• Christina Eylert

Traveling the world

Un’avventura di 139 giorni di Christina Leggi altro
  • Coral Bay Shark Nursery

    29 febbraio 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I woke up around 6.30 am today. As Kara was still asleep I used the time to download the pictures from my under-water camera.

    At 7.30 she woke up and we had breakfast together.
    Afterward, we packed all our stuff together and were ready to go already at 8.50 am.

    The first stop for today is, Coral Bay 😉
    We just left the camp and parked on the other side of the road to walk to the Shark Sanctuary or also called Shark Nursery.
    It was around 25 in to walk to their bay. The water is very shallow here and we directly saw two small rays. Shortly after that, we spotted the first shark!
    And it didn't take a long time to find more.
    Most of them were swimming towards us and turning around like 2 m in front of us. 😳
    We were standing until our knees in the water and the sharks we saw were around 1-1,2m long.
    It's Black Tip Reef Sharks we saw, but there are also White Tip Reef Sharks, Grey Reef Shark and Lemon Reef Sharks living here.
    As we didn't want to disturb them so much we stayed close to the shore and didn't walk around the hole Sanctuary to look for more species of sharks. For me, it was already very fascinating like this!
    So we walked back to the car to keep on traveling. 😊
    Leggi altro

  • Road to Exmouth

    29 febbraio 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Leaving Coral Bay behind us around 10 am we had 150 km in front of us to Exmouth.
    Again nothing to do or see on the way. Except for the towers beside the road...
    I don't know what they are and what to call them, but they are everywhere here!
    We didn't see them before, the first one shortly before Coral Bay.

    I don't really know how to describe the vegetation here. It's even less than before. And we were really wondering what the cows we saw here are eating...
    It can't be too much, because they were not looking so good...

    It's hot here... We left Coral Bay with 32 degrees, up here it's between 38-40 degrees 🥵
    And with almost no trees around shade is rare. 😳😅

    We reached Exmouth at around 11.30 am.
    At first, we went to the visitor center to get some information about campsites along the west coast of the Exmouth peninsula.
    Good, we asked, because you need to book them online. So we sat down, using the wifi there and booked the campsites for the next two days and made a plan for the last 5 days we have together as well.

    With all plans set and the campsites booked, we went to store up as we need enough food and water for 2 1/2 days!
    In the town, the cockatoos are sitting around on the chairs everywhere!

    We got all we need and then went to Bundegi Bay for lunch. Nice beach but way too many flies... Super many flies 😳😬

    So we didn't stay here too long.
    We went to Osprey Bay, it's the last reachable campground for a 2 wheel drive on the west coast of the Exmouth Peninsula.
    We will stay here for one night and then travel up and explore a part of the coastline and the Cape Range National Park tomorrow and stay one more night in it, at Neds Campsite before heading back to Exmouth for our snorkeling trip. 😊
    Leggi altro

  • Osprey Bay

    29 febbraio 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Osprey Bay is a beautiful little place!
    We arrived shortly past 3 pm and the first thing we did was going for a swim. We also wanted to snorkel here but there was nothing to see, too much sand moving around in the water so you can't see something.
    It was anyway a nice swim, around one hour or so?

    After that we had a little break, sitting in the shadow from the car and discussing where and how to build up our tents best. It's super windy and the ground is super hard.
    We first tried to build up Karas tent, but it's impossible to get the hocks into the ground. As she has a lot of lines we could stabilize her tent with a lot of rocks, but my tent was impossible to build up so I will try to sleep in my car tonight 🙈😅
    On the back seats...
    Gonna be interesting.

    Around 6 pm we took our cooking equipment and went to a picnic table close to the beach for cooking. So while we were cooking we watched the sunset and I can just say: I love this lifestyle so much!! 🤗
    In the later evening, Kara was trying to take some pictures from the milky way we see here every night. But it's not so easy to get a good picture and she was giving up in the end.
    Leggi altro

  • Yardie Creek Gorge

    1 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    The night was ok. It could be worst but also better.. I got some sleep but was waking up often.

    We woke up around 6 am and watched the sunrise, before we had breakfast.
    After that, we packed up and left the campsite around 8.25 am to drive a little bit further south to re Yardie Creek Gorge.
    Here we went for a 2 km walk beside the river. So for it's not so far, only 29 degrees what is not bad at all. We are really used to the heat here now!

