Arriving in Exmouth around 4.00pm we had heard that there were no camping spots out at Cape Range National Park (right where the Ningaloo Reef is) and you have to line up early in the morning, only to be turned away it appears this time of year, so we decided to get ourselves booked into the local Caravan Park. Exmouth was primarily known for fishing, pastoral leases and oil exploration, however in the 60's an agreement was made between Australia and the U.S to establish a Naval Communication Station where this facility was mainly for passing messages between Australia and the U.S command centres, submarines and ships. It is still used to this day, but Exmouth is primarily a tourist town where the Ningaloo Reef entices the snorklers, swimmers and if you have a cool $400 you get to go out and swim with the Whale Sharks and Manta Rays between March and June.
The next morning we thought we would explore the local beaches and also the Charles Knight Gorge. Along our discovery of the local beaches we came across Pebble Beach, obviously with thousands of pebbles on the beach, which created quite a unique sound when driving on them or walking on them. Along the different 4WD tracks we came across a couple of beaches where I found the most amazing shells, but Ranger Crowe (my new name for Crowey as he is like "Dudley Do Right" when it comes to my seashell collecting) told me I could only collect one of each shell.
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| Pebble Beach |
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| Pebble Beach |
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| Some great shell collecting today |
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| and some more |
Moving on from exploring the beaches we decide to go and check out Charles Knife Road Canyons where the road takes you up and along the range and provided some awesome views into the multicoloured gorges.
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| Canyons (note ocean in background) |
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| Crowey, the king of the world, well his own any way |
This is not my best side you know!
The next day we head off to explore the famous Ningaloo Reef, a place Crowey and I have been excited to visit for the snorkelling. Turquoise Bay is known for its easy to reach snorkeling and is a place where you let the current carry you north over colourful coral, beautiful fish before you exit via the sandbar. Boy, you have to be careful though as the current can be quite strong and before you know it you can be carried away to the ocean if you are not a strong swimmer/snorkeler. Quite a beautiful beach though with the water the colour of turquoise as the name suggests. Crowey and I were lucky to sight a green turtle once again whilst snorkeling in this spot.
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| Murph happy as, in the warm water of Ningaloo Reef |
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| Crowey checks out the scenery |
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| how good does that look? |
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| The tide leaves it mark on one of the beaches |
Another snorkel spot we tried was the Oyster Stacks, a spot where you can only snorkel at high tide. So up we get early the next morning to ensure we get there at high tide. The shoreline is rocky at this spot and a little more difficult to enter, especially with flippers on. There had been quite a lot of wind and the water was fairly bumpy, not that great to snorkel away quietly, with the water bumping you around. Getting tired of this after half an hour or so we decide to go into the shore back up the rocks, however the waves were crashing against the rocks and proved to be quite difficult to get back onto land, I did end up having an argument with a couple of rocks, of which my cuts and bruises showed that perhaps I lost that fight?. Blood is never a nice thing to see, especially your own. With a bit of TLC from Nurse Crowe I was soon rinsed off and patched up. We decided to give this section a miss from now on and stick to Turquoise Bay from now on for our snorkeling. On the way back to town we decided to go up to the lighthouse where a lot of the locals gather to sip on wine, dine on cheese platters and watch the sun go down over the ocean.
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| The sun sets over Ningaloo Reef |
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| Sun Set over the lighthouse with the moon poking through |
We both really enjoyed Ningaloo Reef, however after five days here decided the time was right to move on. Along our travels in North WA we have come across a lot of people who have told us that Karajini National Park was a must visit. The only thing is it has always been our decision this trip to stick to the coast and with Karajini NP being some 600km+ inland (just before the town of Tom Price) we were hesitant to go there. Crowey's brother Pete told us it is a must and even my mum and dad strongly advised we should take the trip. So we decided to break away from our coastal tour and head towards Tom Price to experience the gorges in the Karajini NP,where our next adventure continues.
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