WHALE SHARKS, WHALE SHARKS, WHALE SHARKS!!!!!

After waiting a week for the weather to clear we could finally do our whale shark swim. Our day began by being ferried out to out boat, the Magellan.

Ethan (in yellow) on the Magellan.

While waiting for the spotter plane to spot the Whale Sharks we went for a snorkle to test out the gear.

           Prue snorkelling.

On our way to find the Whale Sharks we saw a mantra ray (which we tried to swim with but it was too fast) and humpback whales.

Finally we got to swim with the Whale Sharks. Chris and Prue had four swims. Swimming with the Whale Sharks involves waiting for the shark to pass your then swimming after it. To keep up and swim with the Whake Shark you need to swim hard. Hence, Ethan had two swims with the whale sharks as he was tired after the this, but had given it a good crack.

Getting ready.

Prue with a Whale Shark (look for the second person in the background)

Prue (in foreground) and Ethan and Chris (in background) with a Whale Shark.

Ethan and Chris with a Whale Shark.

We cannot find Mitch in these photo's as he had one swim that did not last very long. He saw the whale shark swim by while screaming 'get me out of here'. He did not like the deep water.

We had a great day and it was an awesome experience. If we did not have the kids Chris and Prue would have gone out again.

Cape Range National Park - Lakeside

Lakeside offered many coral bombeys to investigate. Here we saw a medium size white tip reef shark. Ethan was very excited to see it and tried to investigate it more. If the shark was any bigger Prue would have been swimming in the other direction.

Boys sunning themselves after a snorkel.

Cape Range National Park - Turquoise Bay

Cape Range or Ningaloo Reef is famous for Turquoise Bay. This was Prue's favourite snorkelling spot. Here we saw many different types and colours of coral. We spotted a turtle hiding in the coral, an ocotpus hiding in a rock and a reef shark hiding under some platform coral. Chris was lucky enough to spot two Moray Eels (had to do due to their shyness)

The crystal clear blue water and the white snad make the place spectacular.

Cape Range National Park - Yardie Creek

At Yardie Creek we went for a walk up the Yardie Creek Gorge. Here we had a great view out to Ningaloo Reef.

 Along the walk we spotted some mountain goats. We saw seven. Can you spot them all?

Cape Range National Park - Oyster Stacks

The Oyster Stacks consists of some rocks with oysters and has many different types and colours of coral. The coral reef here is direclty next to the shore and was Chris's favourite snorkelling location.

Spot the oyster stack behind Ethan and Chris.

Cape Range National Park - Osprey

During our stay at Cape Range National Park  we stayed at the Osprey campground. The campground has a spectacular view of Ningaloo Reef and offers many snorkelling opportunites. At Osprey we swam with two resident green sea turtles, sting rays, cuttle fish and many differnet types of reef fish.

Mitch sunning himself after a snorkel.

Mitch also bugged Dad do go fishing every day. They caught lots of small reef fish and two octopuses. Hense Osprey was Mitch's favourite spot.

Our campsite saw some the native wildlife, including kangaroos (which tries to get into our bin at night), Spinifex Hopping Mice ( which tried to eat a bread on night when we accidentally left it out) and an echnida. Prue was very excited to see the echnida as it is her second favourite animal.

Echidna burrowing to hide from the boys.