Another hard day in the tropics

I'll be the last one to complain when all goes better than expected, it's just that I get worried about the inevitable retaliation of fate.

I think it started with Bruce- my travel partner on this little journey. Not only had he arranged accomodation, he'd also booked a dive. Only to find a long lost mate in charge of the dive-shop. To make matters worse, he pointed out features, plants, animals and elaborated on the history of bits and pieces of land and customs. Drawing back on his days as a jackaroo and commercial pilot in the area. He also laid down the Rules:

1. Never forget rule 2!

2. There are no (...) rules!

Most people have to pay for this, I get it for free. Coral Bay is pretty self explanatory- a sheltered bay with some dive- and fishing operators, a pub or two plus some caravan parks in the lee of Ningaloo Reef. That it is beautiful goes without saying and the pace of life is slow. A lady in a boat-rental shop wasn't quite sure what day it was. Ningaloo reef is allegedly a bit of a secret destination. Unlike the great Barrier Reef, it gets to within 200 m of the coast and people in the know reckon the fishing, fishes and diving is better. So I went to find out!

The water had 15 m visibility and I've never seen as many big fish in the Caribbean or Thailand. There was Grouper of at least a metre, and a school of Travalli's circled around us. Each at least a meal for four. The coral was abundant. Pretty much all you can wish for in a dive! The evening saw us becoming almost tearfully intimate with newfound friends in the pub. I met some Jackaroos who strangely enough had a bit of an American twang to their voices- overdone it with the John Wayne movies? Anyway, apparently they could jump off a horse at full throttle onto a steer, and force it to the ground. I'm going to call their bluff during the muster in a month time.

Plans were made to find a possible cave system ending as a 'blue hole' in Lake McLeod. Bruce saw it from the air 20 years ago, and his mate Gordon wants to dive in it. And that's the most realistic of the schemes we dreamt up.

Anyway... a bit queezy and crosseyed I went diving the next day... dutifully flippering behind the leaders... having a careful look around... my poor head...someone signalled SHARK.... I peeped over some coral to see a MASSIVE SHARK WITH 10000 TEETH SWIMMING TOWARDS ME!!!!

I finished off 3/4th of a tank in the next minutes of hyperventilation, wedged between the coral and praying to all deities. I've never woken up so rudely. Of course, in Australia no-one gives a shit about sharks at all unless it's a tigershark over 3 metres. And the only difference then, is that you DON'T try to grab their tail for fun. Totally mad, the lot of them!

With a bit of afternoon left we went up the coastal track toward Ningaloo..about 100 k's of beautiful scenery. Dunes, lagoons and desolation. Flowers and the odd 'roo. When a track branched off to the sea, we'd find a couple of retirees there. Fishing all winter in the warm weather, moving home South in summer. At Ningaloo station itself there's a break in the reef, and apparently there's two wrecks just off the coast. There was a bit of wave action and I was already planning a week's holiday there, in paradise.

Then I spoke to a fisherman who'd caught NINE sharks including a 3 m tiger shark OFF THE BEACH! With the rod you see in the photo! Hell!

The whole peninsula is stunningly beautiful- and that's even without the limestone mountains, caves and gorges next to the reef further north. The old lighthouse is in disrepair, and it must have been a very lonely place when the settlers arrived 150 years ago. We just drove around, made pictures, poked at termite hills and had a good time. On the way back, the road was crawling with cattle and kangaroos- it took us till late.