Coral Bay to Exmouth

Sunny, blue skies. 29 degrees

So we have now definitely got up north enough, past the Tropic of Capricorn, to have the warm sunny days. Hopefully should stay like this now for a long time.

Left this morning for the 150 km trip to Exmouth. Rather flat, scrubby country, with lots of anthills. We did see a few sheep but otherwise no animals.

We turned off on Charles Knife Road, which winds up through the canyon. We took the motor home quite a bit of the way up as the road was sealed. But luckily we left it in a parking area and did the rest of the way in Ben's car. Shortly after the road was gravel and a lot more narrow so it was a good decision. The view from up there was amazing. Right across the canyon and back to the sea. Worth the detour.

We took another 4wd track through Shothole Canyon in Ben's car. This was much bumpier, but the views were not as good. Going through the canyon rather than above it.

Arrived in Exmouth about 2pm and checked into the RAC park. We then left again to check out some snorkelling spots. Stopped at Turquoise Bay, beautiful crystal clear water. Ben went snorkelling for about an hour and half. He said that the snorkelling here was a lot better than yesterday in Coral Bay. Saw a lot more fish and coral. And also stingray and a turtle. There were plenty of fish in the shallows too. Although not the colourful ones.

By the time Ben got out the sun was beginning to set. So we watched the beautiful sunset before heading off again. Maybe on reflection that wasn't such a great idea! Not far down the road we hit a small kangaroo. It bounded out so fast there was not time to do anything. Luckily it was small and no damage was done to the car. But after that there were heaps of roos on the side of the road, so it was a rather slow trip back, nervously watching and waiting for them to jump across in front of you. One very large one did cross in front again but luckily we avoided that one. A good reason to take heed of the advice to always avoid driving around dusk.

We went out for dinner at a restaurant just over the road, Cadillacs. Quite nice food, but rather expensive for what you got.