We flew an hour and a half north of Perth on Skywest Airlines to Learmonth airport.  Nearest town is Exmouth – est. 1967 (so, it’s  younger than both me and Janet).  And headed in our small white 1998 Hyundai Excel (courtesy of Autumn at Allens Car Hire in Exmouth, and following a protracted struggle with bags) down our first long genuine Australian outback road down to Coral Bay (one street and a bay – more later). 
The airplane window had revealed miles of red mountains, nothingness and dirt tracks and a few sealed roads to the east.  Jack and Janet had views on the west of strange salt lakes and bizarrely shaped estuaries.  Strange unearthly colours on both sides made me think of other planets as being more homelike.  At ground level the landscape through which we were driving was red and covered in strange cacti and scrubs and punctuated by giant orange-red stacks (termite mounds?).
 

Coral Bay was one street and we piled down to the end of it to the Ningaloo Reef Resort.  This was really like Tangalooma on the last trip.  Comfortable (at least initially) with bar, pool and beach view.

And what a view.  We have winter light and summer heat.  The bay view is fringed and framed by palm trees.  The sea beyond is turquoise with darker and lighter bits denoting the presence of the Ningaloo Reef Marine Park.  An area of outstanding natural beauty- as they say.  The Reef here ios much shorter than the one so far, far away on the other side of the continent.  Much smaller and closer to the shore. A plethora of tours in glass bottomed boats and numerous offers of snorkel hire.

The first day was orientating ourselves, the second was spent trying to remember how to snorkel properly.  We had fins, mask and breathing tube for the day before our trip to the outer reef.  We walked out to the 5 knot sign on the edge of what is known as Paradise Bay and waded in.  The sea was a clear pale turquoise deepening into a shelf which then changed again over the reef.  It was a spectacular moment – moving from swimming pool type conditions to feeling like you were in an aquarium.  There were fish of every size and shape and colour in amongst the coral.  It took us all a while to get used to it and the sea temperature was on the cold side (even as a hardy northern hemisphere boy) –although tropical to look at.  With a wet suit we would have fared better but we stayed in for a long time letting the current swing us back round to the bay and then walking back up the shore to where we had left our stuff under a hanging red rock just poking out from the dunes (this is a weird landscape – did I mention that?).

In the evening we ate at Fin’s Café next to the trailer/caravan camp – packed with serious long distance aussie holiday makers. Barbecues, power, light, satellite dishes for the Fox-Tel so they can keep track on their favourite Aussie rules teams. At this time the people on the move are generally without children of school age.  Retired couples, younger families, single people, world travellers.  The food was good and so was the wine from the Bottle Shop (combined with a serious, male-orientated wild west bar and huge Australia map and photos of great nights there!).

The next day was our trip out to the outer reef. Meeting at the Eco tour shop in the morning with 8 others – mother and child and three couples of all ages (one young Swiss couple going slowly anti-clockwise round Australia.  We collected our wet suits, loaded our bags onto the dinghy and then onto the boat.  The crew were a young woman called Fran (possibly European but her accent was really hard to place) and the captain of the boat – an Aussie called Pedro.  Headed out towards the outer reef and beyond.  First up – some whale watching.

Big Coincidence of the holiday so far…
On the way out got talking to Lisl and her daughter Niamh.  Turns out that Lisl is a teacher from Perth researching computers in education for her MA and that she heard Prof Richard Kimbell speak about e-assessment on PDAs last year.  What are the chances that you can travel so far and be on a random sample of 12 people and one of them turns out to be someone who knows someone you’ve worked with? (I did a couple of days of field work and some meetings with Richard last year and the year before on that very project!)

After work talk for a while (which started to make me think work thoughts previously missing from the trip), headed out to the front of the boat and watched the water deepen in colour and take us out of the reef area to the open sea, the blue of the Indian Ocean.  Watching now for Humpback Whales on their migration up the coast from Antarctica to calve in the warmer waters of the tropics (we are just above the tropic of Capricorn here!).  When we do see them there is a flurry of cameras and trying to stay on your feet as you try and line up a shot. Much better to stop and forget about the camera and juts watch these beautiful creatures jump out of the sea – mother and calf sweeping along.  We keep a respectful distance.  This is an eco tour after all and the whales are probably watching us too.  It is an awe-inspiring sight.

Next up – looking for rays to swim with – but we fail in this search.  Although we do see a dolphin and then some Whale sharks – dugongs – beautiful creatures and the inspiration behind the tales of mermaids. 

Pedro throws out a line to start fishing and after a long ride around there is a huge bite and t he sight of a beautiful fish streaking through the water alongside the boat.  “Fastest fish in the sea” shouts Pedro and between himself, Fran and a passenger who can fish, they land this great creature on the back of the boat.  “You can take this home for tea later if you want,” he says after administering the final blow to the head.  This is as close to the kill as I’ve ever been and it is a strange feeling.

Finally head back to the reef to a shark cleaning station where reef sharks and others come to the coral reef be cleaned by the parasites and organisms and little fishes before setting off on the hunt again.  Here we all don our wet suits and ease into the sea off the end of the boat.  Cold shock.  Even huger numbers of fish – Emperors nearby with smaller fish in attendance.  Someone from the boat is feeding them crackers or bread and they crowd round us snapping (Alice gets a little bite).  Then it’s off all of us bunched together swimming away from the boat through the coral looking for sharks.  If this doesn’t confront our fears (esp Alice and Jack’s head on) I don’t know what will.  See the dark shape 11 m below parked and cleaned setting off so fast back up to the gap in the reef and the open sea.  We have been swimming for some time now and there is no sign of the boat initially – so this is one of the adrenaline moments you get.  I am reassuring people but actually in need of a bit myself.  Then Fran points it out – about 50m away – I had been completely disorientated by the swim and the cold and everything…

Back on board – we are all a little stunned by the day – how amazing it’s been.  Quiet chatting with other people and then putting ashore.  But not before Pedro has gutted and prepared the fish for us to take away with us – our remaining two nights’ worth of fish here.  A beautiful Wahoo (nope never heard of it either). Cooked back at the apartment with garlic, lemon and butter and eaten with take away chips and a bottle of cold something or other from the bottle shop.  A great day out.

Only downside of the whole thing is the lack of water at the resort.  They are expanding and the workmen doing the job keep cutting the pipes and cutting the supply.  This is Ok for a bit but becomes a bit more of a problem with no showering for two days ands intermittent washing up.  Late in the evenhing it finally returns and the next days looks a little more hygienic than this one.  But this is the wild west.  This is a tiny, tiny settlement with one street and we can see the outback from the end of the road to the bay!