Heading for the coast

We were all ready for a change of scenery as we headed to the coast and Exmouth. We made it in two hops – happy to have a straight run ahead of the rain.

The campground at Yardie Homestead was packed – we went from having our own little space in a vast park to being surrounded by motor homes and caravans in a commercial camping ground. It was great to have top notch facilities but it was busy.

People had told me how stunning the colour of the water is out here – I wasn’t disappointed. It is the most brilliant blue and the beaches are the whitest sand.

One of the reasons I had decided on this particular trip was the opportunity to swim with the whale sharks on Ningaloo Reef. Wow. I’m so glad I was able to spend time with these massive creatures – it’s easy to forget that they are actually sharks because they seem so non-threatening.

The experience was full-on to say the least. You can’t just float in the water and watch them because they swim quite quickly. Your guide tells you to jump in and you can watch them pass and then you swim to try to follow them. It’s hard work. You can’t get too close because they are protected and they don’t slow down. If you can’t keep up, tough luck. After 4 times in and out of the water again we were all exhausted. It was worth it.

The terrain of the Cape Range National Park is quite different to Karajini. Our first hike was Mandu Mandu Gorge walking along a dry riverbed listening to the sweet singing of birds we couldn’t see. We got really close to a couple of gorgeous rock wallabies who didn’t seem to mind us at all.

Our next adventure was one of my favourite excursions - a boat trip down Yardie Creek with a larger than life character who told stories, teased the children and entertained as we made our way slowly into the gorge. We saw rock wallabies and monitor lizards sunning themselves on the cliffs above us and watched magnificent ospreys soar over our heads. At the end, a walk along the top of the gorge gave us a very different perspective and the opportunity to see the ospreys a little bit closer - the area is a protected zone for them.Read more