Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Perth to Darwin - Day 14-15 - Ningaloo Reef and The Whale Shark

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We departed Denham and Monkey Mia early for our second long drive day of the trip.  This time 690 kms over the course of ten hours.  It was am amazing drive.  Once we were away from the coast the topography changed to plains with lots of scrub and red sand.  We encountered loads of stray sheep along the highway.  As we approached the termite mounds of the Ningaloo region we had to stop for a few photos.  The mounds are so big.  One was well over nine feet tall.




We reached the small city, establish in WW2 as an US Submarine base.  That was a surprise.  Today it is home to the RAAF and lots and lots of tourist enterprises, the primary being snorkel and dive companies for the Ningaloo Reef, the largest fringe reef in the world.

We set up camp at the tourist park...our first night in the camper.  All that planning and shopping to create an economical canopy for use on our trip did not play out well...LOL...the ground was too hard to drive in the guideline stakes...it was hot and there were lots and lots of flies!  Oddly enough, when the sun set, so did the flies...thankfully.  We made dinner and watched few shows on Netflix before hitting the sack.


Emus wander the camper park. While Bobbie was getting things ready one of them wandered into our site, grabbed up the camper keys, and was about to head off when she turned and discovered the burglary in progress. Some shouting and flailing of arms got it to drop the keys.  That would have been an unhappy event otherwise.

We got up early the next morning and readied ourselves for the big day...whale sharks.  We were pickup by the boat company and transported to the dock.  Along the way we viewed the US Navy submarine communications station built in WW2.  The main antenna sits on top of six story building and the tower is the tallest structure in West Australia.  The photo is misleading since there are no references to detect the actual size.


We got to the harbor and boarded our catamaran.  It was a beautiful boat.  We were joined by a family of 17...amazingly well behaved and fun kids, and a single fellow from Wales who was delightful.  It was an incredible day of snorkeling the beautiful reef and then swimming with those amazing whale sharks.  At the end of the day the crew lowered a cargo net into the water and we all climbed on for a high speed ride behind the boat.  It was a grand day.

















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