Day 2 Episode III.

Was having a fantastic day tooling around the North West Cape with Ningaloo Safari Tours, with still a couple of stops to go! Cruising Yardie Creek Gorge was something else off my bucket list; I can’t believe it’s only the first W.A. gorge that I’ve been to! I always meant to at least visit Karijini while I lived in W.A. but… never got round to it. Next time. The Kimberley one day too.

We drove south from Osprey Bay, right to the end of the sealed road past the Yardie Creek Station homestead. That’s something else for the bucket list; a bushwalking  photo expedition during wildflower season! I bet I could turn a 3km hike into an overnighter.

We explored while Dave rowed out to retrieve the bigger boat.

The mouth of the gorge was gradually silting up again after all the recent flooding, and it reminded me of Pelican Point near our old place in Carnarvon.

We hopped into Dave’s flat-bottomed boat and headed up the creek past mangroves and a bright red beach.

Soon flaming red rock walls reared up either side of us.

Gorges! Absolutely gorges!

I polished the metal seat with my constant scooting back and forth. Dave was able to spot the Black-footed Rock Wallabies quite easily, whereas I had trouble finding them even when he told me exactly where they were. I did see a few though, eventually. When the wallabies made it super easy. Like, I’ll-stand-here-like-a-taxidermied-stunned-mullet easy.

We, as a group, apparently saw fourteen rockstar wallabies. I can vouch for five.

We leisurely made our way as far up Yardie Creek as we could before running aground, then headed back also without getting stuck at low tide. Back in the OKA we stopped at Turquoise Bay for a quick snorkel but with the seabreeze up the water was a bit choppy and cloudy.

Hit the road back to Exmouth, enjoying the twin spectacles of the rosy twilight making the termite mounds glow crimson and the roos trying to play chicken with the truck.

 

The sun set over the Indian Ocean as we reluctantly headed back to the outside world. It’s probably the thing I miss the most, living on the east coast; ocean sunsets. Sunrises are beautiful too but it’s just not the same.

And that was my first full day in Exmouth. In my next post I’ll finally introduce you to the Ningaloo Reef!

– Michelle