Week 13 – Yannarie – Exmouth – Ningaloo Reef

Our free camp on the way to Exmouth was interesting. We arrived at Yannarie River (dry) and set up. 

We collected a whole pile of wood for a fire that night. We were going to cook our dinner on the fire. Before we got to cook our jaffles, Nanna had to try a marshmallow – dessert before dinner – not acceptable!

We used the jaffle iron and made some yummy jaffles even if they were slightly burnt around the edges.

Then we cooked marshmallows for dessert.

That night Nanna heard some unusual sounds outside the van. She turned on the outside light and saw a whole herd of cattle around the van. Some were rubbing up against the van. In the morning Pa found lick marks all over the van and car. They had tried to eat the bullbar and left some marks – not impressed!

We arrived in Exmouth on the North West Cape. After we set up the van we went for a drive to the lighthouse at the top of the Cape. Here the Ningaloo Coast begins which is a World Heritage Area. The fringing reef is the longest in the world and the reef stops the ocean waves and creates a safe lagoon for hundreds of miles for the reef-dwelling animals and fish. It is a diver’s and fishermen’s paradise. Pa finally found some waves. It was 8-10 foot out on the bombie. Too far to paddle though.

The next day the surf had dropped a little so Pa finally got his first surf at Hunter’s Beach. The surf was still big from yesterday, about 6 foot but he had to use his longboard to pick up the waves. At least he was happy to be out there. He was also very, very tired when he came in after not paddling for 3 months.

We booked a whale shark dive for Monday so we had to extend our stay and booked into the Lighthouse Caravan Park for a few days. Monday looks the best on the forecast as the swell may drop a little by then. The dive boat goes outside the reef so we would like it a little smaller.

We visited lots of beaches along the Ningaloo Reef and Nanna collected a lot of coral and shells.

Pa has a snorkel and saw lots of little fish and colourful coral, but it was a little milky from the huge waves.

Pa had another surf at Hunters and got a few more waves than yesterday.
We experienced the longest lunar eclipse of the century that night. Western Australia was in the perfect position to view the whole eclipse, however we had to get up at 4.00am to see the full eclipse. The moon was higher than in the eastern states so it appeared a bit smaller, but it was an awesome sight.

The next day we went on a boat trip up the Yardie Creek Gorge. The tour was interesting and we saw lots of black-footed rock wallabies perched on the cliffs. They are an endangered species but do well here as the animals who like to eat them can’t climb the cliffs that well. They are hunted by snakes, dingoes and eagles. We saw a dingo walking along the road on the way into the creek.

After the tour we went to many beaches looking to have a practice snorkel for Nanna before we go on our whale shark dive on Monday. Finally we found a nice coral beach close to the shore. We walked up the beach to a sandy spot and had a snorkel around. We saw lots of very bright fish, some quite large, as well as coral and sea cucumbers. Nanna almost stepped on a blue spotted ray who was having a rest on the bottom. The water is so clear it is the perfect place to dive. We are really looking forward to our whale shark dive on Monday.

Pa flew the drone above the beach at Oyster Stacks. Here the reef is very close to the beach and it is the first beach we snorkelled.

We also ran into Liz “Moncur” who is travelling around with her family. She spotted us at Lakeside Beach just before our snorkel at Turquoise Bay.

Luckily on Monday the swell had dropped a little. There were still some 6-8 foot waves out on the reef and the rollers kept going all day outside the reef. The boat we went on was awesome though.

We went for a snorkel inside the reef from the boat to test all the equipment before we went outside to the sea in search of whale sharks. The coral was fantastic and the variety of fish and clams was amazing. We drifted across the reef fringe and met up with the boat. Nanna saw some electric blue fish which were all over the reef.

Then we drove out from the reef to the open ocean. The colours on the water were nanna’s favourite aqua tinges, especially inside the reef. The Ningaloo WhalesharkNDive company has its own spotter plane so the Captain powered out about 6 km to where the plane had spotted a whale shark.

Nanna and I were in the first group to hit the water. The boat drops us off in groups in front of the whale shark and the whale shark swims right past us. Whale sharks never stop moving, even when they are asleep (like a lot of sharks). They are numerous around Ningaloo Reef at this time of year as the coral spawns on the full moon. This attracts lots of zooplankton and shrimp which is the whale sharks favourite food. They are not bothered by the people in the water but there are special rules such as not touching them and getting out of their way if they turn into you (it’s not easy to swim backwards with flippers).

They were awesome. They swam so close you could almost reach out and touch them. We managed to keep up with them for about 5 minutes before they swam past to the next group. The boat then swings by and picks you up before dropping you in further up the reef. It was a busy day.

We also saw a huge pod of spinner dolphins. These dolphins can jump out of the water and spin around up to 7 times while they are in the air.

There were humpback whales everywhere around the boat all day. Some with calves which were very little. One little calf was trying to jump completely out of the water. He nailed it!

We had lunch then found another whale shark so we jumped back into action for the next hour, dropping us in the water then picking us up, before dropping in again. It is almost 80m deep outside the reef where we were but we didn’t feel unsafe about snorkelling this far out at all.

The day finished with a cruise past the humpbacks into the reef before a bus ride back to the van. We were both stuffed by the end of the day but it was certainly a highlight of the trip so far.

Tomorrow we head for Coral Bay – more snorkelling and beachcombing to come – tough life.