Spend the days in Exmouth in the Cape Range National Park.  From the town the road bends round the Cape and heads down the western side.  You pass a rangers station and show the pass ( I Bought a membership for a year – same price as a two day pass and may be able to apss ti on to someone coming out here – well you never know).  The landscape on the right is Martian again – red low rise mountains and scrub.  On the left, levelling out to dunes and  crazily beautiful bays – luminous sea.  Stop in at the Myerling Vistors Centre for maps and warnings about drfit currents.  Linger awhile in the cool building, every single piece of information is here and I am tempted to weigh the luggage down with maps and plans.  Head out to Turquoise Bay where we eat a packed lunch and nead out to snorkel in the safer Bay Loop (we heard about drownings here  in the Visitor Centre!).  It’s a very beautiful spot, a perfect bay with the reef just a few metres from the shore.  We glimpse all the life we’ve seen at Coral Bay and more – including a Sea Turtle, majestically swimming a long. 

Then it’s sitting and reading in the sun.  We heard about leaving the park before dusk if possible owing to the Kangaroos but still can’t quite believe that we will see thenm in the wild as we head home.  But there they are!  First just one a long distance away, then one in the road, then more become visible in the Bush as your eyes get accustomed to it all!

On the second day we drive all the way round to Yardie Creek.  This is at the very southern end of the park – a gorge millions of years old.  Here we join a tour with a real zen like atmosphere – just a few people and two men called Dave.  Gently drifting along!  My camera battery has failed so I try and snap a few on the phone but I don’t think any picture could convey the serenity of the place or the experience.  Dave and Dave guide us very slowly through the flora and fauna of an environment that really hasn’t changed in thousands of years.  It’s a privilege to be here.  In a way this mirrors last time in Mossman Gorge in 2002.

We snorkel again at Turquoise Bay – and drive again at some speed to the Dive Shop to return the gear  by 6.  At the counter we talk about the day with the woman who carefully and patiently had sized us for the masks and fins the day before.  We tell her about the Yardie Creek tour and how it was and so forth. “Did Dave take you out?” she asked.  “Why yes, “ we replied.  “He’s my husband.  It’s a small town.”  “Ah so you know about the tour then?”  “Oh yes.”  It all made sense.

Dinner and cards and my usual gambling kamikaze tactics which see me out very, very quickly. 

Finished “Dirt Music” by Tim Winton today – brilliant descriptions of Western Australia and characters great too.  Shortlisted for Booker in 2002 – don’t know what won that year but it must have been close.