Thursday 28th May 2009

We are ovenighting some 350k north of Perth on our way back to drop the van tomorrow, after spending the last week, since leaving Tom Price making our way slowly back south. We spent several days in the Cape Range National Park, the chief attraction of which is the Ningaloo Reef which sits just off the coast & can be easily reached from the beaches. We hired some snorkeling gear & got into the water to see for ourselves the marine life there; Kate was fortunate enough to see two turtles, in her excitement she nearly swallowed the snorkel! We camped overnight in the park (photo), amazing; right out in the middle of nowhere, we had a wallaby visitor to the van, saw a beautiful sunset over the Indian Ocean and, after dark, enjoyed our own personal planetarium in the clear night sky. In the ridge of hills which sit a short way back from the ocean, we enjoyed a couple of walks along the gorges which cut through the ridge at intervals. We spotted some rock wallabies on the cliffs of Yardie Gorge and, much to our delight, whilst driving through the park, saw a group of emus pirouetting across the road, pausing only briefly to pose for a photo! We have enjoyed greatly our 11 days exploring the outback; long distances but totally enthralling with the landscape rolling out like a sea, ever changing colours of earth, vegetation and sky. We were able to camp 'out bush' several nights which is amazing , you really can 'feel' the space and silence around you. We can understand why the numerous 'grey nomads' we have seen on our travels get adicted to their journeys.