    The first part of the walk was on a nice path the rest was a rocky track up and down some gorges.
    It didn't take long for us to spot the first
    Wallaby’s 😍🤗
    OMG, they are so cute and so little! We saw a few of them sitting on the rocks on the sidewalls of the gorge.
    After a few more meters we spotted one really close to the track and watched this one for a while.

    At the end of the track, a couple told us, that there is a turtle down in the river and after a short search also saw the turtle! It's far away but it's our first turtle!
    After that, we turned around and walked back.
    Leggi altro

  • Yardie Creek Gorge and Wallabys

    1 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    On the way back to the car we saw the Wallaby that was sitting close to the track again. Still sitting in the same rock!

    It was much warmer on the way back and we were not surprised to see, that my car said it's 35 degrees outside now!
    Another hot day in paradise!
    Leggi altro

  • Oyster Stacks

    1 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    The next stop on our bucket-list for today was Oyster Stack. It's time to snorkel again 🤗

    We arrived here around 11.10 am and not ready directly to hit the water.
    It is a very rocky coastline here and I got sine problems to get into the water, stepping on something sharp, losing my balance and almost falling down on the rocks... Kara gave me a hand in the last second.
    I got a wound under my foot and on my leg but nothing deep or serious so we went in anyway.
    This must be the best place for snorkeling ever.
    There are corals and fishes everywhere, just a few centimeters away from the rocks 🤩😍
    We were so close to them that was just amazing!
    We saw so many fishes, so many different species and all so closed to us! Just unbelievable.
    Picture from underwater follow in an extra footprint!
    Leggi altro

  • Turquoise Bay

    1 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Our next stop was at Turquoise Bay. We arrived here from 12 o'clock and went straight away for a snorkeling trip. Here the reef is a little bit further out and the current is stronger but still okay to handle. We saw a lot of fishes, many very big fishes but this time we were further away from them as the water is deeper here.
    So I must say, I really liked it here, but I liked Oyster Stacks more as you are up close with the fishes and corals.
    We were out for around one hour or so?
    After that, we went to the beach for a short sunbath to dry. We were not laying there for long, because the sun was so strong and it felt like we are melting and burning away 😬😅
    So we searched for a picnic area for our lunch break and drove to Drift Point for it, it's just on the other side of the sandpit.
    Leggi altro

  • Drift Point

    1 marzo 2020, Indian Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    After our lunch break, we were putting on a lot of sunscreen as we both are already red 😬😅
    One more snorkeling trip is on our list for today, so hopefully, we are going to survive it 🙈😅

    We walked down the beach to then swim our and let us drift back with the current that is really strong here. Already swimming out wasn't easy but so worth it!
    We saw a turtle!! 😍
    Pretty close to us but unfortunately to fast to take a picture. But we finally saw a turtle up close 🤗
    So amazing! The reef here is different again z d we saw heaps of fish in all colors and sizes you can imagine.

    To get back to the beach was a hard thing. We had to swim really strong for quite some time to he back to the beach, that was a little bit scary, to be honest. 😳

    Anyway, we walked back and went in one more time. This time I went in further away and we're swimming back to the beach earlier what was much easier and better like this!
    Leggi altro

  • Neds Campsite

    1 marzo 2020, Indian Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We went straight to our campsite for tonight after the Drift Point snorkeling trip.
    I am super sunburned on the back and ass... 😬😳
    So I gonna stay in the shade for the rest of the day, covered in cloth and Kara will but body lotion on my back a few times. Luckily I am not feeling be or sick so it's not too bad, yet! 🙈
    This campsite has much more shelter from the wind that is good and the ground is more sandy so we were both able to build up our tents and I don't need to sleep in the car again! Nice!

