Sadly, the time had come to leave Coral Bay so we hopped back on the Easyrider bus on our way to Exmouth with a new driver - Carla. The main activity today was to be a visit to Cape Range National Park to a fantastic snorkelling spot over the Ningaloo Reef at Turquoise Bay. We spent a few hours in this beautiful spot, where we could see the colourful coral and many different species of fish in the water, before heading back into Exmouth to go to our accommodation for the evening - Exmouth Cape holiday park - a kind of permanent campsite.

On our way back into Exmouth we made a few stops, firstly to stop at a wonderful lookout point to drink some champagne and see some humpback whales in the distance. We also went past an airstrip which also doubled up as a normal road on the Eyre Highway known as the FRDS Airstrip and had a look at a submarine at the Harold Holt Naval Communication Station, which was a one man submarine - apparently very popular at one time.

Most of the people on the bus opted not to take up the meal option that evening at the local italian restaurant - it was just me and an irish lad called Oishin, who decided to 'flashpack' it with Carla, the driver. On our return to the campsite most of our group had decided to get an early night in preparation for the early start the following morning - getting to Karijini National Park was going to be a quite a long drive. However, out came the 'goon' and Oishin, Shari and I carried on drinking. It was turning into one of those nights where nothing much was going on, when all of a sudden an Aussie guy, who looked like he had just gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson, came over with his own box of goon and asked if he could join us. It turned out that this guy was affiliated to the organisation known as 'Sea Shepherd'.

Sea Shepherd are a group of Eco-Pirates that sail around the seas of the world trying to protect the whales from being killed, mainly by the Japanese. This guy, I think, was a first mate on the ship but was trying to work his way up and was on his way down the west coast to Fremantle to board a ship. Apparently he was banned from many ports in the world due to the nature of some of his, and the organisations activities. A few glasses of goon later he started to recount various stories of his experiences and travels that would make the average traveller's story sound pretty dull and boring. Many of the stories involved some of the battles in the seas he and his comrades had been involved in, especially with the Japanese, who he did not have a lot of time for, to say the least! The Japanese, he was telling us, continue to mistreat the whales and in many cases use them for the scent they provide in many perfumes you find all over the world. Most people are aware that this is going on, but when you hear, first hand, the battles that are going on, it really brings home how big an issue it really is, especially with someone who is living the life of trying to save the whales and putting his life in danger every time he steps on one of the Sea Shepherd ships.

Sea Shepherd actually started as an organisation as a type of splinter group from Greenpeace. Greenpeace do not recognise them as having anything to do with their activities in trying to save the whales, as Sea Shepherd use violence to try and get their point across, whereas Greenpeace do not advocate this. Many governments across the world, especially the Japanese government, view Sea Shepherd as a terrorist organisation and therefore they are not welcome in many ports across the world.

So, a normal night drinking goon turned into one of the most interesting evenings in Oz! The guy was certainly a character. Some of his stories were perhaps a little sugar coated with tales of attempted murders, people being harpooned and innocent female backpackers getting a taste of Australia they may not have expected, but I have no doubt that the substance in most of his stories were true and the bits about Sea Shepherd were especially fascinating. Sometimes these things are going on at sea and you don't really here about it back home, but a quick search on the internet and immediately you can see that these things are real and going on. If anyone is interested, check Sea Shepherd out on the internet - the logo is certainly worth seeing!