Pupils dilated, erratic breathing and his heart beating as if a race had been won, it was love at first sight, Reo & the Ute had started a love affair. He was smitten! Attached to it like it was his prized pet, he spent breakfast, lunch and dinner with it, sitting on the back, relaxed and happy not giving a care in the world. Truly not fussed about our predicament now he had his Ute, Reo did not want Tinfish to return. He was so in love there wasn’t even an argument about completing school work, as long as it was on the Ute!

As we now had a set of wheels, it was time to explore again and our first excursion was to Charles Knife Canyon. Not having your own stuff around you throws you out of routine a little and we needed to make a visit to Tinfish to get the car seats and some other bits from their normal hiding places. The drive to the canyon takes you on a windy road from the main route south of Exmouth to some incredible look-outs. In true Towns time, we rocked up to our first look-out early lunch time but as we didn’t have Tinfish we didn’t have our fridge, and realised we’d not got much in the way of lunch except a few muesli bars and a bit of fruit. Groan. This was not going to end well!

We gave the kids some nibbles and soldiered on to a walk in the midday sun to see the canyon up close. It was a few kilometres return and we continued to ignore the mounting wails of protest with each step we took. There were no signs as to how close we were to the canyon and with potential sinkholes off the rocky path, you couldn’t even wander to what looked like an edge to get a peek. It was a hot day, the temperature was in the early thirties and understandably things were going downhill quickly.  Reo initially lost it just at the thought of a “waaaalk” but soon cracked on with it, it was Lexi that dissolved into tears and refused to take another step. Who could blame her?! We passed an older couple who had tried to get to the lookout too, but also not managed it and they inferred we still had a way to go to where they’d got. The mission was aborted, time to turn around and head back.

Driving past Charles Knife Canyon is pretty spectacular, the height and depths of these gorges can be truly appreciated as you drive close to them, yet it’s hard to fully admire its beauty and geography until you see it from the air. This is where the drone comes into its own. Flying high you get to see the razor-backed ridges of the Range, providing breathtaking views into the stark multi-coloured gorges.

The following day we’d planned to walk Mandu Mandu Gorge as we’d missed it when we were staying in the NP due to the breakdown. Better prepped than the day before, we set off early – yep you read that correctly – to miss the heat of the day. The sky was grey and the weather looking a little ominous, but surely better to walk under the clouds than the searing heat. As soon as we opened the doors of the car to start the walk, the heavens also opened so we quickly jumped back into our seats! The rain didn’t last long and before we knew it we were on our way. The walk starts along the pebbled base of the gorge, red cliffs rising high either side. How trees grow out of the rock crevices on the sheer edge is beyond me, the white luminous bark a stark contrast to the iron-red rock.

I’d had permission from the drone police that I could fly the drone as long as no one else was around, so as we got to the base of the uphill scramble we got it out to play. The kids get bored very easily when it’s up, which can be distracting, I think this is maybe their ploy!

The most fun bit was the clamber up to the top of the gorge, who’d have thought the hardest bit was the most fun! Much to the protests of the police, I got the drone up again at the top to fly it through the gorge to where it opens to the Indian Ocean and then made a promise it was going away. It was a lovely walk and after the rains of the last few days, a plethora of different flowers had bloomed. We spent the afternoon back at Turquoise Bay as this would be the last opportunity for a swim in a while as we’d been heading inland next.

Reo wasn’t keen to get in so we played on the beach while Alex and Lexi entered the shallows for a snorkel. I’d been working on Reo to get into the water and just as he agreed there was a warbled cry from the blue, “help me! Help! Help!”. All eyes turned to the water as an older gentleman was waving his arms in distress. One guy jumped in and swam over to him and assisted him out. He wasn’t too far from the shore but there can be quite a current flowing and I think he was trying to swim directly to shore and as the flow was pulling him along he panicked. He was shaken but fine, nevertheless, that sealed the fate for Reo, NO WAY was he now entering the water!

Lexi and Alex returned from their underwater adventure and Lexi was keen to get in again with me. Reo was still having none of it, but he was finally persuaded by Lexi contagious enthusiasm for the blue, she as smitten with the sea, as he is the ute. The 3 of us went in as Alex followed us along the shore in an effort to comfort Reo’s initial unease. That lasted for a nanosecond, as soon as Reo hit the water, his confidence rebounded and he began duck diving as the fish swam around us. As we were getting closer to the gap in the reef where the rip flows, I asked Reo to stay close and grabbed his hand as we needed to start directing ourselves to shore. Oh no, he was having far too much fun now to listen to me. As I’m trying to fin across the current and pull him to shore, he duck dived again as the water was slowly pulling us in the opposite direction we needed to go. I ended up screaming at him to swim to Alex on shore while I’m pushing him in said direction, whilst he’s in a world of his own having fun. One of those typical moments where you can’t get them in the water and then when you want them out, they don’t want to leave! That night we treated ourselves to pizza at the local brewery and a try of the local tipple.

