From Red Dirt to the Blue Seas - Karijini & Exmouth

My boyfriend and I went up north to explore our beautiful and amazing state, Western Australia. He hadn't ventured up that far before, nor had he ticked too many WA places off his very large travel list and initially, we had disagreed on where we would take off to. I suggested the north coast. He wanted the south.

It took days of convincing and a set of 20 reasons I carefully curated with pictures with a title which declared 'Why we should go up north instead of down south', with the first and foremost reason being 1. Echidnas.
Well, we didn't see any echnidnas but we did go up north and my, what a fricking amazing trip it was.

Our order of locations was as follows: 
1. Karjini 

2. Exmouth
3. Coral Bay
4. Kalbarri
5. Return home :(

We were eager to get our steps up on the numerous hikes Karijini has to offer so we smashed out the 15 hour drive in one day (not to brag). We camped at Dales Gorge which is one of two accommoation locations in the Karijini National Park, the other being the Eco Lodge. The Eco Lodge has permanent tents/structure thingys as well a restaurant and shower facilities, for a much larger price, which our Dales Gorge campsite didn't offer.
In fact, apart from a patch of dirt to call your own and a couple drop-toilets, that's actually all Dales Groge campsite had to offer.
HOWEVER, it was a lovely patch of dirt that happens to be located to the best gorge (in our opinion)
so not once did we regret our choice :)

Day one we set to Circular Pool which was closed due to a recent rock falling, and made our way through the jungle and serenity, stepping over rivers and streams, climbing trees and then jumping from them into bright pasty blue water, until we made our way to Fortescue Falls.
As mentioned, it was my boyfriend's first time here and he had his socks knocked absolutely off, so I was blessed with the erratic and excited sounds of his commentary throughout the entire blissful walk.

We spent a couple hours at Fortescue Falls and watched the sun disappear behind the land above us as we ate a very late lunch. Beside Fortescue Falls is Fern Pool, a fan favourite, which we considered visiting however, it was getting late and I was tired and so we agreed to return another day.

The second day we visited Hancock Gorge which required hiking and clambering through narrow rock formations, stepping slowly through streams so as to not slip and abandoning your backpack to swim across a flooded gorge and then continuing the way. As you could imagine from behing 70 metres below the ground AND in the shade mind you, the water freezing. I actually got a brain freeze at one point, which serves me right for re-creating one of the most cliche photos of all time. Nevertheless, I only whimpered a little and soldiered on to the end where we sat for some time and made friends with two other couples who we completed another hike with before sharing (not really that would be gross) a beer at the Eco Lodge restaurant at sunset. Definitely one of the best days of our trip (shout out to Josh, Lily, Kor and AJ!).

The next couple days of our stay we completed Knox Gorge and Hamersley Gorge and returned to Fortescue Falls and visited Fern Pool a few more times.

Then, after 4 days adventuring through red dirt, we took off to Exmouth - a place neither of us had been before. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but yeah... the town wasn't what I was expecting. I guess I had assumed that as it is a 'coastal' town, that there would be shabby restaurants on the beach or something? Nevertheless, it grew on me and I loved it.

The weather had been not so great compared to our sunny, breezeless days in Karijini. The wind was worrying as it made the surface a little choppy and the air very cold when you emerged from snorkelling. But our worries were put to ease at our first swam at Oyster Stacks. An abundance of colourful and rainbow fish lied beneath the surface. Massive fishes. Small fishes. Schools of thousands of fishes. A shit tonne of fishes.

We then made our way to Turqoise Bay for some lunch, some sandcastles and more snorkelling. The beach itself was lovely and provided adequate places for lounging, unlike Oyster Stacks which was compiled of mostly jagedy rocks, but the snorkelling was not quite as nice. It wasn't bad, and on a scale of 0-Great Snorkelling Spots, it was up there. But for such a famous beach in Exmouth, we realised it was not for the underwater perks. Nevertheless, a must do!

