering there is no drinkable water, no toilets or showers we decided it wasn’t worth it. Fortunately we bought an annual Parks Pass at The Bungles so can go in as many times as we want.
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| Boat envy |
This is obviously a fishing haven, there are some serious boats here in the caravan park! We went to the boat ramp and jetty to check it out as a fishing spot and it was so crowded Ray dismissed it for fishing but we watched as boats came into the ramp.
8th June - Snorkelling at Turquoise Bay on the Ningaloo Reef this morning was just fantastic. A pity the video and photos don’t do it justice. Immediately before we entered the water a little 1m reef shark came into the shallows (very reassuring) but we didn’t see it again and the variety of fish is just mind blowing. We did the drift, where you leave your towel etc. at one end of the beach and go up the beach about 100m and out to the reef then follow the current back to the beginning. We did this 3 times then the wind picked up and we were getting cold, though the water was a lovely temperature - had to be for me to be in that long. Again too easy to get disoriented, following fish around and into the current, going out to sea so we had to keep watching how far down the beach we were.
9th June - Went for a swim with a really big fish today!! Ray has always wanted to swim with the whale sharks so we booked in to a tour. WOW, first a snorkel on the reef to make sure we were all OK with the gear & snorkelling, that was even better than yesterday. A reef shark swam into the reef as we began, we saw all the things you see on the underwater documentaries, big & small, just amazing. Back on the lovely boat and out to sea beyond the reef break where the water is deep blue. The captain found a Dugong that he followed until it surfaced. We saw a number of large sea snakes, turtles & a manta ray while waiting for the plane to spot the whale sharks, he even chased down some migrating humpbacks and we were rewarded with a trio not too far from the boat. Finally the go ahead to swim with the whale shark. It wasn’t a huge one and I only got to see a glimpse of it the first time and couldn’t catch up with the rest of the group to actually swim with it (not assertive enough says Ray). The next swim I got in the front and saw more of the shark but again they left me for dead but it was a beautiful sight and Ray got some film of the time he spent swimming with it. We had a lovely lunch on the reef and another snorkel which was amazing again but the wind had picked up and it was quite choppy so we didn’t stay out long though the temperature of the water is beautiful. We were very fortunate as the weather didn’t look too good this morning and gale force winds are predicted for this afternoon but the sun came out, the water was lovely and the crew on the boat were fantastic. Now we look forward to seeing the dvd of photos the professional took and remember this as something special - our big splurge for the trip!
Will try to add photos from whale shark trip later
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