The Ningaloo Coast

Exmouth

Part 2 of our holiday with Nathan was snorkelling on the Ningaloo Coast. Our first stop was Turquoise Bay. Last time the water was way too cold for me so I ended up buying a full wetsuit, which made it a lot more pleasant this time. The day started off beautifully, but the wind came up later when we were at the Oyster Stacks. Without any underwater camera gear the photos are a little boring.

On the second day we went down to Yardie Creek, hoping to kayak if it wasn't too windy. There was a bit of a breeze, but the water was quite calm.

Eastern Reef Egret

At the end of the gorge it was perfectly still and absolutely beautiful.

Intermediate Egret

There was an Eastern Osprey nest near where we launched the kayaks. 

The adult went fishing but didn't have any success.

So the chick kept waiting.

The view of the gorge from above.

Nathan went snorkelling while we were kayaking, and we met up with him at Mesa, where he'd set himself up for the day. The wind had picked up again and he said the snorkelling was a few hundred metres out, so we just sat and enjoyed the view.

We stopped at the lighthouse on our way back to Exmouth and noticed there were whales. 

By then it was blowing a gale, but with our camera and binoculars leaning against the car, we saw quite a few. We both happened to see this pair breach at the same time!

What we thought was an intermittent starting issue caused by a bit of corrosion on the battery terminal began to occur again, so when we got back to the caravan park Dazz popped the bonnet to give it a clean. This time it wasn't the corrosion, but a cracked clamp! A quick trip to Autopro in the morning and we were good to go again.

Coral Bay

The son of some of our friends (and his wife) are also travelling around Australia, but they are going the opposite direction to us. We had planned to meet up somewhere around Exmouth, but they were still a little further south. They were keen to snorkel at Coral Bay, as were we, and we could stop there for lunch on our way south. They also mentioned that they now had an inflatable boat, which they would be happy to take us out on. I get sea sick, so I was happy to just snorkel off the beach so Dazz and Nathan could go on the boat. Nathan wasn't going to hang around for the afternoon, though, as he wanted to get to our next planned beach stop (rather than camping in a rest area with us). I decided the water didn't look too rough, so I'd go out and hope for the best... and I'm so glad I did!

When Sam and Grace had been out in the morning they had seen some manta rays, so we decided we'd try to find them again. Someone saw something out in front of the boat so there was much excitement, but it was not the manta rays. Nobody was complaining about dolphins though!

When we got to the area they had seen them in the morning Sam put his drone up and found them, so we motored closer and jumped in. Sam's hobby and business is videography, so he has the gear and uses it well - thanks for the footage Sam! These are some screenshots from the videos.

One our way back we moored on a buoy in a snorkelling area and enjoyed the white sand, crystal clear water and abundance of fish. Dazz saw a reef shark sleeping under a coral bommmie and I swam with a turtle.

It certainly was an amazing day - thanks again Sam and Grace!

Quobba Blowholes and Station

What we had expected to be the snorkelling highlight turned out to be an anticlimax after our afternoon on the boat at Coral Bay. The high tide at "The Aquarium" was a really low high tide, so we couldn't get out over much of the coral, but there were still lots of fish and it was very pretty... but no photos. (If we come over this way again I think we'll get a GoPro so we can capture the underwater beauty.)

The low tide and reasonable swell meant the Blowholes were blowing well, though.

Our last night with Nathan.

The following afternoon we were both inside the van when a neighbour came over and knocked and asked if we wanted a fish. He had caught a couple, but couldn't be bothered processing both of them so just wanted to give one away! Of course we said yes, and hastily changed our dinner plans.

Later that evening as we watched the sun set there were more whales in the distance. The zoomed phone photo doesn't do it justice.

Singing Honeyeater

As we were driving back out of Quobba Station we got a closer view of whales. They were just beyond the waves.

Carnarvon

Rain was forecast so we headed into Carnarvon for a couple of nights. We both had work and once the rain passed I caught up on all the washing and re-stocked at the supermarket. We went for a drive out to the One Mile Jetty and discovered it's been closed since 2017, shortly after our last visit. It was further damaged in 2021 in a cyclone.

There were a number of murals around the town, but this is the only one we stopped for a photo of.