3-10th November Exmouth

Arrived in Exmouth (not the one in uk but the one in Oz).  It was an interesting little town with a population of 2500.  I arrived there at 1am on the greyhound bus after travelling from Broome for a full 13 hours. 
Suzie, Cal and I had arrived on the bus and met Dianna and Armin whohad driven there earlier.
Unfortunately due to the days travel I missed the Melbourne cup - its the horse racing event of the year in Oz and probably stops the country as much as the National does in the UK.  We stopped at a couple of roadstations on route and theladies behind the counters were dressed for the events with hats and dresses.
Exploring Exmouth I found that you were just as often likely to see an emu on the pavement as much as a pedestrian.
The town is also the gateway to NigalooMarine park, with snorkling and diving to match (some say beat) the Great Barrier reef.  In my inifinte wisdom I have lost my PADI certificate so diving was not really an option so snorkling was the best way to get in and see the corals and fish.  I went and stopped off at the Oyster stacks where there was some beautiful corals to snorkel around (and try to cut yourself on).  This was also where I saw a moray eel (kindly pointed out by Cal).  I also had an amazing experience as a school of giant snapper went either side of me and I must have been surrounded by 80-90 of them.  This was fantastic but then realised if something was going to take a bite of the fish it would probably go for the big slow one in the middle!!!!!!
Just down the coast from the oyster stacks was Turquoise Bay and it really did live up to its name, and so I had a quick paddle and soaked up the beauty of the area. I also soaked up a bit too much sun where I had not covered myself properly.  I was then left with a beautiful red patchy mark with white handprints where I had covered.  Nice.
Dianna, Suzie and I also decided to venture to the Karijini national park.  We found a number of gorges that were impressive and beautiful.  I had a nice morning swim in a cool pool beneath a waterfall.  This was a great start to a day and we went further on to another waterfall.  The heat however was sweltering and it appears that the planets population of flys had decided to mass on the Karijini whilst we were there.  Di was the driver and was shattered after driving on unsurfaced (bumpy as hell) roads, but she did a great job and didnt moan.  After two nights (the twogirls were squeezed into one tent, I had the luxury of one) we decided to head back to Exmouth for the night and then on to Coral Bay.  I really think we had been spoiled after seeing the Kimberleys as the gorges were equal to the Kimberleys and so it seemed both Karijini and the Kimberleys mix into one.  Off to Coral Bay tomorrow.  It has a population of 190 - I bet they have to have abouts 10 jobs each to keep the town going!!!!!