Western Australian Road Tripping. Exmouth.

It's long been a dream of mine to visit Broome. The opportunity came when I kept a week free from bookings so I could take the kids to Lake Mungo (in NSW), only to be told by my kids they couldn't go away then because the had exams on (groan. geez I have nerdy kids). I still had the time off so I shipped the kids off to their dad and flew to Exmouth.

You actually land at Learmonth, which is an air force base so no photos allowed, and then drive to Exmouth.

I love the red earth in our country, and I adore these ant hills!

We checked in at the Novotel in Exmouth. It is, according to reports, the best hotel in Exmouth. It was very nice, and the bed was really comfy, but it was the price of a suite overlooking the harbour in a 5 star Sydney hotel.

This was an introduction to Western Australia's extreme pricing.

I get the whole 'it's a long way to the shop if you're importing stuff', but they do have meat and seafood living there... (A restaurant that looked like a pizza place, with bain maries in display cabinets, had main meals in the high $30's, for example.) The Novotel restaurant (Mantarays) was even more expensive, but the service we received there was so good with the waiter giving us a five star dining experience whether we looked like we deserved it or not. He was awesome.

Now Exmouth is not actually on the 'Coral Coast'. It's around the corner on the opposite side of a peninsular. It's still water frontage, but not the coral that the coast is famous for. And there is no where you can stay that is near the coral areas unless you camp, which I very much do not.

So Exmouth is the nearest town to access Ningaloo. but it's a really long way away.

We wanted a west coast sunset, so had to drive about 20 mins around the corner for it. There was surf there too.

Up at the light house I found the ideal viewing spot

and as the mozzies closed in (so many of them there), shot the sunset.

The next day we dropped in for a quick brekky at what looked like just an average takeout. I was going to get a bacon and egg roll but tried the Indo Rice and it was one of the best brekkies I've ever had! Check out the Continetal Cafe if you are in Exmouth. Then, with a satisfied tummy, we snorkelled, first at Oyster Stacks and when the tide got too low we went to Turquoise Bay, which is as beautiful as it sounds.

The area is known as Australia's Coral Coast, but in all honesty the coral that I swam to wasn't spectacular. I can't comment on what it would be like a bit further off shore, but it didn't matter anyway because the fish life was insane!

I've never seen so many colourful varieties in one small space before. It was really spectacular and my photos don't even do it justice.

But I'll post them anyway...