Turtles and snorkeling in Exmouth- and Kangaroos

 

Emu's were part of the permanent residents of the park

Our next stop was Exmouth (population 2400) and we found an excellent Big4 camp ground there. We have  been on the road for a long time and met different people as we stay in different camping grounds. Some are heading down the same route as we are, as the choice of roads are limited!! Now we start to run into people we have gotten to know along the way and it really nice to see some familiar faces and share our experiences.

Wild horses in The Cape Range National Park

We are discovering so much about Australia and its hidden treasures everywhere. Exmouth exceeded our expectations in many ways. Nigaloo Marine Park is snorkelers and divers paradise with 260 km of coastline with the reef often being only meters from the shore. It has 500 recorded species of tropical fish. The Cape Range National Park outside Exmouth took us to the reef. We spent two days going out snorkeling and it was an experience never to be forgotten. 

Turquoise Bay with the reef

Turtles 

This is the time of the year when big turtles come ashore and lay their eggs at night. This was something we really wanted to see. One of our newfound friends lent us her Land Cruiser one night so we could drive out safely to the Turtle Viewing Centre. We spent a few hours enjoying the moon light and each other, but not one turtle in sight.

The following day we asked around and got advised about some other spots where others had seen turtles and we stopped by there during the afternoon and saw several turtles sticking their heads up and swimming around waiting for the dark. We returned that night on our Harley and it was challenging to drive along the road in the dark as there were plenty of kangaroos around. 

We came a bit late, one big turtle was already returning to the sea after having done her business. Another one, was digging her hole and sand was flying everywhere.  We sat down a few meters away and started watching her. Little did we know that we had come upon the most stubborn turtle on the entire beach. If a turtle doesn't like the structure of the sand etc in the hole she is digging, she moves on and starts a new one. This is very demanding as they are big and heavy and it is very cumbersome for them to move ashore and dig their nest.  This turtle was exhausted and on her sixth attempted nest when we left at 1.30 AM.

Turtle footprints as they are moving up from the sea.

"Our" stubborn female, digging away being watched by another stubborn female

We walked along the beach and watched other turtles in the process of doing the same thing, some returning to the sea and others just coming up. They are guided by  moon light and come up when the tide is high as they have less distance to cover on the beach that way.


It was a very romantic night with close to full moon and very special. Graeme even saw a Meteorite.


We  attempted to sleep on the beach but were not prepared and it got too damp and uncomfortable so we decided to drive back to the camping ground which was about 50 km's away. 


We now know without a doubt that kangaroos are nocturnal. We passed more than 100 kangaroos on the way back, driving very slowly and carefully. We hit one, and it was a miracle we didn't run into more. The kangaroo "shoo roo" gadgets you can buy in auto shops are useless we discovered. There were kangaroos all the way right up to the camp ground. It is very dry out here in WA and you wonder how they survive.


Next stop is Carnavon via Coral Bay and this will take us out of the "heat zone" of the Top End.

 This short billed Corella fell in love with Marie-Louise (who doesn't)  in the camp kitchen.
 He then  followed her to our camp site and would not leave.