A big day as we catch an early bus to go swimming with the whale sharks. A practice snorkel on some reef was great fun with lots of pretty fish. We then travelled outside the reef into the Indian Ocean where the spotter plane had located some whale sharks. Fraser, Dad and I all swam alongside the sharks and it was amazing. The larger ones (less than half full size) were hard to keep up with but we managed.

We enjoyed some shopping in town (I liked Brumby's cafe best!) and booked a tour at the information centre for tomorrow. Fishing from the marina breakwall only resulted in some small angel fish and a few sand fly bites. But we got to use our prizes from the Shark Bay Fishing Fiesta competition which arrived in a courier truck today!

We drove north to the historic lighthouse at North West Cape and enjoyed the views and information about the early history of the region. This included details of the US base established at Exmouth in the 1960's which still operates as a submarine communications base.

A quick stop in Carnarvon to refuel and stock up on groceries before heading north to Exmouth. The caravan parks at Coral Bay were very expensive and crowded so we headed straight to Exmouth to enjoy the Ningaloo Whale Shark Festival over the next 4 days.

The recent cyclones have left the road network in WA requiring lots of repair so we had to return to the coast the way we travelled inland. We stopped overnight at Gascoyne Junction to clean the car and caravan of some of the red dust, and enjoy a meal at the local pub. Fraser and I shared a very spicy fajita plate, and lots of water.