    We relaxed the afternoon, I was ready for a while and started cooking around 6 pm and had a nice dinner.
    After dinner, we went into our tents early as we both are tired today. It was a long day with lots of action and we were both not sleeping so well last night. So hopefully it's gonna be better tonight, but the wind doesn't seems to slow down at the moment, what is bad 🙈😬
    Leggi altro

  • Mandu Mandu Gorge

    2 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Also this morning we woke up early. We tried to enjoy our breakfast but the flies were so nasty that I got a fast breakfast because we were both super irritated from them. So we left the campground around 8.10 am.
    We went to the Mandu Mandu Gorge first to do the 3 km walk here. It’s around 29 degrees already and supposed to get a really hot day today 😳😅

    So it’s just good, we are so early today.
    The first part of the walk is through the gorge on the dried-out riverbed. The air is standing still in here and it’s definitely hotter in here than outside of the gorge 🥵
    I had a little bit of a hard time with the heat today. So we walked quite slowly and stopped a few times. But we saw some wallaby’s again 😍
    And a lot of green parrots. So that was really cool.
    The next part of the walk was up the gorge to walk on the top of it back to the carpark. This was partly a really challenging climb but at least it’s a bit windy up there and the heat easier to handle.
    And the view from up there was just amazing!

    It took us almost two hours to complete the track.
    After that, we just wanted to get into the water as fast as possible.
    Leggi altro

  • Mandu Mandu Gorge Parrots

    2 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Here just some pictures from the parrots! They are hard to get on a picture as they are always on the move! So Kara did a great job with here camera doing these pictures!

  • Bird walk

    2 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Our next stop was at Mangrove Bay where we did a short loop to look for birds. We saw one big Osprey and heard a lot of other birds around but we could not really see them and it's so hot now the didn't feel for staying here so long.Leggi altro

  • Snorkling Lakeside

    2 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    After our morning walk, we went to Lakeside for a swim and snorkel trip.

    At first, we stopped quickly at the information center shortly before the beach to ask for the current there and they told us the best way to snorkel at Lakeside. Then we went to the carpark and walked around 500 m down the beach before we entered the water. We had to swim out away from the beach quite a bit and had a hard time finding the reef here, the so-called bummies, as this part of the reef have many big, mostly round rocks with the corals on.
    Finally, over the reef, it didn’t take a long time until Kara saw a turtle, actually pretty close to us and not too much in a hurry to swim away from us!
    So cool!
    Of course, we saw many fishes again but in total there was not so much to see here, especially because it’s so hard to find the bummies.

    So we slowly went back to towards the beach and as we were too lazy to walk back on the beach we were snorkeling in the shallow waters and that was the best thing we could have done!! There was another turtle, right in front of us, swimming slowly around and we could follow it nice and easy and just enjoy it! 🥰
    Leggi altro

  • Lunch with turtles and Lighthouse

    2 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    For lunch, we stopped at another bay and while eating lunch we watched a few turtles swimming by 🥰
    So cool!
    After lunch, we did a short walk along the beach and saw a few more turtles swimming around. Just amazing.
    The next stop on our list was at the Vlaming Head Lighthouse.
    The view from up here is breathtaking, we stood there for a while to just enjoy it!
    Then we went back to Exmouth. First, we bought some food again and then we checked in at our campground for the next three nights.

    It’s around 40 degrees here so we were straight away jumping into the pool to cool down. We both didn’t feel for much moving around anymore so we were just laying down in the shade or went for another dip in the pool.

    Unfortunately, it took a long time to cool down in the evening so we were falling asleep late.
    Leggi altro

  • Snorkelingtour Murion Island I

    3 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we had to get up early as we need to be in the town center at the Exmouth Diving center at 7.30 am for our Murion Island and Outer Reef snorkeling tour.
    So after a quick breakfast, we packed our bags and left drove to their place.
    We checked in and got our equipment for today and then could take a cup of tea while waiting for the last people to arrive.
    We are a really small group. Only 3 people snorkeling and 6 divers. So that’s pretty cool to not be so many people on the tour today. As everyone arrived and checked in we jumped into a bus and drove about 5 minutes to the marina. Our skipper was already waiting for us and as we were all super motivated we helped the crew to unload the trailers and carry all the tanks and the equipment to the boat. So we were done fast with it and could leave early! Nice!

    The cruise to the Murion Islands took a little bit more than one hour. We got some cold pizza to snack on the way and refreshments were always available for us!

    Everyone on board was enjoying the beautiful weather and perfect sea conditions for this trip!
    We saw a couple of dolphins passing by not too far away from the boat so the day is starting really well already. 🥰

    We first went to the north Murion Island and stopped on the west coast of the island at the dive site called The Maze.
    First, the divers got ready and into the water and then it was our turn to get ready and jump into the water as well.

