WA Tourism had a promotional and marketing event to show off the best of WA called the extraordinary taxi ride. This involved firstly, two competitions. One was to find the perfect taxi driver to drive the length and breadth of WA and the other to find participants to be the passengers on various lengths of the journey. Tourism ventures were offered the opportunity to donate accommodation and tours, for which our employers did both. 

So on a beautiful, near perfect Coral Bay day, we found ourselves as hosts to the entourage of The Extraordinary Taxi Ride. This not only included the contestants but also included a film crew and David Wirrpanda (Wirra) the famous WA past Eagles football hero, and now a presenter for the Today Tonight coverage of the Extraordinary Taxi ride. Wirra has also been a recent competitor on "Dancing With The Stars". The boat tour on the MV Ningaloo (of Coral Bay Charters one of the businesses under our management) was to swim with Manta Rays and the Mantas were thankfully in a co-operative mood, giving Wirra and the two taxi passengers a fantastic experience.  

Our wonderful staff did a great job as always and particularly Vikki who has a passion for Manta Rays and was the "swimmer" for the day which means she is the one who swims out to the manta ray once it is spotted by the plane above and then directs and organizes the passengers. Vikki is involved in Manta Ray research and her knowledge in general of the Ningaloo Reef and of individual manta rays around Coral Bay is extensive. Wirra interviewed Vikki for the TV segment.

Doug, the wonderfully gregarious taxi driver, was not on the boat, as he was required for filming in and around Coral Bay, but we enjoyed a good night out with Doug the night before, having dinner with the whole entourage then heading off to the pub with a few, including Doug, who even grabbed Heather for a dance or two as the night progressed!