26. The one when we swam in a huge tropical aquarium

Total distance travelled: 25,010km (+1,775km)

Our last stop in the Pilbara was the small beachside town of Onslow. The old town was once a thriving port to support the surrounding sheep and cattle stations, pearl divers and gold mines, but moved to its current location when the mouth of the Ashburton River kept silting up. A solitary wooden post of the old jetty, headstones at the cemetery, and the stone walls of the old police station and jail are all that remains of the old town - remnants of the Masters and Slaves Act they once enforced, but thankfully now consigned to the past.

The new town is now largely based around salt production, becoming a ghost town during working hours in the off-season. Thankfully the

public pool provided lounges, games and inflatables to while away the dry heat of the day. The large recreation room at our caravan park also provided free billiards, table tennis and Xbox, which we happily used while the workers were away.

After a short stay in Onslow, we moved further south to Exmouth and quickly realised we'd stumbled into paradise. Coming from the Pilbara, it's jarring to find a town without red dust and mega mining infrastructure. Instead, this is a tourism town without the unease of Broome. Its white beaches and palm trees fit the Australian clichè perfectly, except for the emus, not kangaroos, that roam the main street.

While unfortunate to miss whale shark season, and the risk of cyclones ever-present, the benefit of visiting Exmouth in the off-season is the peace that descends over the town; like Phillip Island in Febrarury. At times we almost had the only caravan in the park, and certainly had most beaches, walks and snorkelling spots to ourselves as well. The privilege of exploring this world heritage area without the hoards of fellow tourists was not lost on us, given the peak-season stories we'd heard before arriving.

Exmouth also marked the end of our 13-day, 3,500+km rapid journey from quarantine in Kununurra, with our plan to change pace by spending 10 nights at the same place. This meant finally taking down the roof-mounted bikes, to start washing away the layers of red dust caked in their mechanics. A short ride out to the new (post cyclone Vance) marina and housing estate thankfully proved they still worked!
Around the corner from the town of Exmouth is the Cape Range NP, and the Ningaloo Reef. It's hard to describe just how accessible and spectacular the reef is, especially when compared to the Great Barrier Reef on the east coast. Given it's a fringing reef, it hugs the shoreline, meaning you can step off the beach and straight into the action, no boat required. And while the reef mostly consists of hard coral, there's no shortage of colour from brilliant blue bombies to bright yellow staghorn coral or the intricate patterns of brain coral.

We found the reef's best feature though, was the plethora of marine life we encountered while snorkelling the various sections of reef. In the shallows we loved finding large colourful starfish and clams, listening to huge brilliant parrot fish munching on coral, swimming with large schools of striped surgeon fish and chasing blue spotted rays. In deeper sections we occasionally found white- and black-tipped reef sharks that quickly swam away as we approached, unlike the giant trevally that easily outsized Carolyn as it swam

past her unfazed! Everywhere, we were surrounded by the most bombastic variety of colour, size and movement that was scarcely believable. The glass bottom boat tour we took gave fantastic insight into the reef, but we quickly learnt that nothing could beat getting into the water and seeing it all up close.

Perhaps our favourite Cape Range NP experience came in Osprey Bay, following a recommendation from the Witnishes, in which we spent 30 mins snorkelling around, seeing nothing but sea grass and were swimming back to shore in disappointment. It was then that Josh exclaimed "Turtle!", and so began the remainder of the afternoon spent floating above turtles as they munched away on the sea floor, sometimes coming within touching distance, and occasionally swimming right past us on their way to and from the surface to breathe. The relaxed nature of these creatures was mesmerising, but fleeting, as when we returned a few days later, they were nowhere to be found! We also attempted to see turtles come ashore at dusk to nest on multiple occasions, but with limited success. Unfortunately their hatchlings also eluded us!

When the daytime wind picked up, we often reverted to swimming in

the pool at the caravan park, where the kids enjoyed testing their duck-dives to retrieve items from its 2.8m depths. We also explored Yardie Gorge, hiking up and down its rocky slopes while disturbing the local rock wallabies. A recommendation from our tour guide on the glass bottom boat led us to spoil ourselves with dinner at The Beach Shack overlooking Bundegi Beach at sunset, in the shadows of the super tall VLF (very low frequency) towers at the Harold Holt Communication Station.

Just south of Exmouth is the small town of Coral Bay, in which we spent 3 more nights on the Exmouth Peninsula. It's easy to see why the locals love Coral Bay - almost everything that's good in Exmouth & Cape Range NP is packed into a tiny town. In the bay you have shallow turquoise waters for swimming, beyond which you have incredible snorkelling opportunities in the coral gardens. Back on land you have a legendary bakery (its reputation certainly preceded it), tall sand dunes to watch the sunset from, and a natural shark nursery, all within walking distance. Thankfully we arrived just as school was returning for 2022 to find its caravan parks emptying quickly. By the next morning, we had the beachside views to ourselves!

Our highlight for the entire Ningaloo Reef though, came with a full day manta ray tour we took while staying in Coral Bay. This involved an early start to get fitted with wet suits and snorkelling gear before being driven over to the jetty and onto our boat for the day. Our first stop at Blue Maze took us to an incredible section of the reef lagoon, once again filled with life and colour, but striking in its underwater terrain - like an underwater mountain range covered in all manner of coral and activity.

Once back on the boat, we enjoyed a quick snack while chasing various wildlife around the lagoon, which included a 3.5m tiger shark - something the onboard photographer was brave enough to get in with! With a spotter plane brought in to assist, we then began chasing manta rays. In total we had 3 good opportunities to swim in close proximity to these amazing creatures, although Josh, Acacia and Carolyn (and many others) were all stung by blue bottle jellyfish on their 2nd swim which somewhat spoilt their experience!

After applying vinegar, having a rest, and some lunch, we were then taken to The Cleaning Station - another popular dive site, where many of the larger reef creatures come to swim through a massive 3m tall cabbage coral to clean their skin - essentially a car wash for big fish! To the kids' credit, they put the past stings behind them, and entered the water again. The swim out took us around more incredible underwater coral mountains, through a narrow channel between them, before then breaking out into the main arena... and oh, what a sight! Before us were schools of large fish, casually milling around the huge cabbage coral with at least 6 large grey reef sharks circling amongst them. Thankfully they weren't looking the slightest bit hungry although it was still a strange experience to swim in close proximity to such large sharks with your brain caught somewhere between amazement and instinctive fear.