Across the Top

---

OK, time for some blog catch-up. Ningaloo reef was one of the things we were most looking forward to in Australia. The coral spawns around the full moons in March and April. This attracts plankton, which in turn attracts whalesharks, which in turn attracts humans - namely us.

We spent a night in Coral Bay and did some snorkelling there before moving on to Exmouth. The snorkelling there was great around the Oyster Stacks. We booked a whaleshark tour from Exmouth with Ningaloo reef dreaming as they had their own dedicated spotter plane and good reviews. As it turns out the tour guide on the boat went to school with my cousin in Kati Kati - small world. After a couple of hours we found a whaleshark about 8 meters long and jumped in for a swim. It was awesome!

We had a long drive upto to Broome but when we got there we treated ourselves to some luxury - spending 3 nights in the frangipani resort. It was great to have air con and no tent to erect and collapse. We checked out the “staircase to the moon” for the full month - the moon rises over the mudflats to give the illusion of a staircase. We also met up with Gareth and Dave in broome for a couple of unusual beers in the local japanese brewery followed by a wet t-shirt competition in the local nightclub. It was nice to get a bit of aussie culture...

Next we took the long road to Darwin. There were a couple of things we really wanted to do like bungle bungle and the gibb river road that just weren't possible without a 4WD. Nonetheless we stopped at Kununura and saw some cool things. Darwin wasn't much to speak of but it was nice good to meet Gareth and Dave again before they headed out east. Just south of Darwin we visited Litchfield. Its a beautiful park with lots of waterfalls and rockpools suitable for swimming i.e. No Crocs!

That's about all for now folks. Stay tuned!

---

Photos

finally
that mouth swimming toward you is quite a sight

staircase to the moon
the moon rising over the mudflats creates this effect around the full moon

Comments

[Andrew]

thanks for the thongs
hey guys - the trip sounds fantastic so far - was it in that nightclub you got the idea about thongs for young Frankie? All the best.

[Ilona]

Hello from Canmore
Hi Yvonne and Ed, Wonderful to hear about your recent adventures! The 'regular looking shark' is a blacktip shark and they can be quite dangerous (aka have attacked humans). I'm SO jealous that you swam with whale sharks! I was in Grand Cayman in April to visit friends and to do some diving. Apparently you can see them from Little Cayman, but I didn't have time to go there this visit. I did, however, go diving and then snorkelling at Stinray City. That was quite an experience. The stingrays are very habituated to humans and will eat frozen squid right out of your hand. I felt guilty pleasure doing this, however, because it reminded me of what our 'garbage bears' used be like around Banff. If you end up coming to Western Canada, be sure to let me know, because I live in the rockies, very close to Banff and it is the most beautiful place you can imagine in the summertime! Hey Yvonne, that wasn't you up on stage was it? (:0) Regards, Ilona