Our last day in Exmouth was spent exploring. Our original plan was to head down the Coral Bay, up Yardie Creek Road, through Turquoise Bay to the top of the Cape to watch the sunset. Unfortunately we had heard the Yardie Creek Crossing was washed away after the last cyclone. We decided to have a look ourselves and see if it was possible.
Our first stop was at Learmonth Jetty, just to have a quick looky.
We decided to keep on trekking as Coral Bay was quite some distance. We got there mid morning, had a look around at the small shopping centre and then drove straight to the beach.
In standard Monique style I forgot to take my GoPro into the water as I was too excited to get out there. The water was crystal clear, a lovely temperature and there were plenty of fish!
After our snorkel we begun driving north up the 4wd track. We made multiple stops just to snap a picture or explore a little. At one point Matt got us stuck in soft sand. We used some max tracks to get out pretty easily. Just as well; there was no phone reception and the walk back to Coral Bay would’ve been a very long hot one.
We stopped for a late lunch at a lovely spot overlooking the ocean. We begun setting up a picnic blanket and laying out some food, but were soon attacked by millions of flies, so we moved inside the car where it was fly free and there was air conditioning.
After consulting the map we realised that we would never make to the top of the cape quick enough to catch the sunset, so we decided to bail on the 4wd track. We took the first eastern turn and were soon (I mean, more than an hour) back on a sealed road, heading towards Exmouth. On the way we stopped at Charles Knife Canyon. Matt and I realised we had never seen a canyon before. Many valleys and the like, but nothing classified as a canyon! As canyons go, I think this one was pretty darn good!
Afterwards it was straight to Vlaming Head Lighthouse. Dive Ningaloo had told us that it was THE place to watch the sunset. The word must’ve gotten out, because there were more people there than we had seen all week! The Lighthouse is a fair way inland and pretty old. It was was eventually replaced by one of the Naval Communications towers.
We were worried that the sunset would be a dud because of the cloud cover, but eventually the sun peeked through the cloud and lit up the sky. The sunsets in Western Australia are amazing, and this one was no exception.
Our last night in Exmouth we treated ourselves to a seafood dinner at Whalers Restaurant.
The food looked good and the majority of it tasted good (I’m a bit of a seafood snob), but some of it tasted a bit iffy. Sure enough I was ill by the next morning. So I’m going to go ahead and tell you to NOT go to Whalers Restaurant.
Exmouth was a once in a lifetime type of experience. I’m super keen to go back when the turtles are hatching or the manta rays are in town… or even just to dive the Navy Pier again!
Where is your favourite dive location?
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