Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef: 18-19 September 2013.

Wednesday:

Our motorcycle riding from Onslow to Exmouth was through flat country, I thought rather boring, but at least the weather was cool, in the low 20 degrees. We have been riding in very hot weather recently, so this was a nice change. I saw my first emu since we left home at the beginning of July. It was lurking at the side of the road near Exmouth, almost too late to avoid hitting it. Dave riding behind me saw it first and yelled a warning on the helmet speaker system. These dopey big birds really spook me…they can appear any time during the day and dart out onto the road…not such a good thing to suddenly connect with! Anyway, this time, no harm done to either the old chook me or the big flightless emu.

At last we saw the turquoise blue sea at Exmouth, and we put our tent up at Ningaloo Reef Caravan Park, right opposite the Information Centre, and a short walk to the town shops. Perfect. The little town of Exmouth looks new and prosperous, like a holiday resort place.

Thursday: Whales!

Today we rode up to the Cape Vlaming Lighthouse Lookout. What a lovely view of the coastal hills and the ocean. And then we saw whales! My very first sighting of whales…Dave laughed at me as I was making funny squeaky little noises of excitement as I was trying to get off my bike in a hurry to scurry over to the cliff edge to get a better view of the pod of humpback whales that were frolicking in the waters in front of us. There was a mother and her calf nearest, and bigger whales were breaching out of the water and flapping tails occasionally. Lots of other tourists were gawping at this scene as well. Some lucky ducks had binoculars with them. The tourist brochures tell us that the humpback whales are migrating down the WA coast from the Kimberley region after birthing their young, then heading to the cooler Antarctic waters to feed on krill and other plankton. And then we all saw lots of dolphins surfing in the waves.

Our next ride was to Bundegi Beach, which is supposed to be good for swimming but it was way too cold for us Intrepids. We had also planned to do some snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef while here, but again, too cold. We were going to hire some prescription goggles for blind as a bat me, like we did when we went snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. All the tourist brochures are awash with pretty photos of "Swimming with the Whalesharks", but they don't tell you that these gentle leviathans are only swimming around the Ningaloo Reef area from April to July. Neither do the tourist brochures tell you about the wild winds that often lash the Exmouth coastline.

Next to Bundegi Beach are the tallest towers in the southern hemisphere, these are VLF (Very Low Frequency) towers that can withstand winds up to 500km/hour, and they were installed by the United States as a communications thing for their shipping based here. Our next stop was at the brand new big fancy Exmouth boat harbour and marina, and the Novotel Ningaloo Resort building. All a bit beyond our price range. Some millions of $$$ of boats to look at as well. Little tinnies with oars are more our style!

We are hoping that the spring weather warms up before we ride to Coral Bay in a few days' time. It feels strange to have cooler weather after the heat of the tropics further north. Never mind, there is some good country around here to explore; tomorrow to Yardie Creek bushwalking area, which is 70km away, with a turtle wildlife centre on the way.