Blogs from Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 19

Started our Open Water Course today with Exmouth Dive Centre. The first day didn't go too well as I absolutely paniced and couldn't pass my swim OR float test! However, I went out for a few beers that night with a few from our caravan park (that we now refer to as our home; as we have a little caravan just for the three of us), and I felt better about the prospect of passing....which I totally did with flying colours the next day. We also had to pass a medical, which was one of the funniest processes I have ever undergone.... read more

Day 39 - Thursday 11 May 2006 Carnarvon to Coral Bay We didn’t travel that far today but we were glad to get out of the condensation and the hot weather. In Carnarvon it gets cool at night and gets really hot in the morning. I was eating my breakfast this morning and got dripped on. It is really wet underfoot but soon drys up. Graeme didn’t like Carnarvon too much but I thought it was okay. We arrived at Coral Bay about lunchtime and decided to put the annexe up. We booked in for 3 nights as Maureen and Harry said it was a beautiful spot. It is not much of a town except basically accommodation, tours, small shopping centre and a pub. We drove in and thought there was only one caravan park but ... read more

Alright so it's been awhile since I've wrote in this thing but what can I say I was never one of those girls who kept a diary. Alright so I believe we left off after my amazing turn as an Australian baseball player. I think I have a permanent bump on my leg from that ball, it's hot. Anywho, so that weekend we went on an amazing field trip for Marine Science, did I say amazing, I meant crappy. If I ever tell anyone I want to be an oceanographer, laugh, it's a joke. I'm not even going to bore you with the details of that trip, I'm just going to say this. You hear, marine science field trip on a boat, you think sounds like fun right?...you think wrong! Alright so now we get to ... read more

Stromatolites, Celebration, Living The Dream, Face The Fear, Big Fish, , Decisions. Leaving Shark bay we make a short stop at another world famous scientific attraction, the oldest living organisms on the plannet, they live for 4000 years, they grow a millimetre a year, they are the Stromatolites! Hoorah. Well really they are a bacteria / amoeba that creates calcite ‘bommies’ in shallow saline water, check the picture of these strange things , not a great kite surfing spot! From Sharky we head north for a big 600ks to be in a good place for me to celebrate my 25th anniversary of life! Exmouth is the destination, set on a peninsula of national park and ringed by the Ningaloo reef it is a huge tourist destination. On the day in question I celebrate by spending a ... read more

Moving further north up the coast we arrived in Exmouth, a small but otherwise friendly town which is home to the turtle trackers, a group of fine young volunteer things that assist in monitoring turtles and ensuring their protection in the waters around this peninsular. We befriended some of them whilst a the hostel and they told us all the best places to go snorkelling to swim with more turtles which we proceeded to do for 3 days straight with Marjo (a lovely Finnish girl) and Antony and Nelia who we bumped into - yet again! :) Mike... read more