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Ningaloo Reef Marine Park
Rob found this massive piece of coral on the beach Wow, once again,its been a big day! Might need to get home soon, for a bit of a rest! We set off just on 6 (had to wait to get some deisel first) for a 3 hour run to Exmouth and the Ningaloo reef. It's getting just that little bit cooler now, actually had to bite the bullet and put a jumper on for the first couple of hours this morning! Thats a little bit sad...
Really good roads in WA so far and it was a pretty easy drive in. One funny sight though, sheep running free in the paddocks and often over the roads! You get used to seeing brahman bulls here, but not sheep! They are pretty brainless so Rob had to take care not to hit them as they darted across the road. Dont know if they were wild or some pastoralist thought they may as well run sheep as well. Can't imagine what the helicopter muster would look like!
Arrived in Exmouth safely and tracked down some breakfast, whilst we tried to figure out the best way to see the reef and still manage to be near a pub to watch Melb smash Collingwood
Ningaloo Reef Marine Park
Beautiful wildflowers are everywhere tomorrow! We couldnt risk being in the middle of nowhere for that! Some priorities have to be met!
We decide to spend the full day driving through Cape Range National park and the Ningaloo Reef marine park, then head down to Coral Bay for a couple of nights. This means I can snorkel tomorrow here, go on a Quad bike tour, and still see the footy at the pub across the road! All good.
So drive around the park we did. It really deserved more time there but we still saw heaps and had a great time. The road runs around the outside of the area and you stop in at all the various beaches etc. There is a significant naval presence up here, with a massive Communications station that was initiated by the US govt when the cold war was at its best! The towers are huge and they look quite eery.
Theres a ship wreck off the coast and a lighthouse that was built in response to the ship wreck (the light house is abandoned now). Fantastic views of the coast from there though. I looked for humpback whales but no luck. They used to
Ningaloo Reef Marine Park
This was called the surf beach, where the wreck of the Murray is capture them from this area in huge quantities back in the day because there was so many of them migrating through. Thank goodness that stopped!
The most famous beach (and our favourite) is Turquoise bay and it is breathtaking! The reef is very close to shore so you can snorkel to it very easily. It was hard to differentiate from the sky and the ocean, the blues were magnificent. The water was crystal clear and warm as toast!
The reef is famous for diving with Whale sharks. Sadly I have decided I'm going to have to give that a miss. My ears haven't been great of late and I know the pressure from diving will be too hard. And Rob doesnt dive or snorkel. So it's not for us unfortunately. The good news is Coral bay is part of Ningaloo reef too, so tomorrow morning I am hiring the snorkelling gear and going out there by myself. That wont hurt the ears, so it'll be awesome!
Ningaloo reef has an additional beach that is rather unique and that's Mauritius beach. Its unique because...wait for it...' clothes are optional'! True story! As we drove back out, Rob said
Ningaloo Reef Marine Park
You can just see the wreck. The waters are very rough and reefy, easy to see how wrecks can happen the photo opportunity was too good to miss so we went in! Not a photo of other people of course, but of a pose he had planned! So careful everybody, he's insisted I post the photo. "It will define your blog!", he said. hhhhmmmmm, not so sure! Anyway, I've buried it at the end of the blog, so check it out at your own risk! (its not that bad by the way)
It was a hoot though, a fantastic beach too! There were three other cars in the car park but we only saw one couple on the beach and they had chosen to remain dressed. Not sure where the other folk were, but there are massive sand dunes so they may have been hidden away. Not as brave as they thought they were! So the picture was taken and we headed off. It was quite a rough beach too, you'd never swim there. But it was stunning and the surf amazing!
So we are now at Coral bay, which is at the bottom of the reef. Its a very cute little town, mainly caravan parks, tour operators, pubs and general stores. As I said tomorrow I will
Ningaloo Reef Marine Park
These pieces of reef life were washed up. They were massive and the one on Robs left looked almost like flywire snorkel the reef, go on a Quad bike tour with Rob where we are bound to see Reef sharks and turtles,and have a ball bashing over the sand dunes. (hope there's no nudie sunbakers!) ... Then we will slip into the pub next door to watch the Demons smash Collingwood. There it is, you heard it here first folks!
Today was my lovely mum's birthday and if she'd still been with us she would have turned 84. So I've had a quiet beer to celebrate and think of her. And tomorrow its our daughter Shannons birthday who is 21 (again!) So I'm going to have to celebrate for her too!
Stay warm people!
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Shannon Wiggins
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OMG
OMG, thanks for the bday present Rob, don't think i'll ever recover lol. Even showed Elijah hes still laughing, says your hilarious lol