Exmouth
Town Beach
Arriving in Exmouth mid December, the plan was to spend roughly 4-6 weeks there over the Christmas School holidays... (oh how our plans changed yet again!!) 6 weeks became 8, 8 became 10... 10 became 12... yepppp... we ended up spending the next 4 months at this small seaside town. We loved our time in this friendly, tight knit community so much that it really was hard to leave! But to start from the start...
Deciding to treat the kids to a stay in a caravan park, we checked into the Ningaloo Resort and Caravan Park. Being the off season the caravan park was pretty much empty!! (Something we found strange since back in Adelaide over the Christmas period all the caravan parks would of been booked out for month!) But what a bonus for us as the kids had the large pool pretty much to themselves most days!
The Caravan Park pool where the girls spent a lot of their time!!
The girls flipping into the pool
Exmouth has loads of Emus that walk up and down the main streets regularly!
We had daily visits from numerous Emus. This is one visiting whilst the girls were busy doing their school work.
I was quite excited with Christmas fast approaching. This was the first year that I was in charge of preparing our Christmas Lunch!
Although alot quiter than our usual big family get together that we are use to back in Adelaide, we all had a really fun, enjoyable, relaxing day! I made a antipasto platter, prawn cocktails, roast turkey, roast veggies and a christmas pudding with custard to finish. A couple of bottles of bubbles, red wine, some festive decorations and chrismas crackers and we were set!
Santa visiting Exmouth 
Baking Xmas cookies
Christmas Morning
That night we joined another family we had met in the caravan park. Whilst the kids all played together us adults relaxed and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine. PERFECT!!
Holly, Macey, Tori and Ella building a Gingerbread House
During our time in Exmouth we spent alot of time at the many beautiful beaches that make Exmouth such a beautiful town. From snorkelling at the beautiful Turquoise Bay, to long days lazing on numerous beaches watching the countless Turtles, Reef Sharks, Stingrays, Dolphins and Fish swim past. Spearfishing and fishing from our boat and Jetty Jumping with friends off of the Jetty at Bundegi.
We not only caught countless fish on our days out fishing, but also caught stingrays, octopus, squid, crayfish and shark. All which made for some pretty good dinners!
Jetty Jumping at Bundegi with friends
Tori, Mason, Asher, Ella, Taite enjoying a swim at Bundegi
Messing around at the beach
A turtle I accidentally caught on my line (and released)
Hello Tuna!!!
Gary and Kaybs spearfishing catch
I spent alot of time filleting fish!!
Ella driving boats!
Tori loves her fishing! She can't get enough of it!
We spent Australia Day on Town Beach
Relaxing on the beach on Australia Day
In February my Aunt Liz came up to stay for a week and we had a great time catching up and showing her around Exmouth. She treated us to many great nights out eating at some of the local pubs and restaurants and we even headed down to Coral Bay for a day out
on a glass bottom boat cruise.
Liz with the girls in Coral Bay
Dinner at Whalers! Spoilt!!!
During her visit we had what was our first "cyclone warning." Although nothing became of it, it did remind us that we was staying in a area that Cyclones do hit. But hey... they hadnt had a real cyclone hit for years!!! Surely this year would be the same right...??? Soooo Wrong!!! Lololol (for anyone who hasnt read my previous blog about our visit from Cyclone Olwyn, you can read all about it in my blog titled "Cyclone Olwyn.")
We made many news friends in Exmouth, and loved the many fun times we had with them all. From long coffee and lunch dates to cocktail parties. Long days at the beach and even longer nights sitting by huge bonfires laughing the nights away. Motorbike riding through the dunes and 4x4 adventures. Boat trips to the stunning islands offshore and filling our eskys with Tuna, Crayfish and Snapper!
We spent a long weekend housesitting one friends house, and spent another week living at another friends house when Cyclone Olwyn hit. We even spent the last 3 weeks of our stay in Exmouth living with a group of friends at their house too!
Gary riding Motorbikes
Ella riding motorbikes
Catching Tuna with Breeze and Boy
Ella, Ellie, Tori and Lilly. These girls were virtually inseparable for a good 3 weeks <3
Staying in one place for so long, Gary decided to get some work. He quickly got himself a job working for a local company. From driving tractors, bobcats and excavators to fixing powerlines and fencing, to helping with the Cyclone clean up, he seemed to be doing something different most days.
Just before we left Exmouth we headed down to Coral Bay for the day. We had decided to book a tour with Ecotours to swim with giant Manta Rays. Wow... They are amazing! We swam with a huge Manta Ray with a 3m wide wing span! Many times this Ray circled around and swam directly under us all! In less than 3m of water it got quite close, quite often and even did some backflips directly under Ella and I!! Funny enough they didn't seem bothered by our presence and wern't scared off.
Before we left Exmouth we also wanted to swim with the Whale Sharks. Unfortunately after talking to numerous tourists and locals who had been out on the tours in Exmouth recently the reviews weren't great. Although the sharks were out there, they weren't surfacing much and numbers were low. On hearing this we decided to book another tour down in Coral Bay where there had been alot more sightings and the sharks seemed to be spending more time near the surface. So after saying our final goodbyes to Exmouth and our friends we headed back down to Coral Bay where we again headed out for the day with Ecotours in the search for some Whale Sharks.
What an amazing day! We started the day with a snorkel inside the reef. With lots of colourful fish, coral and turtles it was a great start to the day!
All ready to swim with the whale sharks!
A Turtle we swam alongside
Back in the boat we had a yummy morning tea and headed out to the back of Ningaloo reef to find some Whale sharks.
Lucky we didnt have to wait long. Before we had even made it outside the reef our spotter plane had spotted numerous sharks and we was no sooner swimming beside our first shark!!!! Arghhh!!!
One of the whale sharks we swam alongside
Our boats skipper was great and continuously dropped us directly infront of these massive sea creatures. We spent sometimes up to 20mins just swimming right alongside them. It was a truly breathtaking experience and something I reccommend to anyone visiting the area. We got dropped infront of 3 different whale sharks approx 7-8 times and by the end of the day we were exhausted but extremely satisfied as I was worried before we booked the tour that we may not get long in the water. Gosh, I couldnt have been more wrong!
The kids loved the experience also and you couldnt wipe the smile off of their faces!
Sitting at the front of the boat
After our swim with the whale sharks we was served a buffet lunch before heading back inside the reef for yet another snorkel. This time we saw sharks, rays, turtles and fish.
So big!!!
On our way back to shore we was served fresh fruit and Champagne to finish off our day.
What an amazing way to finish off our time in the Exmouth/Coral Bay region!
Next stop... Karijini National Park (again) and then back up North! Who knows... We may even cross into the Northern Territory before the end of May...
Maybe ;) ;)
Xx
