Hi Guys!!

Two buses and 22 hours later we arrived in Exmouth at 5am on 25th May. Exmouth is situated 1,270km north of Perth, with a population of 2,500 people, who seem to be out numbered by the vast number of wild emus!

We checked into an oversized shed, our tin bedroom, in the rather shoddy Excape Backpackers, but we've stayed in worse, so dumped our bags and set off to explore the town. 5 minutes later we were back at the hostel having seen the entire town, and so set off to the information centre to source out things to do in and around Exmouth.

The next day we took ourselves off on a 3.5km trek to Town Beach. Here we spent time walking along the shore and had the entire 10km of beach to ourselves, well except for the 10 million flies. After a really chilled out day, we returned to town just in time to hire some snorkel gear for tomorrow.

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early and caught the Ningaloo Reef bus to Turquoise Bay. We used Turquoise Bay as our gateway to the Ningaloo Reef, this is the largest fringing reef in the world, and hugs the coastline from north of Exmouth to below Coral Bay. Turquoise Bay is considered to be one of the best snorkel sites in the area; what makes it so special is that in many places part of the reef is only 5-10 metres offshore, and the reef protects a lagoon that averages 2-4 metres deep.

We arrived at Turquoise Bay a little after 10am and were both stunned. It was amazing; the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue. Turquoise Bay is really 2 huge bays; white sand, crystal clear waters that go turquoise in the depths, and we could see the reef running right upto the shore. The waves were breaking a few hundred metres offshore on the outer edge of the reef. We dumped our stuff, grabbed our snorkels, masks and fins, and set off for a day's snorkeling.

Before we knew it, it was 2:30pm, and our bus arrived to return us to Exmouth. We'd had a brilliant day snorkeling, and on top of the vast array of corals and fish, we'd seen 2 blue spotted lagoon rays, and swam with the very rare loggerhead turtle.

As we'd had such a fantastic time, we decided to book onto the bus for the next day, and do it all again. Monday was just as good, if not better. We saw an abundance of marine life, and swam with another loggerhead, and a green turtle - wicked!!

In our opinion, the Ningaloo Reef beats its 'bigger brother' - The Great Barrier Reef. No crowds and a far more accessible reef, with underwater life - just as good.

On our final day in Exmouth we were up early, and checked out of the hostel by 9am. Our bus was not due to leave until 9pm, so we spent the day relaxing at Town Beach, and even had the time for a round of golf - mini golf that is!! Emma took the trophy, as it went down to the last hole and she won by 1 shot!

We left Exmouth at 9pm, and began our 3 bus journey to Monkey Mia.

Love Emma and Lee

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