Perth to Exmouth

After my last blog of how to enjoy a country when you are only a tourist I decided to take a 21 day tour up the west coast of Australia through the company Western Xposure My only other option was to rent a car, sleep in it and shower at rest stops...needless to say I decided not to. Frank and I are doing the tour together with 14 other people in a 4WD vehicle with a trailer on the back. Our first stop was to the Nambung National Park which houses the Pinnacles. These are 25,000 year old limestone structures that reminded me of Stonehenge, but in the middle of the desert. We walked around to admire some that reached a height of 5 meters. They are in the middle of nowhere and it took us hours to reach them by car. They were impressive, but it was more astounding to know that they had been there that long. The next stop was to a group of sand dunes to go sand boarding. Wakeboarding is more my style and snow boarding didn't really fit for me so on my first trip down the hill I sat on the board. It was really cool! We had walked up to the top edge of pristine white sand and had wooden boards with a foot hold on them. After my first run, I had to walk back up the hill with my feet sinking into the sand! Dani, a woman from England, and I were both trepidaceous to try standing on the board so we tried to practice on the short hill and it didn't work. Finally we just went down the hill and it was great...better than snowboarding! That night we stayed in a hostel right on the beach and were able to watch the waves and stars.

The next day was an early start to walk the Murchison Gorge in Kalbarri National Park. The gorge was cut into a 'z' shape by the Murchison River and there are some great walks into the gorge and up to Nature's Window. This natural rock arch looks like a picture frame and is amidst multiple rock formations that I tried to climb...okay not really, but it is a cool picture! In the afternoon we drove to Shell Beach for a walk on the shells that acted like a pumice stone. That night we stayed at a great hostel in Denham and went for a walk with an Aborigine named Capes. We had headtorches and walked along a beach area and into an place that was formerly used by the local Aborigines. Now only Capes uses the area to teach tourists about his culture. He was a very serious and interesting man as well as knowledgeable about his people. We were located in Shark Bay and he told us the Aboriginal name numerous times only to have us unable to recall it 15 minutes later. It was interesting how difficult it was, but by the 5th time most of us got it (sad!)

The next day we awoke and walked down to the beach to feed the dolphins in Monkey Mia. They swim in the shallow water around your feet and wait to be fed. It was truly an impressive site because there are so many of them and they feel comfortable coming so close. We were told that in the past the dolphins became quite unhealthy because too many people were petting them. Their skin is a mucous membrane that protects them from disease, but the human hand destroys this layer. Now people are not allowed to pet them. This seems sad because of the experience, but it is more important to protect their health. We played a game of beach volleyball and jumped in the truck and headed for the Stromatolites. These may look like black rocks, however, they are living structures that have been around for millions of years. Before their presence on earth the air was not fit for humans so they helped enrich the oxygen content and made it possible for us to breathe it. When looking at them it is easy to say, "Big whoop, why are we here?" But once you let their importance sink in it is easy to just sit on the dock and admire their beauty and simplicity. We stayed the night in a little hostel where it was advised not to wash your hair because the soap never comes out. So what did Frank and I do? We washed our clothes instead...woo they stunk!

Manta Rays

The next day we were ready to go snorkelling with the Manta Rays. These are fantastic sharks (yes, they are considered sharks) that live on the Ningaloo Reef yet not much is known about them. Hundreds of years ago they were considered bad luck to the sailors because if you saw them in the water then you knew you were about to hit the Ningaloo Reef! Dani, Lauren, Florian, Frank and I had a great day. As soon as the boat went out on the reef we separated into two groups. The first group jumped in the water with the guide and swam with a Manta Ray. They are solo creatures and swim pretty fast. We switched off between each group and were able to swim with them 3 different times. It reminded me of the movie 'The Abyss' because of their birdlike movement underwater. The day was not over yet! From the deck of the boat we saw turtles, dolphins and dugongs (aka manatees). The dolphins were mating and I won't go into the details, but let's just say that it is not just a female and a male, but the whole group is involved! The dugongs were swimming together in the water and one of the guides was saying how she wished she brought her underwater camera to take pictures of them. Well, what do you know? I gave her mine and she was able to get some fantastic pictures and so were we! The boat took us to a great snorkelling spot where you could swim to a shark cleaning reef. Basically the little fish will clean the plankton off of the bottom of the sharks and the fish get protection from the sharks. We swam to a space in the reef and to the opposite where we needed to be careful because of the strong current. Down below there were hundreds of fish including sharks. It was incredible! Think of a combination of 'Finding Nemo' and 'Shark Tale' to get an idea of what it looked like. Our guide said we could do some free diving to see more. This is just holding your breath and plunging down into the water. Neither Frank nor I had ever tried it before and it was impossible for us. If it wasn't a problem with holding our breath long enough then it was the pressure in our ears. We swam to the other side of the reef and continued to try to dive down as we took many underwater pictures. One of the guides came over to give us some tips, but we still were unable to free dive (but in Turquoise Bay we did!) One of the excitements in the life of the ship captain is to throw fish food off the back of the boat while there are girls in the water. Why is that? Well, think about it if there is food around a girl in a bikini, what do you think the fish do? It is the most strange feeling to have fish nibbling all around you with their slimey bodies rubbing up against you. I was fortunate to have this occur 3 or 4 times, however, I still never got used to it! That night was the last night with our group as we were staying in Exmouth for 5 extra days to go scuba diving. We prepared mexican food with our group and Sarah, our tour guide, wanted me to fix the nachos as well as make the first burrito. Somehow she thought that I would be best able to show them. Mexico is pretty close to the USA...Anyway imagine making a burrito with 16 people watching you and even having Japanese girls taking pictures of you while you are doing it! After dinner we convinced one of the other people on our tour, Jim, to play his guitar and sing for us. This turned out to be a great night as we made our way to the beach singing and laughing.

