Imagine. You are sitting in a 12 seat, twin hulled speed boat powered by 2 x 300hp outboards. Top speed is 60 knots, current speed is  34 knots. But you are not moving forward, just rocking & rolling from side to side. On either side, a mere 3m away, are towering cliffs! Welcome to the Horizontal Falls. Continue reading →

Why would 7 people leap off a perfectly good boat located 200m off shore?
Because we were over Ningaloo Reef, south of Exmouth; and we were all set up for some snorkelling off the glass bottom boat. A fantastic interlude in what has been a quiet week for us.
As well as the reef life there were also whales, dugongs, sharks and turtles to be seen. In fact Sue brought the snorkelling to an end by claiming
(correctly) to have seen a large shark. She did exit rapidly. We actually saw the shark through the bottom of the boat, a 2.5-3m white-tipped reef shark. Harmless unless provoked – hmm, how do you avoid provoking a shark?
Our week started and ended in Exmouth (31C today), a very civilized town where you can buy a 4 litre cask! On a Sunday! We  had 4 nights at Exmouth. Geoff finally got in his deep sea fishing trip. No success with the trolling; too many dolphin. however he caught maybe 2 dozen off the bottom. He kept a few schnapper but most of the fish that came on board were released as no one on board wanted a huge supply; they only kept the best.
The big attraction here is Cape Range National Park; about 40km of peninsula and coast line protected by Ningaloo reef. It is an area where both marine and land tropical and temperate regions meet. This results in a proliferation of all kinds of birds, animals and plants.  Unfortunately we just missed the end of the whaleshark season, as swimming with them is one attraction to which we had looked forward. There were actually a few still about, but two of the main trip operators had ceased and we could not get a date for a reasonably priced trip.
There are maybe 60-80 campsites along the whole of the coast; administered by the Department of Environment & Conservation. Each morning from 7am you can join a queue at the entrance (about 40km from Exmouth) to see if you can get a spot. After plenty of horror stories about many days of queuing  we decided not to bother, simply to take day trips in. On our second day  trip the ‘park full’ sign was not up; so we checked, and lo and behold we secured a place at Osprey Bay.  (Reason probably was that the whaleshark season had officially ended) Only little hiccough is that we had not topped up our water tank for the ‘day trip’ so we either had a 40+km  trip to refill or leave after 3 nights. The 4th morning was very windy, so we decided to quit after 3 terrific days.  $14 per night with toilet and rubbish removal but no shower; simply 40km of warm seawater! Tough life.  Sue has never snorkeled before in her life, but has taken to it with gusto. A very pleasant couple took her in hand and really helped her out.
Sad occurrence this week, we have booked our return trip on the Spirit of Tasmania; on 22 October. We always knew we had to, but the actual doing of it brings home the reality.  So with our arrival in Gin Gin timed for 8 September and a departure date from Melbourne settled, the end looms.
However we actually have something of a challenge coming. Time in Gingin; time in Perth; a trip way down south to  Denmark to catch up with Allen & Marilyn; and we do not intend to sprint across the Nullabor – there is a lot to see on the crossing if you take the time!
We are only a short distance from the Tropic of Capricorn, so we may find ourselves ‘over the line’ in Carnarvon before the end of winter. How sad!