June 29 ... Exmouth

After a lovely morning on the beach at Coral Bay, we had bacon and egg burgers for lunch and headed off to Exmouth. It was only 150 kms so we arrived around 3pm and went into town and restocked. Exmouth has had a few surprises for us, the first of which was our site. Initially we thought "Wacko, right near the amenities, clothes lines and barbeques" ... how handy!... but the convenience of being right outside the Gents quickly wore off. ALL through the night I got to learn a lot about the toiletry habits of men, enough to have me up at the park office early the next morning asking about an alternative site!!! So we decamped and are now happily settled a short distance away, and I am pleased to say that last night was very quiet, and this morning I heard bird calls instead of flushing toilets.
Our second surprise will have just as big an impact. When booking 12 days here, I recalled amazing beaches a short drive out of town, perhaps 10 kms or so. In fact, these particular beaches are 1) in the National Park with a fee to pay each time you go in, and 2) more than 70 kms from town. So, the "beach" I envisage lolling about on is an hour by car and about 150 kms round trip, at a cost of $11 ($5 with Garry's Seniors Card) What a funny thing memory is!
Anyway, Tuesday was bright and sunny so we set off on a "reccy". We decided just to drive as far as we could and check out all the beaches and sights to refamiliarize ourselves with the area. Last time we were here the area was flooding but we are surprised how green things are looking now.

General Landscape at Exmouth

Our first stop was the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse. It is really the only lookout near the coast and we were lucky enough to spot some humpback whales travelling north. There is a caravan park there but at 20 kms out of town we felt it was just too far from services. The views were excellent though and we plan to spend more time enjoying them in future days.

The Coastline from the lighthouse

Vlamingh  Head Lighthouse

From here we drove on to T-Bone Bay ... what an unimaginative name, but the bay was beautiful and gave us our first glimpse of the amazing colours of the waters of this area.

T-Bone Bay

Ningaloo Reef

Our next stop was the Milyering Visitors Centre and beach. This centre is excellent for information on the area and Ningaloo Reef. It has been updated since our last visit and I watched a documentary explaining why the unique whale shark could soon be endangered. Incredibly, over 100 million sharks are taken from the oceans each year and I can't see how any species can survive that carnage for long. We also drove down to the beach here and it was very pretty.

Milyering Beach

By now it was lunchtime so we stopped in at Trealla Beach for a sandwich. This is one of the advantages of always having your "home" with you. There are over 35 of these small bays and beaches that can be easily accessed by car. Some have campgrounds of 3 - 7 sites which are very popular and hard to get, others just have toilets, and some have nothing, but all have a fantastic setting in the dunes behind the ocean.

What incredible colour!

Lunch at Trealla Beach

Having "refuelled" we were off to Turquoise Bay. By this time a massive black cloud had come over but it only cast a shadow rather than brought rain. Turquoise Bay was as popular as ever, mostly with snorkelers. This is where there is a snorkel drift. You get in the water at one point and the current takes you slowly north until you need to get out when the current  flows quickly out to sea. There is also a nice bay to swim in and the beach has fairly white sand.

Turquoise Bay

So inviting

The Reef

Snorkelers Drift

 We also called in at the Oyster Stacks. More beautiful water views and some aquatic entertainment. The reef lagoon here is approx 230 ms wide and is very shallow. The name is due to the many oyster shells that are on the rocks.

The Oyster Stacks

The reef lagoon

We then decided to drive down to Yardie Creek, the end of the road, and do the gorge walk. Running the whole length of the peninsula is an ancient range. It is not too dramatic but it is very rugged and colourful. Yardie Creek is the only fresh water creek on the Cape and the gorge it creates is quite impressive. It was a pretty easy walk which was lucky because it was quite hot, and the views were great. We also saw some rock wallabies on the cliffs and together with the emus, kangaroos and whales we had seen earlier, I was happy with my animal spotting.

The Cape Range

More Range

Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek Gorge

The Gorge looking toward the mouth of the creek

The Gorge Cliffs

Black footed Wallaby

We did not get home until 5pm, pretty hot, a little tired and well pleased with our day... then tea, a shower, a movie and a good night's sleep.




 This morning we woke to rain showers and cloudy skies. We have spent the day catching up with things and we walked into town to do some shopping. It is nice to have a "rest" day occasionally and if we have another dull day tomorrow I will  definitely be working on my French assignment!