Sunday 18th May
I was up at 08.30, packed my stuff and went for breakfast at the nearby cafe before getting onto the ER bus at 10.00. We had a new driver, a guy called Rob, and a different, smaller bus than the one I had been on when we left from Perth. The numbers on the bus were dwindling, but most of the guys that I had been hanging out with in Coral Bay were moving on towards Exmouth as well, so I was happy about that. It took about three hours to get to Exmouth, and we passed through the usual vast expanse of scrub and not much else. It was a fairly quiet journey with some of the guys suffering from hangovers.
We got to Exmouth around 13.00 and stopped at the supermarket to pick up supplies. I also called into the office of 'Ningaloo Reef Dreaming' dive company to book a package which entitled me to seven dives and a day trip to swim with the whale sharks. It cost a fair bit of money, but it was also better value to get more dives, and the chance to swim with a whale shark may be a 'once in a lifetime opportunity', so I thought it best to make the most of it. This was one of the main reasons why I came to WA, and part of my newfound love of the deep blue sea.
After we got sorted out with food, we checked into our rooms and the 'Blue Reef Backpackers', which was connected to a larger campsite. The four-bed dorms were good, and the facilities were also of a high standard. After a quick lunch, we took a trip out to Turquoise Bay to do some more snorkelling. It was nice, and we saw a decent amount of fish for somewhere that was just off the beach, but I personally didn't enjoy it as much as Coral Bay (although there were reports that there is a greater diversity of sealife in the Turquoise Bay area, and I think we just chose a bad spot). We spent an hour or so there before making our way back towards Exmouth, stopping at Vlamingh Head Lighthouse from where we watched another fantastic Aussie sunset.
It was dark by the time we got back to the hostel. We got changed and met at the camp kitchen where we all chipped in to prepare dinner, which consisted of some really nice fish, prawns, sausages and salad. There was a good bunch of us there and it was good fun, although I was feelling pretty tired. We hung out for a bit and I called it a night at about midnight.
