Ningaloo

A short hop of 1,124 kilometres takes us from the wintery conditions of Perth, to Exmouth, where despite the fact it’s winter, the temperature is in the late twenties. Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo Marine Park make for a heady combination of water and land-based fun and frolics.  

We arrive two days ahead of our friends, who are travelling up by car from Perth, with three young children to entertain en-route! Their journey will take four days – a proper road trip! We’ve cheated. I feel a pang of regret that we didn’t follow suit – particularly given that we had to suffer a 5am flight! But you can’t do everything…

Our first day in Ningaloo is pretty relaxed and after pottering around some of the stunning beaches we head to the lighthouse to watch the sunset. It’s a perfect vantage point, with a 180 degree view over the Indian Ocean. Jenn aptly describes it as watching ‘whale soup’ – everywhere you look humpbacks are breaching. Albeit they are at a significant distance, but they are visible to the naked eye, and it is a very cool thing to sit and watch as the sun disappears before being replaced by a perfect full moon. Hopes are high for our boat trip in two days time!

The following day we visit Cape Range National Park. Starting with a hike at Mandu Mandu Gorge, we are fortunate enough to see a Wedge Tailed Eagle, which happens to be the largest bird of prey in Australia. Although one can become a bit blasé about the myriad of kites that are perpetually overhead, when you see a Wedge Tail Eagle, even at a distance, you know you are looking at something a bit special. The scenery isn’t bad either! A hike at Yardie Creek follows, and this time we are treated to an Osprey! They are quick at the best of times, but with the wind behind it in the gorge, it is like a bullet.

Having seen our fill of gorges for the day we head to Sandy Bay and Osprey Bay – both of which are stunning. As ever whales breaching in the background… the anticipation builds for our boat trip! Looks immense out there!

Next morning, we awake eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Miles clan. Feeling lazy after our hikes the previous day, we decide to exploit our hired Landcruiser and take it off-road at Bundegi Beach. Having never driven on the beach before – it’s a novel experience.

The Mileses arrive late afternoon. One of those really lovely moments – where everyone is genuinely happy and excited to see each other! It’s always great to see good friends – but it’s amazing when you are the other side of the world, in a stunning location, and sharing an Airbnb opposite the beach! After four days on the road the relief at being somewhere for more than one night is palpable, and it’s cool to hear from the kids about what they’ve seen on their journey.

Foolishly, the barbeque is entrusted to me. Good fun chatting to Al on the balcony with a bottle of Byron Bay, while the kids play on the swings over the road, with Jenn and Laura supervising from the balcony. A really lovely evening (notwithstanding the food – dodgy barbeque).

I’d forgotten quite how frank children can be and listening to their candid assessments of all of us had me in stitches. I was left in bewildered wonderment at how Laura and Al have any self-esteem left. I was not spared. Comparisons ranged from Mr Bingley of Pride and Prejudice fame, to Michael Bublé. The former I can tolerate – the latter I cannot stand. Not sure why. At home I will leave the room if his music is playing. Decide the girls are trouble…

Next day we visit Turquoise Bay – so named, because, well, it’s turquoise. Seemingly Australians are very literal in their naming conventions. Gorgeous white sand, incredible colour water and almost deserted. As ever there’s an obligatory warning sign. No sharks (well none significant enough to merit inclusion on the sign), no box jelly-fish and no salt-water crocodiles. However, it wouldn’t be an Aussie beach without a safety hazard, in this instance a pretty serious rift current. Swimming just off the beach is fine – but even there you can feel the strength of a westerly current.

An inviting reef sits just off-shore. However, it means swimming further out. The only way realistically of doing so is to walk down the beach, get in the water and let the current bring you back. Critical thing to remember is to get out before the sand bar – post that, you are getting sucked out to sea!

I’ve never swum in water like it – almost impossible to swim in one spot and very definitely impossible to swim against it! That said, water was stunning, and I spot a turtle. It must have liked me, because in that current, if it had wanted to leave, it could have made the jump to light speed with a flick of its’ fins.

Lovely day followed by a couple of beers and a few hands of cards. I won’t embarrass Laura by describing in detail what happened when she declared that she had the winning hand when playing rummy. Suffice to say I nearly wet myself laughing when she laid them down…

The big day arrives. The day of the boat trip.

Weather looks pretty damn good. It’s been windy for the last few days – but today feels just about perfect, bit of breeze, but lovely blue sky. We are picked up at 8am by our snorkelling guide, driver and photographer for the day. Really good guy, called Justin, and he makes everyone, including the kids, feel immediately comfortable.

Infectiously enthusiastic, he says that he has to pinch himself every day when he comes to work! How nice (or sickening) is that? On the drive to the dock, he tells us that yesterday they saw an eagle ray, a whale shark and had swum with humpbacks. Chuck in an octopus – and that sounds like a pretty decent boat trip to me!

The boat is pretty cool. The captain, and two onboard crew (both of whom have marine biology degrees) are all super friendly – and so after a short briefing we’re off.

Sadly, that’s where it all went a tad awry.

You can’t legislate for weather and wildlife. Overnight, a bucket load of dirty water had hit the reef. It’s exactly as it sounds, the wind had whipped up the mud and sediment, creating murky, opaque water in place of the usually clear Indian Ocean. We are warned that it’s going to be tough to spot things.

There are four planes that fly up and down the coast, spotting for the boats, including ours. I remain optimistic – but our expectations have been rightly set low.

We watch humpbacks breach from the boat, but they are more skittish than normal and disappear quickly. Seemingly, nothing likes the murky water – presumably owing to the presence of predators. Humpback calves are actively pursued by the orcas that frequent these waters. Nonetheless, watching the whales is pretty cool.

I compare notes with Justin on photography and quickly discover that taking pictures of anything at sea is tough. Nothing was close, and the sea is pretty immense. For most of the day, if a whale popped up on the left, you can guarantee that I was looking right, and vice versa. I may as well have left my camera at home, which is a politer version of the sentiment I expressed on the day itself!

Despite best efforts, no whale sharks and the conditions made it unsuitable for swimming with the humpbacks. Such a shame!

That said, it wasn’t a complete loss. We saw a sea snake, a turtle and a pod of dolphins. The latter was lovely to watch from the bow – two different species interacting together. Apparently when they have what the girls would refer to as a ‘special hug’ – it can result in hybrid dolphins.

After a full day on the sea, we had to concede defeat. It wasn’t meant to be. That said, it was still a great day. Nice weather, great crew, beautiful boat, beaching whales, and we got to share it with good friends. I’d take that every day of the week.

A great last supper, a couple of bottles of fizz, and before we knew it we are waving goodbye the following morning. The Miles clan on a four-day drive back to Perth, and us with one final night in Exmouth, before flying to Cairns via Perth.

Feel very fortunate to have shared this time together and despite the fact that we failed to see what the locals call a ‘spotty fish’ – we will be talking about the last few days for a long, long time.

We visit Charles Knife Canyon, Shothole Canyon, and the Mildura Wreck before leaving Exmouth.

Ningaloo is another very cool location that I would recommend to anyone. Whale sharks or not, it’s a stunning place!