Having a Whale of a Time

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Well if Broome was the place that I saw my first whale in the flesh .... then Exmouth is the place that I saw the MOST whales in the flesh! Yes ... I am in Exmouth. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and after setting up the Thunderbox in the Cape Exmouth Caravan Park (which is very nice I must say), I headed out to the lighthouse for what I expected to be a good vantage point to watch the sunset. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were bucket loads of humpback whales passing by - alot of them close to shore. So I ended up spending several hours watching, enjoying and taking pics - including some that I have added on here.

This morning I woke to find Exmouth overrun by Variety Club Bash vehicles - for those not aware, this is a fund raising campaign held by the Variety Club of Australia, usually requiring teams in “aged” vehicles to travel between two points - normally through fairly remote country. As a novelty, the cars are decorated with a theme, and usually either have sirens and / or novelty horns (including the old General horn from the Dukes of Hazard). As I have a Mascot on this trip, being Donkey from Shrek who adorns my front windscreen bearing the words “Are We There Yet?”, my favourite Variety Club car had to be the Shrek car of course!

Today it was a trip to the Ningaloo Reef, which I have read is the only coral reef in the world to grow on the western side of a land mass (now there is a trivial pursuit question if I ever heard one). Having swum on the Great Barrier Reef, I would have to rate Ningaloo as pretty damn good. First, the water is warmer, this being winter. Second, the reef is so close to the shore that you can just swim out to it, rather than requiring a boat ride or tour. Thirdly, the water was so clear and the marine life was fantastic! Kirst - you have to do it sometime! Its great! I am going back tomorrow for another dip. There are some decent currents running through the water though, as the waves break over the reef and dump volumes of water onto the reef which has to escape somehow. Nevertheless, with a pair of fins, you have no problem at somewhere like Turquoise Bay.

Exmouth is on a Cape, with the Cape Range National Park being on the western side of the Cape. Needless to say there is much wildlife about even whilst not in the water, with roos, emus (yes Gonul ... they are emus!), and even snakes about. I managed to line one snake up between the wheels of the JGG and pass right over him. The second one was not so lucky as evidenced by the writhing brown mass I saw in the rear vision mirror as I passed by!

Enjoy the pics and talk soon!

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