    The reef here is definitely having more color then the parts we saw so far. I had to ask, as people may think from my pictures that the Ningaloo Reef looks dead, but it is not!!! It's very healthy and alive! The mostly brown color is from the hard corals. Here are not so many soft corals and that's why the reef is not as colorful as you may expect it to be!

    We saw a lot of fishes. Also, a lot of fishes we haven't seen before! It was just amazing and so much better to be out here than snorkeling close to the beaches.

    After almost one hour it was time to get back to the boat do drive to our next snorkeling spot.
    I was pretty tired from this trip as the current is partly pretty strong and snorkeling for almost one hour in the open ocean without a break is not as easy as I was expecting.
    So the break was nice.

    It was around 15 min to drive to the Whalebone, where we will enter the water one more time.
    Leggi altro

  • Snorkelingtour Murion Island II

    3 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Also at Whalebone, the divers got in first and we got in after them.
    Here we are a little bit further away from the reef as it's not so high. It's also not so close, more like islands around the ocean floor.

    Pretty fast we saw a turtle 😍
    This one was really cool and calm. Just swimming around under us without calm and easy.
    So cool to see a so relaxed turtle! 🥰
    The guide even saw a shark but it disappeared before we could see it.
    I started to get tired after a while and even feeling a bit cold and as I was thinking to ask if I can go back to the boat already our guide spotted a group of dolphins, so there was no thinking about going back to the boat anymore. It was a bit hard to locate them again but when we found them we could swim over them as they stayed die o the ocean floor.
    We followed them for quite some time, the even had too little once around. It's bottlenose dolphins ad they are known to be shy and not coming up to humans so much. But it's so nice we saw them, it's not happening so often regarding to our guides that you see them when you are out snorkeling. So we really had an amazing day out!! 🥰

    We ended up a fair bit away from the boat and I was so exhausted by then that the guide gave me the recuse tube he has with him all the time so I could hang on it while we swam back.
    I was feeling terrible when we reached the boat and even had to throw up, but after that, I was feeling ok and not strange at all. So I think it's just because I was so exhausted.
    So I took it a little bit easy for a while but never felt strange again. When everyone where back on board we were driving alongside the island to our picnic spot. The water here was crystal clear and we saw a few sharks passing by and a ray. The other once were enjoying a nice lunch while I was just eating some fruits as I was not feeling to eat in more jet.

    After a nice lunch break, it was time to drive back to the marine, which took us around one hour.

    I got the change to eat a sandwich a little bit later what was nice!

    When we arrived in the marina we all helped again to unload the boat and carry the stuff to the trailers. Around 3.30 pm we were back at the base a said goodbye to everyone and just stopped fast in town to buy bread and I even got some sea sickness medication, before we went back to the campground to chill for the rest of the afternoon and take a swim in the pool as well as it's so hot today 🥵
    We didn't notice it while we were on board but it's extremely hot and the air is standing still.
    So even after a swim in the pool or a shower you just start sweating again straight away!

    So after dinner, we tried to sleep early as we were super tired from the day and the heat.
    And I gonna have a super exciting day tomorrow as a dream is coming true for me!!

    I booked another tour with Exmouth Dive while we were waiting for the last people to get their equipment.
    It's gonna be only me as they had only one spot free on the tour and it was also to experience for Kara but she really encouraged me to do it anyway, but I still feel a little bit bad about leaving her alone for the day.
    Leggi altro

  • Swimming with Whalesharks I

    4 marzo 2020, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    This morning I had to get up shortly before 6 am.
    I was super excited and woke up already at 5.30 am so I, in the end, stood up and started to fix breakfast. As I am going alone on this tour Kara said she will try to sleep longer. So I had a nice breakfast, talking to a family from France that we saw already a few times the last couple of days.

    Kara was anyway awake early but she had a horrible night as somehow ants came into her tent and they are really mean here and attacking you straight away... So she tried to finally get them out of her tent.
    Shortly before 7 am I was ready and went to the road in front of the campground to wait for my crew for today to pick me up.
    They arrived shortly after 7 and then we drove to the boat ramp on the west side of the Exmouth Peninsula what took around 30-35 min as we needed to pick up two more girls on the way from another campground.

