To Exmouth

20/06/2011
Just a hop step and a jump (150K) north of Coral Bay is Exmouth, very close to the top of Cape Range Peninsula and the northern end of the Ningaloo Reef. Exmouth is where we were based when we dived here in 2003 and my has it grown!! There is a marina that wasn’t here before, plus several dive shops. We found the shack that was our dive centre then, now it is part of a big holiday complex.
So far we have just mooched around the town shopping area and gone into summer plumage, both had haircuts! We will probably be here for a week or so.

21/06/2011
The campsite here is very good, we have a large grassed area and now we have added a modesty screen to our awning our plot is very private. The drawback with Exmouth is although this is a diving/snorkelling centre with access to the Ningaloo Reef, the town is quite a way from the sea, there is a scruffy bit of coastline which took us 20 mins to walk to yesterday. To get to he best beaches we have to drive, so today we packed everything away and drove round the top of the peninsula into Cape Range National Park. We had to buy an entry pass, it allows us into any national park for the next 28 days, we reckon we will get our moneys worth in the next week. We spent the day at Turquoise Beach, no explanation needed, just superb. On the way back in late afternoon we came across a few kangaroos, live ones that is, and we saw 2 wild horses that roam about here and a couple of emus, we nearly have the full set, now for whalesharks and humpbacks.

22/06/2011
As yesterday we had to pack everything away to go out for the day and again we travelled around the top of the peninsula. Today we went as far as we could go, to the end of the road at Yardies Creek, some 90Ks from Exmouth. Here there is another rugged red stone gorge and in the bottom a fresh water creek that feeds into the ocean. We went for a 1 hour scramble along the top of the gorge, very hot but worth the effort, especially when you have the ocean to throw yourself into on your return.
Peter had an interesting encounter with a loggerhead turtle whilst snorkelling neither seeing each other until they were very close. Who was most surprised?!!
On the return journey to Exmouth over the same 90Ks we saw several kangaroos on the road seemingly attempting suicide.
We know it is a lot more expensive here than it was last time ( not just the booze) but today we found out the ultimate. We checked out the cost of a day trip on a boat that guarantees seeing whalesharks and often give the opportunity to swim with them, something we have always wanted to do.
The cost $375 or £250 for the day………EACH……
Lunch is included!!