It's funny having to be efficient and send a load of emails when on holiday but that's what I did this morning after our rather early 7.00am breakfast - that along with a trip to the visitors centre as we have our whale trip transferred to Sunday, the original manta ray trip sadly cancelled but a new manta ray trip with a different company booked for Saturday. I hope this will work out as it’s the main reason we are visiting but like many other places we have visited around the world, the very high winds are extremely unusual for this time of year!
Despite the difficult start to the day we headed North, then East then South to travel around the peninsula into the Ningaloo National Park. The the sky was totally clear and the colours of the Indian Ocean amazing. It actually took well over an hour for us to reach Turquoise Bay. Despite it being choppy we managed our first snorkel - big shock the water was pretty nippy. Last time we swam in the Indian Ocean it was in the Seychelles and it had been like bath water - not here though. The small amount of reef we saw was really interesting along with bright fish, white sea cucumbers with spots and starfish. We sat for a bit to dry off and warm up in the sun but neither of us are sun worshippers so we decided to head back to the car and continue exploring. Onto the Oyster Stacks, another bay where you can only swim at high tide and as we drove back out along the dirt track we spotted our second emu - I did not have the long lens on so this is a bit of a ‘radish’ shot! It does give an impression of the 'outback' or bush though.
We finished our day exploring Surfers Beach on the peninsula and walked as far as the wreck of the SS Mildura, clearly visible from the beach. Lots of interesting shells there including some small cowries (one of my favorites). Just as we were walking up the dunes back to the car, a man stopped us to point out humpback whales breaching n the lagoon, it was my first chance to test out my new binoculars which are excellent - I am very pleased with them.
Unfortunately our day ended the way it started - not too well as we waited for over an hour to be served at the infamous Whalers restaurant in Exmouth. I am normally pretty tolerant but even I lost my patience and we finally walked out and Colin gave a clear piece of his mind to the manager, offered him $10 for our drinks which the manager did not take so the only consolation was that I had my first beer in Western Australia for free. It was a rapid drive back to the Godfather BBQ where we dined last night and who fitted us in 10-minutes before they closed and we both enjoyed their excellent brisket! Hoping for a more positive day tomorrow.
