Exmouth, Australia - Nov 06/11

Exmouth, the gateway to the magnificent Ningaloo Marine Park and Cape National Park, Ningaloo is a spectacular fringe to the rugged Northwest Cape, some 700 miles from Perth, Ningaloo is much shorter than the Great Barrier Reef, but no less impressive. Ningaloo Marine Park is home to a staggering array of marine life. There are sharks, manta rays, humpback whales, turtles and more than 500 species of fish. Needless to say that the Marine Park (recently awarded as a UNESCO site) is becoming very popular with the diving and snorkeling crowd. In season the whale sharks are the big attraction. Exmouth is a lively little place (pop. 2500) where the natural world frequently interacts with small town. Emus still wander through the main streets as evidenced with one of our photos of a mother Emu walking by the side of the road we were on (she did have four chicks (?) with her but fled out of good picture view when our bus stopped. About the wildlife here if you watch the Discovery or National Geographic channel (not sure which on) they had a documentary on the Jurabi Turtle Centre, this is the beach where turtles come up on at night to lay their eggs.

Our time here was pretty sleepy (in between seasons), we did have a tour to all the spots so here is a sampling of the pictures, first is the view from the restored lighthouse, the beach where the turtles come up on to lay their eggs (a shot of me putting my foot into the Indian Ocean for the first time ever), the Shothole Canyon gorge, our friendly Emu, a picture of us leaving, note the incredible communications towers and Jan doing here evening laps around the promenade deck.

A note on these communications towers which stand as high as 40 story buildings, they are for submarine communications and can send a very low frequency signal under the ocean a very long way, to at least Africa from what we understand. Exmouth in WW II had a refueling station (barge) for submarines, Allied military submarines could travel as far as here but required refueling to get back. 

Tip or comment of the day. Visit Exmouth during the Whale Shark Season or overnight during this time of year to fully appreciate the turtle breeding cycle. 

Tomorrow Fremantle and Perth.