Our favourite snorkelling spot of Exmouth was Lakeside!
From the name I wasn't expecting much. Access to the reef was also pretty confusing.
We weren't sure where it started and unlike previous reefs - it required swimming out several hundred metres. AS SOON, as we stepped into the water and I mean as soon, a lady nearby was telling us excitedly that there was a shark swimming past us!!!!?!?! Me, feeling brave, popped my goggles on and peeked underwater and saw very large animal brush past us, however I was stood back up like, "That's a stringray?"
My boyfriend explained to me later about Shovelnose Sharks. Funny looking sharks, I'll say.  
                                                                              

This reef was not as bright coloured as Turqoise Bay and Oyster Stacks, nor shallow as we were treading in about 3-4 metre depths. I saw an actual shark - a reef shark - and pointed excitedly to it for my boyfriend to see. He nodded, then swiftly turned around and swam away which was worrying, as if maybe he knew something about that metre long shark that I didn't? Maybe their 1 metre length was nature's attempt to mollify humans into trusting them and dropping their guards, before promptly attacking them?
No, my boyfriend was just a little baby :)
As I snorkelled over a 'bomby' (large coral brain) on the ocean floor I saw this long strand of some sort and stared at it confused as I tried to identify it. Was it rubbish? A large eel nesting in the sand? Then as I moved my eyes around the surrounding areas, I realised right above it, two very prominent eyes were peering up at me. It was then that I knew that I was looking at a very VERY big, very cute, camouflouged sting-ray. It was awesome.
Heading in we also saw a sea snake which was cool but resulted in us both swimming off very fast. As a warning, you do not want to get bitten by one of them. They are extremely venemous.

Whilst in Exmouth, we also did the famous "SWIMMING WITH A WHALE SHARK". Our shark's name was Stumpy and he has been visiting Exmouth for the last 28 years! We weren't initially going to do the tour. For around $400 we thought it was a bit expensive but after some external persuasion and consideration, we decided it wouldn't be right to go to Exmouth and not do this amazing experience.
We were very very lucky to go at all. The day we arrived in Exmouth we called around to all the Whale Shark Tours asking about availability. Everyone said they were booked out for the next week. We went into the visitor centre as well, getting desperate, and began to inquire about the tours in Coral Bay. The lovely assistant at The Visitor Centre worked her magic and found a tour with POSSIBLY, two spots left, two days away. She called them and they said that they had to review the bookings and would know definitely that afternoon. We gave her our details, thanked her kindly, and went about our day with our fingers crossed and phone nearby.

In hindsight, I do feel awful about disapproving of the $400 ticket price. We went with 3 Island Tours and there were 5 employees on board who took great care of us. Overhead there was also a chopper plane who spent the entire day flying about, looking for the Whale Sharks.
On top of that, we were also taken to other snorkelling locations, were provided equipment, as well as buffet morning tea and lunch. The staff on the tour were honestly awesome and took the amazing photos of myself and Stumpy below.




It is truly amazing that we get to experience something so wondering like swimming with the world largest shark. We forget that sharks are not predictable like whales, who migrate to particular areas each year. The Whale Shark only needs to swim near the surface to feed on plankton, before dwelling in the depths of the oceans where we will rarely ever see them. In fact, although Whale Sharks commonly visit Exmouth this time each year, when they leave, we do not know where they go. And sadly, these beautiful, gentle creatures, are still being fished regularly in many Asian countries, despite being protected in Australian waters. It breaks my heart and I hate to think what could happen to Stumpy when he leaves these protected waters. He will forever be in my heart.

I must say, although I was reluctant to do the tour at all, it ended up being one of the most significant moments that I can recall in my life so far. Seeing this giant beauty gliding only metres beside me, then see him look at me and regard me as some sort of ally... it was magnificent. My whole experience in Exmouth; the snorkelling, the wild life and even our very limited camping set up. It was beautiful and eye-opening and magical and scary and thrilling and calming and exciting and freeing.

As I sit now in my office cubicle from my workplace, reminiscing and writing about my recent adventures, it feels different now. Harder. I've seen the other side. I know what I want to do.
I've always wanted to explore. And help. And protect. It's why I don't eat meat; why I reduce my waste; why I never waste water.
But for the first time, since this trip, I have a plan on how I am going to do this, and I thank Exmouth for that.