Getting flooded at the Ningaloo

The high tide

Star fish (that were returned to the water)

The most remarkably HUGE termite mounds

We were really well stocked for our time at the Ningaloo Reef, and on the advice on Campground Hosts from Kennedy Range, we went to Bruboodjoo Point, which was only "9 miles" up the road from Coral Bay.  Well, it was probably the worst road that we have ever travelled on.  We had to drive at about 10 km per hour, so we took nearly an hour to get there.  Just before we got there, we nearly gave up, thinking that it didn't exist, then, I walked over the hill, and saw....CARAVANS?????  How did they get in?  There was a short cut straight from the highway...if you know the GPS co-ordinates, and can tell where the unmarked track is!  Welcome to WA.

The advice that we had been given was to find a spot away from everyone else as most people coming here had been coming for 30-40 years, so we found our own little spot and made home close to the beach, and the kids were happy to run over to the beach. 

We went to sleep to the sound of the water lapping at the dunes...a little unnerving.  No-one mentioned whether or not the water came over the dunes, but then again, no-one came over to tell us that we shouldn't camp there.

The water was good enough, however, we really needed a boat to fish (or some fishing rods or both), however, the kids were happy enough to play and dig.  We have realised that as long as there is somewhere for them to dig and build, we are right. 

Negatives - no loo.  Normally we don't care, we bush camp and dig a hole, however at Ningaloo, there are different rules - here, there was a "Poo Pit" where we ("we" is a loose term, Matt is a wonderful man) had to take a bucket of the said each day.... Hooray!

I felt sick already... I got a bowl of dettol out and scrubbed everyones hands all the time and scrubbed everything, kept thinking that someone had diarrhoea...Shall I go on? 

Positives - verry cheap, and loads of space to ourselves, coverage on the phone for a change, and close to Coral Bay, and Exmouth (in WA terms - 125km).  We drove up to Exmouth for pharmacy stuff - only pharmacy in 450km range which took most of day, and cracked the exhaust on the way back... 
Matt, the bush mechanic, wired the exhaust to the chassis so we could get it welded back on at Coral Bay (by some "dude" at the caravan park???)  on a Sunday????   It was so windy at Coral Bay that we couldn't see anything in the water :(

From the lighthouse near Exmouth...being blown about

A couple of days later we went back to Exmouth to pick up the rest of the medication and check out Cape Range National Park.  The winds were HOWLING....  On the way back we encountered the wettest rain we have yet seen.  We feared for our campsite....We were right.

The boys tents were flooded and we had water on the floor in ours.  We put together what we could for the night and huddled in our tent (trying not to cry as the rain poured down).

In the morning, I checked the forecast and saw it was going to rain for the next 2 days, and we began to pack, slowly in the moist misty rain...

From our tent ....eep!

3pm we drove out and drove through flooded roads and arrived at a Roadside stop "Barradale" at 6.30pm, tired, frazzled, muddy and over it.  Ningaloo and in the ....