hopkinsonfamilytravels: Cool kangaroos, fish and an emu for good measure

Up early, breakfast with jumpers on.

Then off for the short (250km) drive to Exmouth. We wanted to go to Coral Bay but all campsites were fully booked and there are fines for roadside camping in this area.

We were smug to beat a couple of grey nomads out of the site!.

Arrived at Exmouth about 11am, stocked up with food at the (overpriced) shop, visited the visitors centre and booked into the campiste about midday, and immediately started to power up the laptop!

After lunch drove the 50k to Ningaloo reef national park. Its only about 10k as the crow flies from the campsite - but there is only one road.

The weather forecast said it would be 25 degrees C, but its cloudy and felt much cooler - almost jumper weather. The beach was superb white sand, and the sea however was fairly warm and the reef is just 20 / 30 metres from the shore (even closer in places) There are fish to be seen by the time you are knee deep in the water Joseph a bit worried about snorkeling out of his depth, but Eleanor and Katherine were happy enough.

We then changed beaches within Turquoise Bay, where there is a real current. The idea is to walk to the top of the beach, jump in, and then just float with snorkel and mask to the end of the beach over the reef and then do the whole thing again. Good fun, but perhaps not for the kids. Its unnerving the first time, it is impossible to swim against the current - its that fast! The kids built a sandcastle instead of snorkeling.

Saw plenty of colourful fish, and a mantra ray - just a shame it was a bit chilly on getting out of the water.

We left the park about 4.30. Just drove a few km, before we all got excited that we had finally spotted a Kangaroo. Then another, then another, then another - all in all we saw hundreds - all shapes and sizes (some may have been wallabys?) so we were very happy.

To add to that we saw an echinda (not in a safe place to stop - and we are unsure if it was dead or alive at the side of the road), and then Liz spotted an emu sauntering around about 50km from the road. Add to this Galahs, other birds and lizards (and birds eating lizards), and we have seen more wildlife today than the rest of our time in Aus combined!

Back at the campsite we ate our tea outside in long sleeves, had hot showers after 2 days on the road using water on a ration basis, and then sent the kids off to bed happy!

Stayed at Exmouth Ningaloo Caravan and Holiday Resort