As well as being situated near some beautiful gorges Exmouth sits at the tip of the peninsular & the amazing coloured waters of the Ningaloo Reef Marine Park. The park runs up the West side & the Exmouth Gulf is to the East. Plenty of areas have been reserved for recreational fishing but catch limits per day per person are as low as two fish.
The water colours are amazing in every colour of blue imaginable. This area is called Oyster Stacks, nearby is Turquoise Bay & Osprey Beach. Turquoise Bay is famous for snorkelling right off the beach. There is a break in the reef here & you can start at one end if the beach & drift down over the coral making sure you don't drift out with the outgoing rush of water as the tide oes out. Unfortunately our timing was out & after watching a few people really pushing themselves back to shore we decided to just enjoy the scenery.
Some beaches on the gulf side are littered with pebbles & shells. One beach aptly named Pebble Beach. Plenty of shells for collecting & I keep getting reminded that we have a 2.5 ton capacity.
This poor squid ended up on someone's dinner table. Mum & the kid were swimming along enjoying the day but Mum took the bait. It was pretty interesting to see how squid are cleaned & the amount of ink released in the water however Tone & I felt a bit sad such a beautiful creature ended its day. Fisherman, I don't think we will make! Each day we say we should go fishing here but other than the Barra fishing the rods remain untouched.
The waters here are home to whales, whale sharks, turtles & lots of fish. The whales have an area they come to for birth & the dunes are the hatchery for turtles. The season for swimming with the whalesharks was still on but at around $700.00 a trip we decided to leave that for others.
The western side of the peninsular is Natfional Park. Limited Camping is allowed in designated areas & demand was at its peak during our visit with sites booked out every night. This is Osprey Beach & this is the only camp where you look out over the dunes to sea. This spot is known as being the best camp spot in Australia. While certainly beautiful it was blowing a gale & had been for awhile, living up to WA reputation of Windy Always.
We came across a young European guy travelling on a motorbike whose hopes of camping here were not going to happen. He was looking at the surrounding empty countryside in disbelief that there was all this flat uninhibited ground & he couldn't pitch his tent.
Came across this old man kangaroo who had seen better days. He was going grey, deaf & blind so we were able to get close. A German family we waved across were so excited to get this near to him in the wild. We had heard about a red roo scavenging in the camps, even trying to get into a tent so we thought it might be him looking for easy food. He had been in a scrap at some time as had a large bit out of is ear. Poor old fellow looked like he was doing it a bit tough.
There is quite a bit of WWII military history in the area as well as present day installations. The gulf was where the fishing boat The Krait set sail for Singapore on the successful mission to bomb Japanese boats in the harbour. Unfortunately the same captain lead a similar mission two years later which ended in capture & execution. The memorial here is fairly unassuming for such a daring venture & one that has become folklore in Australian history.
We managed to get in some more paddling & were hoping to see more sea life under the water but it was a bit choppy affecting visibility. Still we need the exercise & it wasn't too shabby out there!
We have been lucky to be here as the wildflowers season begins & this flower seems to grow everywhere, beaches, plains & rocky outcrops.
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| Another beautiful sky at happy hour. |
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