On board the glass bottom boat

Another really good day today. Our decision to camp in Exmouth last night meant a gentle start to the day as the pickup time and place for our tour wasn’t until 9.30 am around 200 metres from the camp site.
I’d strongly recommend anyone in the region to sign up for the Ningaloo Ecology Cruises trip. http://www.ningalootreasures.com.au
The bus ride around the cape was interesting with the driver keeping us entertained with information about the area until we got to the Tantabiddi boat ramp where the glass bottom boat is moored.
We then had a short trip over to the reef where we were taken over areas of the coral before setting anchor so we could snorkel. Not sure how long we were out in the water if I’m honest but there was certainly no rush and I think we more or less all came in by consensus when we’d had enough. I’m glad we’d had a practice at Coral Bay though as I think we got more out of it as a result.
By the time we’d returned to shore and got the bus back to Exmouth (with stops at the Turtle centre, the light house and the wreck of the Mildura along the way) it was about 2pm.
A quick stop off at the IGA (supermarket) and the bottle shop and fuel station and we headed south from Exmouth to this evening’s stop at the Bullara Homestead Station. On our way we took a quick diversion into the national park to drive along the Shothole Canyon, a 4×4 only track that criss crosses the creek that has formed the canyon. Currently the creek is dry so the many creek crossings were pretty straight forward.
The heat today has been pretty unbearable for us and we were both starting to get a bit fractious by the time we arrived. With no trees along the road and no shade it was hard going as temperatures were up to 36 degrees C and very little in the way of a cooling breeze.
The Bullara Homestead is an excellent site, very friendly staff and the facilities are pretty good. No hot water in the showers (they offered to turn the boiler on but we declined) was actually a blessing as the water gave some relief from the heat of the day. I’m beginning to understand why WA has no daylight savings time… The dark warm evenings are actually something to look forward to as the temperature drops into the mid 20s.
Tomorrow we’ll set a course for Karajini National Park, a journey that will probably take us a couple of days. I guess as ever we’ll stop somewhere tomorrow when we’ve had enough of the road !