    We saw some Emus on the way and the girls told us, that the dads are taking care of the little ones. The mum is taking care of the eggs but as soon as they are hatched she disappears and the dad is raising the chicks. Super interesting!
    We even saw Ospreys when we arrived at the boat ramp! They have their nest here.
    The stuff was unloaded was, as most equipment is always staying on board of this vessel. Our skipper was already waiting for us in a small boat to drive us over to The Jazz.

    On our boat, we found ourselves a place to sit and the crew started straight away to hand over some shortys, fins, and snorkels. So we had to try on the shortys and when everyone was satisfied with the equipment they got our skipper had a shirt briefing with us about the security onboard and then it was time to leave.

    Shortly after we left we saw a big group of Humpback Dolphins swimming around our boat for quite some time! The day couldn't start better 😍

    First, we went to a snorkeling site, because they wanted to see how happy everyone is in the water and we should test our equipment and get comfortable as well.
    We were snorkeling for around 15 min, we saw a lot of fishes and corals!
    So this was a nice warm-up. Back on board, they informed us that the spotter plan is out now and looking for whale sharks and we used the time to get a briefing on how to behave in the water with a whale shark.
    Most important rule: don't swim in front of the whale shark so he can always swim where he wants to.
    Second important rule, keep 3 m distance and 4 m away from the tail.

    And then there came the info, the spotter plane four 3!!!! whale sharks not too far away from us.
    OMG, we got so excited!!!

    Split up in two groups, just 10 people are allowed to swim with a whale shark at the same time, group one got ready straight away, including me.
    Group two got ready after us, so we can all enter the water fast and have as much time as possible with the whale shark.
    We had to sit on the floor, 4 people in a row. As they found the whale shark our skipper was driving the boat in front of the whale shark but still a bit away and the spotter got into the water to located the whale shark and show the depth and direction he is swimming to and then we got into the water.
    Shortly after I saw my first whale shark!! 🥰😍
    They know her and call her Pinky. She has a broken back but is living well with it for many years. She was around 5 m down and the visibility wasn't so good, so you can't see here on my pictures. But I could see her good enough. 🥰
    Both groups got to swim twice with her!

    After that, we drove to the next whale shark, just around 5 min away from us. But this one was diving down before we could enter the water so the spotter plane searched for the third one instead and even this one wasn't too far away.
    Leggi altro

  • Swimming with Whalesharks III

    4 marzo 2020, Indian Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    After our Whale Shark and Manta Ray experience, we were all super happy and more than satisfied.
    How could the day have been better?

    We had our lunch break while crossing slowly over shallow waters to our last stop for today, another snorkeling place.
    We had super delicious salads and sandwiches, with fruits! Really good and exactly what we needed right now.

    After a small break, we were ready again to enter the water one last time! 🤗

    The water here was super clear and the reef just stunning! The bummies were partly closed to the surface so we got to see a lot of different fishes up closed!
    And we found a turtle!!! 🥰
    And this turtle, we name here Chippy, was super relaxed and really didn't care about us at all! She was swimming up to the surface to breathe straight in front of me, in the middle of like 8 people and went super calm back down to keep on eating. What an experience!!! 😍🥰
    Please don't wake me up from this dream!!

    Shortly after we left the turtle we found a white-tip reef shark, just a small one and we followed this one as well for a short time but he was after a few minutes hiding under some rocks so we get on exploring the reef and all the wonderful fishes around! 😊
    Leggi altro

  • Swimming with Whale Sharks IV

    4 marzo 2020, Indian Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    I think this was the best spot I have been snorkeling in around the west coast! Definitely the best visibility and I saw some fishes passing by really closed to me! Just loved it!
    I didn't want to get out of the water when it was time to get back to the boat and drive back to the boat ramp.

    We got to celebrate the magical day with champagne, beer or a soft drink!
    Everyone on the boat was really enjoying this trip and we couldn't thank the crew enough for making this trip so good and enjoyable for everyone!

    I definitely gonna be back one day!
    Still need to see the humpback whales 😉🤗

    After we arrived at the boat ramp we jumped into the bus and got dropped of at our accommodations.

    Kara and I were then washing our stuff, took a nice shower and went to search for a restaurant that has open tonight.
    We wanted to eat fish and chips but we're in the then end happy to just find any place where we could order some food!

    Luckily we did, so we had some really good food and a nice drink together, I invited her as a thank you for encouraging me to go on the whale shark tour.
    Leggi altro