Fitzroy Crossing - Broome (Via Derby)
Broome
Broome - Port Smith
Port Smith - Pardoo Roadhouse
Pardoo Roadhouse - Nanuturra Roadhouse
Nanuturra Roadhouse - Exmouth
Exmouth

Total Kilometres Driven after Week Two - 4508km

Day 8 - We had a lie in (if you call waking up at 8am a lie in?) as we had an early start and had a long day yesterday to make our helicopter flight. When we finally set off we headed to Derby for lunch as we wanted to visit the Circular Jetty (Derby apparently has the second highest tidal range in the southern hemisphere), the prison tree which is a sad reminder of man's inhumanity to man.....and the longest cattle trough in the southern hemisphere. Once we had seen what we wanted to see, we then headed 220km south to Broome.

Day 9 - The day was spent in Broome, the morning was spent at the auto shop as we have been having problems with our Campervan battery, then we visited the world famous Cable Beach with 22km of pristine white sand. We spent the afternoon paddling and playing frisbee (Helen was petrified of being stung by Irikundi jellyfish!) then we headed to Gantheaume Point in hope of seeing the dinosaur footprints (over 120 million years old) only to find that the access road was 4wd access only. So, instead we went for a little drive around on the beach which Nick very much enjoyed!

We headed back to our campsite and enjoyed the view as our Campervan was parked right next to the beach with the best view of Roebuck Bay. (Again Helen was terrified, as the lady at reception said no swimming in the bay as a crocodile has been spotted!). The evening was spent witnessing a world class phenomenon - the Staircase to the Moon, which is caused by the rising of a full moon reflecting off the exposed mud flats at extremely low tide creating the optical illusion of a stairway to the moon. It was absolutely surreal!

Day 10 - We returned to the auto shop so that necessary repairs could be carried out on our camper van. Boring! We then headed to the supermarket to stock up and headed to Port Smith. We had a long 23k on a unsealed road which was nerve-wracking as all Helen could think about was getting stuck! We made it to the caravan park *yay* and there were lots of kangaroos around as there is a kangaroo rehabilitation centre on site.

Day 11 - The morning was spent at Port Smith Lagoon, our little personal paradise - both of us went for a paddle until Nick frightened Helen off by saying he saw a snake! We saw millions of baby mud crabs make their way to the mud flats which was amazing. Helen had a sit down while Nick swam, and before we knew it the tide came in around us so we had to run for it! The rest of the day was spent driving as our next real destination is Exmouth which is some 1230km away. We stopped for the night at Pardoo Roadhouse where we got bitten alive by mosquitoes!

Day 12 - We were on the road nice and early and covered good ground making it to Nanuturra Roadhouse via Karratha to stock up on food/fuel etc. The entire day was spent driving to make it to Exmouth in good time!

Day 13 - We arrived in Exmouth *yay*. Exmouth is home to the Ningaloo Reef, Australia's longest fringing reef. Helen has known of Exmouths existence ever since she heard that it was THE place to see Whale Sharks. We visited the Visitor centre, with plans NOT to book a tour to keep our costs low but we could not resist and ended up booking ourselves on a Whale Shark snorkelling tour.

After lunch we played frisbee in the shallows of Bundegi Beach. We then did a little driving tour taking in the sights of Lighthouse Bay to observe the SS Mildura Wreck - a cattle ship that was destroyed by a cyclone in 1907 and the Jurabi Turtle Centre to learn more about turtles. We then headed to our caravan park, and was horrified to find that even though we have paid for a powered site we cannot charge or use any electrical items.

Day 14 - The day was spent snorkelling at Turqoise Bay, We spent about an hour thinking "this is ok, just OK" until Helen spotted a leopard shark and all of a sudden the snorkelling was amazing!! Naturally we hung out with the leopard shark for 20 minutes before deciding to leave it alone. The rest of the day was spent snorkelling at Lakeside which was just simply OK, We acknowledge that we have been well and truly spoilt with the dive sites we have visited and marine life spotted that clownfish, angelfish etc just does not rock our boats any more.

Some things we have realised this week:

- We like visiting visitor centres and taking loads of leaflets
- We have taken enough leaflets to deforest Scandinavia
- The smell of road kill is absolutely putrid
- We love driving and want to do more driving holidays