Hi friends and family- here’s what we’ve been up too the past four days in Exmouth:

Oct 4

The past couple of days at Exmouth have been fun, although it has been consistently windy- it’s always blowing from the SE overnight (offshore), then turning SW (onshore) during the day. Last night it was so strong the van shook with every gust – a little tent set up next to us looked like it was about to be flattened! This was the windest occasion we both had ever been witness to!

Anyway, the wind aside its been warm and sunny and yesterday we had a top time exploring the Cape Range National Park- we saw some fantastic, arid canyons (it hardly ever rains here, not even in summer)- we were surprised by how dramatically beautiful the park is!
Yesterday morning we went for a snorkel at a spot called “Oyster stacks”- despite the wind it was good fun and there were so many fish! Our favourites were all the huge parrot fish- so many different colours, and all chomping on the coral. There are so many large snapper schooled here, in only 4ft of water, that it is hard to believe.

Today we took is easy for the first half of the day as the wind was so still so strong from the SE, even too strong to make surfing pleasurable, plus I have developed an irritating head cold which is slowing me down a bit. Had a swim, got my haircut and we had a nice lunch at the Exmouth Health Food Shop…then on the way home we checked the surf spot here (near our van park, about 17kms out of town at Vlemingh Head) only to find the wind had dropped off and was offshore and the waves looked quite good, 4-5ft breaking over mid depth reef. So, of course, we went surfing –our first surf since the Sunshine Coast! (I figured the saltwater might clear out my head a bit anyway!). I’ll let Adam give the surf report, as he is probably better equipped to give a detailed account than me..I’ll just say we had to walk out and paddle over reef and I was nervous as we jumped in and headed out…plus some of the sets were fairly solid:

Surf report: I knew from the first duck dive that the surf was bigger and more powerful then it looked…giving us both an unforgiving beating for not diving deeper....that special quality that surfing over a rock/reef bottom brings to the table. Anyway, the surf gets through a big space in the reef (Ningaloo reef only starts at Exmouth) at this headland, and has been quite sizey as the wind had blown up 3.5 metere swells over the last week, with all of the surfers, windsurfers and kitesurfers smiling. The waves came in over deep sections of waters and just popped up in front of you, and could catch you out if you didn’t watch it intently……we copped a few more beatings for not paying attention when sitting contentedly on the inside wating for the little screamers that came through. The strong SE wind had dropped the size of the waves to a more manageable 4-5ft today, with the previous days being up to twice this big at the surfable breaks, looking absolutely ginormous when breaking on the outside reef. Anyway, lots of big dark shapes in the water which was not super clear cos of all of the swell, we hoped were large turtles, coral bed and mushroom reef, this was most probably the case. A good surf that got better once confidence was built, after all we hadn’t been surfing for 4 months……We hooted each other on some great waves- fast with little barrelling sections, with emma getting the wave of the day with a 4ft fast peeling barrel which probably blistered the bottom of her boogie..touche….hope the swell hangs around for tomorrow.

Oct 5

We started the day with another top surf- similar conditions to yesterday, only a bit better as the tide was higher and it wasn’t as windy. Clear sunshine as usual.
We went straight from the surf for a drive into the Cape Range National Park and a snorkel at Turquoise Bay- it was much nicer than the other day, due to less wind, thankfully.
Then (no rest for the wicked) we drove further into the NP and saw Yardie Creek Gorge…it has a saltwater creek running into it and is very pretty.
By then it was well after lunch and Adam was considering going sailing (we both felt tired, but if the conditions are right, you can’t not go …)….the wind didn’t get quite strong enough today though, so we came back, showered, bought icecreams and relaxed! An excellent day overall.
Hopefully more surf in the morning.

Oct 6

Yay- more quality surfing and snorkelling today! Offshore winds, which have now turned light onshore. It’s also VERY hot today- 38 degrees!

We leave Exmouth tomorrow to continue south along the coast.

Love and hugs,
Emma & Adam xx