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Published: October 11th 2007
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Just a little one cos we have found a free internet thing in Albany - not sure we're actually supposed to be using it though! Keep our heads down and hopefully we can knock this one out.
I think I left you last time as we had just finished our northwards travel up to
Exmouth We found a place to stay almost straight away as it was getting dark and tis a bit dodgy driving around at night with all of the roos and emus wandering about the joint.
The caravan park seemed really nice and they gave us a discount because of our travellers cards - awesome. After checking in we went in search of some supplies in the massive city of exmouth which we had driven a thousand kilometres to get to. 10 mins later after we had thoroughly searched the whole place we headed back to the park. We cooked up some sausages on their camp barbecue and settled back with another glass of wine or two for the evening. Lovely.
Next day....it was hot! 😊 The lady behind the desk at the caravan park very kindly told us that the path behind the park
led straight down to the beach so we went straight down after breakfast. What she didnt tell us however it wasn't exactly the nicest beach in Exmouth, covered in seaweed and driftwood so we promptly turned around and got in the van to Bundegi beach, 11km down the road. The beach was gorgeous and we spent the rest of the day there, sunbathing, reading and swimming with the fishes. Just after a lunch a fat bloke resembling the scottish guy from austin powers came up to the beach hollering something about having seen some whales out on a boat trip he had just been on. Sure enough, in the distance we could see a whale flipping about in the water, jumping in and out and generally just playing around! We tried to take some photos but they just didnt do it justice. Even though they were so far away, it was amazing to watch it in its natural habitat and the fact that we could see the shape and the details so clearly at that distance just shows how big the whale was!
The next day we set off early to what Exmouth is famous for, the Cape Range
National Park, set down the west coast of the cape and including most of the Ningaloo Coral Reef. It was only about 25km from Exmouth so when we got to the entry gate of the park the ranger told us that we could pick which campsite we wanted to stay for the night out the 4 or 5 in the park. We chose Tulki Beach, right in the middle and drove down straight away to meet the camp's hosts and pay the $13 (about a fiver) for the spot. After getting a bit scared by the hosts serious warnings on what to do if we get bitten by a snake and advice on snake bandages we headed out to one of the parks main attractions; the Yardie Creek Gorge. We did the main nature trail up onto the rocks overlooking the gorge and although we didn't see alot of "nature" we really enjoyed the walk. The red cliffs overlooking the vivid blue creek running through it down to the sea was really stunning. By then it was noon and the hottest part of the day, so like all good Brits we decided to hit the beach as I needed to
catch up with Adam's tan! We decided on the very originally named "Sandy Beach", a gorgeous little bay with golden sand, turquoise water and not a cloud in the sky. We spent a relaxing afternoon there, swimming and reading, although I think adam got a bit bored of sunbathing after a few hours and made a very impressing Kangaroo sand sculpture! When it got a bit cooler we decided to head back to the campsite via the Mandu Mandu Gorge, the other main attraction in the park. This one was a dry gorge and was quite cool walking all the way up the riverbed up onto the cliffs. Adam found a spiky little porcupine thing hiding in the bushes on the way back to the van. We thought it might be rare and dangerous so of course took looks of photos and videos but it just turned out to be an Echidna, a harmless little creature! So we then set off back to the campsite and being dusk all the emus and kangaroos were up and about so we had to drive back very carefully! We got back in time for the camp "happy hour" and so grabbed a couple
of mugs of wine and joined about 4 other couples, (all of them retired and more active than we were!), for an hour or so while the sun set.
They had all come to the park to take advantage of the amazing snorkeling and we felt like we were missing out so we were at the one shop in the park as soon as it opened the next morning to purchase a couple of snorkeling sets (junior size for me!). By 9:30 we were in the "beginners" area of the famous snorkeling spot Turquoise Bay, swimming across the amazing coral with hundreds of fishes, some bigger than my head! I had never snorkeled before so when i felt a bit more confident we went round to the other side of the bay "Drift Loop" where you swim out to the coral at the left hand side of the bay and let the current gently sweep you across the bay, taking care not to let it pull you too far and get sucked out into the stronger currents! Adam swam a bit further out than i did onto a patch of sand dunes, and looking down saw he was floating
across the top of a huge stingray type creature floating on the sand beneath him!
We spent a good few hours nipping in and out of the water, and saw some amazing fishes, starfish, and a clam that closed when you swam over it! Later that afternoon we went to explore some of the other beaches, including the "Oyster Stacks" beach, a rockier beach where we found loads of crabs and starfish! After hitting Turquoise bay once more for another snorkeling session, we headed back to the campsite before it got too dark and settled down for the evening with a box of australians finest wine and good old sausages and pasta for our last night in Cape Range National Park.
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