The next day we headed to a few tourist spots like the Vlaming Head Lighthouse and the Ningaloo Reef Visitor Center and then went snorkelling in Turquoise Bay. This area has a really strong current and it is best known for drift snorkelling since the current carries you along. It was actually a little dangerous in areas because of the current, but we were fine...The visibility was a bit poor that day so we practiced our free diving and finally got it. Basically you take a deep breath, plunge head first in the water and go straight to the bottom. On the way down you hold your nose and equalize your ears in order to feel comfortable. For most of the dives I was trying to take pictures of the fish and so I was basically on the bottom following them and not really paying attention to not breathing. As you can see some of the pictures are incredible. I wish that I would have known how to free dive in the GBR because I could have gotten even better pictures. We were out there for a couple of hours and had a great time.

Whale Sharks

So now we had a week in Exmouth which is known for some of the great scuba diving in Australia because of the Ningaloo Reef. The GBR is more well known because it is so big, however, the Ningaloo is less spoilt by humans. This is the season for whale sharks...these are the biggest sharks in the world and can reach a length of 18 meters. We were going to swim with them. Before you start to worry too much I will tell you that whale sharks do not eat humans and are completely safe. They, like manta rays, are lone creatures and it is possible for only 10 people to swim with them at once due to the restrictions in place to protect them. Here is the scenario: there is a plane in the air and six boats filled with people in the sea. The airplane will radio each boat when the pilot spots a whale shark and the boats line up for a chance to swim with them. Once the first boat reaches the area a spotter from the boat as well as 9 tourists will jump into the water and swim with the shark. This sounds easier than it is. The spotter must see the shark and swim 3 or more meters from its side or 4 or more meters from its tail. We then must swim as fast as the spotter avoiding other peoples legs and arms and look through their bubbles to see the shark. We went into the water the first time and saw the most beautiful creature swimming below us. He was about 5 meters long, but 10 meters below us. We only swam with him for about a minute before resurfacing and waiting our turn again. On the boat we had great people to talk to, food and the beautiful ocean to keep us entertained. It was time for our second swim in the water. The spotter jumped in and we raced after her. I was swimming pretty much behind her and there was a lot of bubbles as well as multiple people swimming next to me. At one point I gulped a huge amount of sea water and had to stop, but I continued to follow them. Unfortunately I saw nothing, but here is the sad part, once we stopped everyone started to cheer how absolutely amazing it was and how much bigger this one was compared to the last. What? Frank was all smiles,"Hey, Lori, wasn't that great?" And of course always the tactful one I cursed, said I saw nothing and swam to the boat. Everyone on the boat was in high spirits except myself and a couple of others that felt the same. Oohh it was not a good feeling! Frank tried in vain to cheer me up, but I wanted (needed) to see one again. Very quickly I received another chance and just the spotter and I swam on one side of the whale shark with everyone else on the other side. At first I thought, "Great, nothing again!" But then I saw him about 6 or 7 meters long swimming to my left with a host of feeder fish swimming below him. The spotter was to my right and everyone else on the other side of the shark so it felt like it was just the shark and I swimming together. It was an incredible once in a lifetime experience that lasted for only 5 minutes, but was fantastic!

Scuba Diving

For the next two days Frank and I went scuba diving together. I dove 5 times at the GBR and five times here, but here in Exmouth I had a great partner that I trusted and knew. We made such a good team and were able to share the Ningaloo Reef as a couple. The colors of the reef were really beautiful and similar to the GBR, but more flat. The fish, however, were more abundant. We saw a Moray Eel. Let me just describe this unique creature. We were diving up and down coral areas with schools of fish surrounding us and we came upon our guide pointing down to something brown that was moving back and forth. On a closer look I could see a snakelike creature with teeth that was bobbing its head back and forth for an unknown purpose. It was halfway in a rock and halfway out so I was not able to guess its size, but I would think it was about 1-2 meters long. Another great creature is the Wobbegong shark. They are bottom dwellers and appear pretty lazy, but we were able to see it swimming which the guide said was not usual. They usually lay on the bottom under a rock and are pretty camouflaged even though they are about 2 to 3 meters long and about 1 meter wide. There were also lionfish, lobster and a sea snake.

As you can tell I am having such a great time on the west coast of Australia. It helps that I am travelling with a wonderful person like Frank!

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