Friday 26th, today was going to be a long drive to Exmouth so we left around 8am again. We stopped at Nanutarra so that Roger could splash and dash, he only put $50 in as the price $1.99lt. I had my usual cuppa while the boys had an iced coffee and Chris had an ice cream. I bought a "Moro" as a pick me up, I have had a bit of a cold for the last two days and chocolate is always good for medicinal purposes, so I have been told anyway!!

About 20minutes from the turnoff to Exmouth we had our first rain in weeks. The dry mud that had settled on the bonnet was running up towards the windscreen. It rained just about all the way into Exmouth which was for about 80kms. We were able to top up our water tanks and do a dump near the visitors centre. Chris and I went in to see which caravan's parks had available sites and to check on the arrangements for getting into Ningaloo. Yardi Homestead had 1 powered site so Chris took that one and we went onto an unpowered site as we were hoping to get into Ningaloo for at least a night, they couldn't go in as they had they dog. You couldn't book ahead you just had to get up early and drive out to the rangers station and get in line. The lady at the visitors centre told us not to go before 6.30am as the rangers will book anyone who gets out there too early as they will be deemed to be camping overnight and there was a $1000 fine for anyone that got caught. We were awake at 5am and heard vehicles leaving the park. We didn't get up until 6.10am and arrived at 6.30am just as the ABC news was coming on the radio. There were already 8 cars in front of us!! The ranger's station didn't open until 8am so we were in for a long wait. The sunrise was nice and I took some photos. The day before 13 cars lined up and only 2 got in, today there are 15 cars and only 8 got in, we were car number 9, b*****!!

I had a bit of a whinge to the ranger about the people who had lined up early and obviously the $1000 fine is just an idle threat. Also, once you are in you can stay for 28 days. As this is a popular spot for W.A. grey nomads at this time of year the normal tourist from anywhere else has little of no chance to get in and enjoy the location too. I suggested that the stay should be reduced to a week and a ballot system take place in the morning instead of just lining up. The ranger heard what I was saying but obviously could do anything about it. I will be sending an email to someone!!

We went back to the caravan park was able to move to a powered site, had breakfast and then headed back out to Ningaloo for a drive around. It cost us $11 to go into the National Park and have a look around. We called into the various beach fronts to have a look at the coastline. A small echidna crossed our path as we pulled up to the first stop and I got a photo. When we called into one of the camp grounds 90% of the sites were taken up with local plates. This confirmed our point about the local grey nomads. In hindsight we would probably have been better to have done a glass bottom boat tour as we couldn't really see the reef being only able to view the coastline itself. The colour of the water was pretty and I managed to find a starfish.

We also called into have a look at the Mundi Mundi Gorge. There was no water and just a dry pebble bed to walk over. We decided not to walk the 3km track and turned back about ½ way. We returned to the caravan park for a quick bite to eat and headed out again this time in the opposite direction, back towards town. We called into the lookout and saw humpback whales off shore. They were a long way out but you could see that there was plenty out there based on the amount of big splashes. We drove around to see the Mildura Wreck, a steal hull cattle ship that struck the reef about 1km off shore in a cyclone. All the people on board survived and although the cattle were released to swim to shore more than ¾ drowned. We had a yummy ice cream before heading back to the park.

Tonight is our last night with Chris and Roger as we are aiming to be home by Wednesday afternoon for Dale's facial surgery on Thursday. Chris and Roger will follow on and arrive sometime over the following weekend. It also marks the last episode of Game of Thrones. We have jagged that well as we are all big fans and it was always fun watching this together before we turned in for the night. Chris and Roger have booked to stay at Yardi Homestead until Monday booking for the Christmas in July Dinner on Sunday Night which should be fun.

We said our goodbyes that night just incase we decided to get up early and headoff before dawn.

Thanks for the great trip Chris and Roger, see you on the road again soon! Love Virginia and Glenn xx