Today we leave Karajini for the warmth and sunshine of Exmouth's beautiful beaches and water . On the way back to Tom Price we had to stop and take some more pics of the angry (wild) flowers. That was the highlight of the day’s drive. Lunchtime put us at the Nanutarra Roadhouse where Wendy and myself thought it would be good to buy 3 dimmys and 3 chicken wings for lunch. Just as well they tasted good, at $18 the lot they would want to be good. Just passed the roadhouse we passed a small car that had been rearranged by a cow, neither had faired very well. Another 300 Kms of small scrub covered plains, dodging the odd cow or sheep crossing the road we reached Exmouth.

Straight into the Big 4 for a campsite, its school holidays of course, "sorry we are fully booked, you will have to go to the Visitors Centre to see if you can get into the overflow park". At the Visitors Centre we learned that all accommodation was full booked in the area so it was off to the overflow park at the football ground. As it got dark the wind got stronger and colder, jeans, shoes, jumpers and coats, this is what we ran away from. It was a pleasant night sleep with the gentle sound of swirling wind and horizontal rain against the canvas.

Soggy Sunday, still raining, what a lovely day to catch up on laundry only trouble was a lot of other people had the same idea. The only advantage we had was that we were in early, needless to says we spent the morning transferring clothes from washing machines to driers and waiting for driers to finish. The second half of the day we went exploring into Cape Range National Park. After dodging many suicidal kangaroos we finally stopped at Yardie Creek. This a pretty little gorge but due to the wind chill factor the visit was relatively short. Next stop was one of the many beaches on the west coast. Again this stop was short, even though it was very pretty, the constant sand blasting made it annoying to stand on the beach. Decision made it had to be a pub night tonight so that we didn’t have to eat outside in this miserable weather, you Victorians think you have it tough.

Monday, there is room at the Big 4 for us so we shifted camp. Did a bit of shopping in the morning, had lunch and then off fishing for the arvo. Joe picked a nice quiet beach called Mauritius Beach which just happened to be a nudist beach. Well the luck continues, no fish, no nudists, it must be too cold so we left too. Spent the rest of the arvo sipping beers/wines and playing cards.

Tuesday another overcast day. Batteries getting low due the lack of sun we need to go for a drive so off to Coral Bay to sus it out. The caravan parks were heavily booked but we managed to squeeze two days in on the coming weekend, hopefully the sun comes out. After dipping our toes into the water we decided to invest in a wetsuit each, we are getting soft. There is a flash looking pub in Coral Bay called Bills so we had to put it to the test, lunch and a few beers. We drove around a bit north and south of Coral Bay looking for possible fishing spots and then headed back to camp 150 kms away.

Wednesday, a much brighter and warmer day(got up to 26 C). Drove back into the National Park to Turquoise Bay, known to be one of the prettiest beaches in Australia. The beach was packed, obviously the first opportunity people had to go to the beach for a while. A most enjoyable day was had snorkelling in amongst the reef looking at the variety of fish life, the wetsuits were fantastic. The day started to cool to the low 20s and the girls had been sand blasted a little too much so time to leave. Back at camp it was drinks and nibbles and another game of cards, we are going to fit into that grey nomadic tribe so well.

Thursday, a nuff nuff day. Laundry duties in the morning and shopping in the afternoon. Too lazy to play a complementary game of putt putt, sat around the campsite shooting the breeze and sipping beverages.

Friday, truly a great day, we got fish today. Not just any old fish but the biggest fish in the ocean, a Whale Shark. The day started early with a 7 am pick up at the caravan park to be ferried to the jetty to board the charter boat. Once on board the crew stirred everyone up to some enthusiasm happening, people had heard that there was no sightings of a whale shark the day before. The first stop was the inner reef for some snorkelling. Plenty to see, lots of colourful fish and coral. Next out the reef entrance to the open sea to wait for the spotter plane to do their work. The boat did a 180 and sped off, a whale shark had been spotted. We had been drilled in how we were to congregate on the boat, how to enter the water and the rules of swimming beside the shark. We sat patiently for the “go, go, go”, to enter the water. Joe and I were the second group and when the first group was in the water the shark got stage freight and disappeared into the depths. More waiting. Fifteen minutes went by and then we sped off again to position the boat in front of the shark. This time we were first in the water and got to swim alongside the fish until once again it took a dive. The skipper decided it was time to allow the other boats in on the action so we left to snorkel the outer reef. Much more to see and the water visibility was much better. Eventually the other boats had taken their turn and it was back to us. This time we got to swim with the shark for ten minute, Joe can now remove this from his bucket list. The boat went back inside the reef to have lunch, it was a little choppy outside. A final snorkel on the inside reef and then back to the jetty to be bussed home. A magnificent day was had by all.

No-one felt like cooking dinner so it was off to the Italian restaurant where we over ate and drank some beautiful food and wine. A good way to finish a very good day.