Exmouth

Saturday march 13, 2010 Exmouth
This morning we dropped anchor at 5:30 am and I was sitting outside on our balcony with my first coffee of the day watching the sun slowly rise. This is a tender port and it was interesting watching the crew slowly lower the tenders into the water. Exmouth is a small, remote, isolated seaside town with a permanent population of appx 2500. It sits at the tip of North West Cape about 800 from Perth. It was established as a communications base for submarines. It is also known for its raw natural beauty, with Outback ranges, red rock canyons with over 700 caves. We left on our safari tour at 8 am in a 4WD vehicle heading directly to Caper Range. We began climbing up over a rough red dirt road. There are no trees due to lack of water and what shrubbery there is, it is low to the ground. It is very dry & dusty and soon we began to feel the dust on our lips. We stopped along the long windy road to see the wild kangaroos and emu’s. The canyon is a bright red which reminds me of Sedona Arizona and there are many caves that we can see along the way. The view of the Ningaloo coastline with many miles of white sandy beaches is spectacular after driving along the top of the range we began to slowly meander back down to drive through the town. All the buildings are made of cement to protect against cyclones as the town was completely demolished a few years ago. It is a quaint, neat little town and our guide told us that the emu’s come into town at night for water which the residents leave out for them. After leaving town we headed to the beach. The swim in the Indian Ocean was so refreshing. I am very buoyant and float like a harbour buoy. I could have stayed here for hours but alas, I must haul my weary body out of the water. While we were relaxing in the warm ocean water, our guide was boiling the “billy” for morning tea and homemade fruitcake. To be polite, I had the tea but I soon guzzled about 3 cups of water. It is very hot and the humidity is high. I now know why Australia is known as as hottest, driest continent on earth. Before returning to the ship, we visited the Ningaloo lighthouse, situated high on a cliff with a 360 degree view of the rough, rugged area. I will always remember the beauty of this place. We arrived back at the dock around 12:30. I was too hot to even go back into the town for any shopping. I have done no shopping yet. This trip has been about the adventure of seeing a new land. Can you believe that I am too hot to eat lunch? I headed directly for the pool where I remained for a couple hours before heading back to our balcony which thankfully is a bit shaded. Dun is having a nap and dreaming about playing golf in Pubnico. Tomorrow is another sea day and the last day of this wonderful cruise and I must waste part of the day packing up our clothes.