Ningaloo Reef
For our
September 1997
holidays we flew to Perth and then to Learmonth airport near Exmouth on
North West Cape in Western Australia.
Exmouth, just into the tropics, is 1280 km north of Perth and is one of
the newest towns in Australia.
It was built in 1967 as a support town for the naval communications
station which was also constructed at this time. The weather was
terrific, 310C every day.
The great
attraction of the
area, though, is Ningaloo Reef which runs along this coast for 260 km,
the largest fringing coral reef in the world.
It is the home of over 500 species of fish and 250 types of coral.
Exmouth
We took a boat trip from Exmouth and saw whales and manta rays.
We hired bicycles for a day to ride
around Exmouth.
Margaret
is sitting in the same spot
that Elle McPherson sat in when she was recently making a video
advertisement for
this region.
The
lighthouse at Exmouth.
A
view of the USA-Australia Naval Radio Base from the top of the
lighthouse.
Running along the North West Cape is Cape Range National Park
which has some spectacular gorges including Yardi Creek Gorge.
We went on a local tour of the National Park with Neil McLeod in his
4WD Oka.
Neil
McLeod
Neil
McLeod's mother who makes the fruitcake for afternoon tea on his tours.
Coral Bay
After four
days at Exmouth we travelled to Coral Bay, 150 km south of Exmouth. We
stayed there for a week.
At Coral Bay, Ningaloo Reef is very close to the shore. Ten metres off
the beach you can snorkel on the reef as these pictures show.
We
went on a glass-bottomed boat trip at Coral Bay.
We caught the Greyhound bus to Canarvon.
We
flew to Perth from Canarvon and then
home to Melbourne.
