Spent the day heading further south. We have a campground booked in Carnarvon tonight. The sky is huge and clear. We are relaxed and sunned from yesterday’s beach time. The sun shines bright, hot, and friendly and the air is fresh with a tang of coastal salt. 

Our first stop today is the Quobba Blow Holes. On the road in there is a sign warning “KING WAVES KILL” which tells what the conditions must be like when the weather is more energetic. We turn left at the sign to the blow holes, to the right is a dusty access road for the local surfers. 

At the blow holes the waves crash into a rugged rock shelf in a timeless unstoppable force/immovable object arm-wrestle. The sea has the upper hand, slowly eking out cracks and voids. Even the gentle swell today sends water whip-cracking into the rocks, whooshing into hidden pipes and soaring high out of jets. The spray is caught by the wind and sent all over a small group of cheering onlookers. 

It is very strange that only two weeks after our visit, a girl was taken from her parents here. It’s a great relief to post knowing she was found shortly after and returned to her family. 

A few hundred metres south of the blow holes is a sheltered bay called The Aquarium. The calm water creates a haven for coral to form and other fish to make their home. There a few people snorkelling, we take a up a vantage point and witness a short interaction between a father and daughter excitedly spotting something underwater at the same time and pointing it out to each other. We have further to drive and decide not to get in the water. 

Closer to Carnarvon are a collection fruit and vegetable farms, which can be visited on a short route called the ‘fruit loop’. Here we find delicious bananas, mango smoothies and vegies for dinner. There are so many bugs on the car now that the chickens on one farm swarm the car to peck them all off! 

At our campground we have a view of the dish at Carnarvon Space Centre. Donna gets a well-deserved wash and we setup for dinner. The little shared camp kitchen is empty as we prepare dinner, and we have Adam Liaw as company again, via SBS Food. The local produce goes into a meal which is the equivalent of that amazing pasta meal we had in Utah on our honeymoon – a perfect little meal. We are joined a little later by an old guy who turns out to be from Merewether, a fellow East Coast escapee. He worked in waste streams and recycling and is quickly convinced that Anna should pursue a PhD. 

Another whale shark swim today! But we have to pack our camp and get back to Exmouth campground before heading back to this side of the cape. So we’re up early to get the camp packed up.

Over at Exmouth we setup camp in the hardest ground so far – grateful for a drill to borrow! By that time we need to meet the bus.

This tour is similarly setup to the first one, but a little more professional and organised. The group today includes some Brazilian girls and it happens that there’s a Brazilian guy on the crew, so there’s a fun energy there. Our practice snorkel is among deep and varied coral.

Just like the other cruise, the plane spots a whale shark as we’re getting back into the boat. Knowing the routine makes the swims much easier! We’re quick to get into line and enjoy a few swims. The shark has a little yellow fish just ahead of it, and they seem to be playing a game.

The instructors again tell us to swim to the other side of the shark for clearer water and we enjoy the freedom. As I get my breath in check I feel like I could swim forever.

We have about four rotations of swimming with the shark. When we get back to the boat they say there’s another one they’ve spotted from the air. And we set off for that one.

This shark has a long scar along its back. As people begin to grow tired fewer and fewer get in for their swim. In the end we swim with this whale shark 7-8 times. The final swim is just us and two instructors, they let us swim for ages and ages – I think they’re having us much fun as we are.

The shark is slowly swimming down well below the surface, near the coral; then coming back up to just below the surface. On the previous tour the sea floor was flat sand, making the shark stand out. Now watching the shark against this coral, its spots blend into the surrounds, so when it comes back up it dramatically emerges from the deep.

Coming as much from the crew as the tourists is spontaneous dancing culminating in a conga line.

This has been another amazing day on the water!

Back in Exmouth we head out to a brewery for dinner.

Very slow day today. The wind picked up through the night and started really beating on the tent. By morning the creaking tent had frayed my nerves and we spent some time security the tent to the ground and back to the car. Then we tried to shelter in the car instead. I still found that fairly oppressive feeling, salty, unshowered, hot and tired from a good but active day yesterday…I got the shits.

As usual, Anna’s sense of impermanence helped her cope better than me, and she rightly pointed out that we should see what it was like on the water-side of the dune. It was much calmer, so we took shelter there instead.

We really didn’t do much for the whole day. Sunset and moonrise were going to occur within half an hour, and we thought we’d be able to watch both from the lighthouse.

From the lighthouse the sunset was framed by vast ocean and streaking clouds. We realised we weren’t going to see the moonrise clearly, so we drove further east.

On our drive we came across a café that still open, so we parked there and walked out to the beach to watch the moon come up. For some reason, moonrise over water always makes me think of that poem The Highwayman: “The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas//The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor…”

The heat fell from the air and my wind-affected temperament wavered and left. The cafe was serving burgers which we took back to camp with us.

The drive was pitch black, the lightbar spotted all the bugs in the clear night and picked up animal eyes in the scrub by the road. As we neared camp some dingoes were in the road chasing some smaller animal, we slowed enough to see them slink off into the bush.