Arriving on the North West Cape

Today it was a mass exodus from the Coral Bay Caravan Park and we joined in. Our drive was only a short 2 hours but felt longer with large section of roadworks slowly everyone down. As we approached Exmouth was passed two emus on the road bringing up the total of roadside animal sighting to 5!

We stopped in at the visitors centre in hope some questions we had could be answered and they were. We picked up a few brochures and maps. Next stop was to get enough food for the 5 days we have here. The IGA at Exmouth was small and busy. We managed to find everything we needed and more :) 

Sausage rolls and coffee from the local bakery for lunch completed our list and we were back on the road heading around the North West Cape to our next campsite at Yardie Homestead.

The drive around this peninsula is amazing with the rugged Cape Range - a long ridge (and gorges) extending the length of the peninsula approximately 80km. It rises steeply from the coastal plain on either side. We are looking forward to exploring the interior gorges later this week.

Despite it not being turtle season, we stopped at the Jurabi Turtle Centre. We learnt from the information posters about their lives. Most interestingly is that only 1 turtle per 1000 eggs laid will live into adulthood.

All hot and bothered, we decided to drive past Yardie Homestead aiming for a good snorkelling area. We settle on Turquiose Bay. This little section of reef is divided by a point into the Bay (more sheltered) and the Drift (as suggested one hops in and drifts along with the current). As the water was a little choppy, we decide on the more sheltered bay area. Donning our snorkels we dive into the water and are still amazed about the abundance of marine life within 10m of the shore. Any and Ella head further out than Katy is comfortable so I swim with her exploring the areas closest to the beach.

Once we had had our fill of beautiful fish and interesting nudibranches, we came in. Ella is next to exit the water after a fast freestyle in - she apparently saw a sea snake and freaked out (so did the snake!)

At Yardie Homestead, we set up camp, nicely tucked away in one corner. Katy is keen to find their friend Grace. After a lap of the campground, Grace is successfully located and the girls wander around until dinner. Post dinner they look at the stars with an app Andy downloaded before climbing into our girls tent chatting away until bedtime.