Tell any Australian that you live in Esperance, and they always say "ooh, it's cold down there". It's not really that bad, but some locals said they head up North for some winter sun. We have planned this for a while and we were supposed to be going with some 4wd guys from Albany, but that fell through. It would have been good to travel with others, so we could go to some more remote spots without worry. We went on our own, but met with some teacher friends in Exmouth. We didn't have much of a plan though, only that we wanted to get to the Ningaloo Reef to catch the tail end of the Whaleshark season and swim with one of these amazing fish.
We knew that it would probably take about 3 days to get there, so we had planned to leave at 6 in the morning...but then we went to Dave's birthday party! Anyway, we left at about noon and drove the 4 hours to Hyden to check out Wave rock and to camp up for the night! Up and away at 6 in the morning! watched the sunrise...got some amazing dawn photos....then it rained and we drove and drove and drove and drove some more, stopping in every fuel station! We got to Geraldton a sthe sun was going down, but decided to drive some more and then finally stopped about 8 at night, after getting stuck in some very gooey mud trying to get to a campsite down a track which we didn't know at the time is 'impassable' in wet weather! Ah well, you live and learn! Weather still not good the day, so we decided not to stop anywhere on the way up and instead head for the sun in Exmouth. Exmouth was very small and very full...first night spent on the council recreation ground. A great couple of days spent snorkelling on the reef and just sitting around in the sun. Whaleshark snorkel was awesome, but in less that perfect conditions...swell was big and many boats didn't go out. Barfarama on the boat, one kid was so sick he didn't see the whaleshark, that's one expensive uncomfortable boat ride! Saw some humpbacks too, but no Mantas. Will have to go back for some Manta action. After Exmouth, we went to Coral Bay which was beautiful, but very full. We then moved down to Waroora Station, a huge cattle and sheep station which has some reef coastline. No facilities at all, so we had to buy a toilet! Apparently, the station owners are not keen on the spade method! We loved it there, stayed a while, met some cool grey nomads...fishing was lousy though. Back down to Perth...another monster 12 hours drive, rang Dave and we stayed at his parent's place...good to have a shower! Thanks Dave's parents! Quick shop in Perth for Karen's birthday and anniversary present, which are coming up soon! Then home to Espo, which is sunny (but windy) today!
Back to work soon!