EXMOUTH

The Naval Communication Base at Exmouth

The Hansen Family - the view across from the lighthouse with Exmouth Gulf behind us

Running away from the surf at Exmouth

Sunset over the Indian Ocean from the lighthouse at Exmouth

DAY 73 – EXMOUTH                                                          Tuesday, 13^th September

An absolutely beautiful morning in Exmouth AND NO WIND!  YAY!  David cooked lovely bacon and eggs this morning while I did two loads of washing.  Pilbara red dirt just gets into everything.  Both the car and all humans are absolutely filthy – I could barely recognise them!  After that, we headed down into Cape Range National Park which is very open coastal country with fantastic sand dunes.  Again, it is very remote and you do really feel like you are the only people in the world.  We looked at the Jurabi Turtle exhibit which was very interesting and then went to the Milyering Visitor Centre.  There was a really fascinating video on display which captured the kids’ attention for ages.  There were lots of scenes of marine life that they will see when they snorkel.  There was also a turtle there which had been found struggling in the surf after having its shell severely damaged by a propeller of a motor boat.  This Loggerhead Turtle had a shell over a metre long and a head that was almost a foot wide.  A beautiful creature.

We drove down to Yardie Creek and did the gorge walk.  The water was so clear we could see some species of Manta Ray in the water below.  Unfortunately, we had forgotten to bring the bathers so had to travel all the way home again.

But the extra driving was worth it for the snorkelling at Turquoise Bay!  We tried Oyster Stacks first but it really needs to be high tide to be any good, so we moved on to Turquoise Bay which was fantastic.  It took a while to show the kids how to snorkel and to get them used to the idea but after that, they were converted!!  To watch Beth come running back up the beach to me, with the most incredulous look on her face, words just tumbling out of her mouth:  “Mum, it was just so amazing.  I saw so many things.  Oh, Mum, it was just so AMAZING! It was the best experience ever!”  It was magical.  The kids can’t wait to get back into the water again.

We headed home for dinner with the Dearness family and sunset watching from the Lighthouse.  The previous evening as we drove into Exmouth, we had the sun setting on one side of us and the moon rising on the other.   It was absolutely stunning.  Tonight the moon took a little longer to rise, but was spectacular once it did.  A beautiful red colour - our own little Staircase to the Moon, since we missed it at Broome because we left before the full moon.

A simple barbeque for dinner with Kate and Bruce while the kids all had fun getting together again in the van – just lovely.

You are lucky with the photographs - the camera ran out of battery half way through the day.