The following morning we ventured south to Coral Bay as we’d planned a couple of exciting days. We’d managed to arrange the stay at the caravan park there through insurance and while this wasn’t the initial plan, we’d hoped to stay more remote, it made it easier to stomach knowing we weren’t actually paying for it! The kids however were in heaven as there was a bouncy pillow to play on! We’d not told them of our plans for the following day due to sleepless nights and surprised them the next morning that we were going to hopefully swim with Manta Rays. Lexi was beside herself with excitement, Reo’s exchange was “I’m not going snoooorkelling” [can you see a pattern emerging here?!]. Alex managed to organise a dive for us as well.

Once fitted with wetsuits and dive gear for us, we were taken to the boat and given a briefing. The day’s itinerary was similar to the day with Whale Sharks. Starting with a snorkel on the reef, or those who were diving, a dive. The spotter plane would then hopefully find us our Manta’s and then a second snorkel/dive before coming into shore.

It’s been a while since I dived and I was excited to be getting back under the water to explore. Reasonably, we’d been told when we booked that we couldn’t let the kids go for a snorkel while we escaped for a dive, so I went for the morning dive and Alex opted for the afternoon. As it happened the guides on the boat were more than happy for us to go off together while they looked after the kids but the kids like to snorkel with us too, and I wasn’t that happy leaving them while we went off, so I felt it best we separated so one of us was always with them. For the dive, I was paired with Paul, a retired instructor like myself, a great pairing, not only was he competent but a lot of fun as well. While I’m more into wreck diving then reefs, it was nice just being under the water and we were left alone by the guide to just do our own thing which was also very novel and nice! There were lots of different fish to look at around the bommie outcrops of coral, this is why I love diving more than snorkelling, I didn’t need to hold my breath to see the fish up close, just hovering in the water, looking at their behaviours and movements. As the dive was coming towards an end, we passed a resting turtle on the bottom of the seabed. I was feeling very happy as we surfaced.

Next up was the main event. We left the inner reef and headed out to the deep blue in search for the rays. Alas, the deep blue had turned in to pea soup, green and murky looking. Manta’s had been spotted but the visibility was so poor you just couldn’t see them. The team continued their search, initially in vain and then eureka, it was show time! We jumped in, all huddled into one spot as the rays had alluded us again, then as the guide called and swam off manically in one direction, we all followed. “Look down, look down!” she was calling and all heads in unison bobbed down to spy in to the murky depths. You had to be quick as after an initial flash of white, the shadows descended again and then it was gone. We moved a little and then we were right on top of them, 2 huge, graceful Manta Rays, barrelling over and over again. This movement (like it’s doing a somersault) shows they are feeding, and while the murky green was not great for Manta viewing, it means the area is full of plankton and a perfect munching ground. Lexi was ecstatic and I’m sure I even saw a few smiles on Reo’s face as we returned to the boat 😉

We then moved back to the inner reef for the afternoon snorkel/dive. This time we were above a shark cleaning station (like a dentist for sharks) and hopefully we’d see some soon. Reo tagged along with the guide closer to the boat while Lexi and I swam out further to get a closer look at the station. Alex had descended into the depths, well, 8m, and we waved at him from the surface as she swam beneath us. We were lucky enough to see 2 sharks getting their teeth cleaned, although I was more than a little envious of Alex as he was so much closer to them! It was a great afternoon and we all felt very contented after such a fun day.

The snorkellers were already on the boat as the divers resurfaced and Lexi & Ro were keen to see what it was like “diving”. Reo jumped in, practically on Alex and he took him down a couple of metres for a quick “try” of the gear. Lexi was suddenly far more interested and as Reo came up, she was in the water swapping the gear. Both loved their little ‘try dive’ and as the skipper looked on, he was quick to say to me, “I saw nothing” and walked off with a big smile on his face. Maybe taking a 6 and 8 year old on a try dive is something not recommended on a commercial boat! Upon returning to camp, we met up with Paul (dive buddy) and Jo who’d been a snorkeler on the same trip and chatted the night away with different travel and diving stories. The kids played on the bouncy pillow and made new friends. It had been a great day and night.

The following day was a ‘rest’ day, insofar as there was no planned activity apart from school work! Reo woke with energy and peeking up out of his bed assessed the van (all looked sleeping), he quietly, oh so quietly tip-toed out thinking we wouldn’t hear. He was free!! Off to the bouncy pillow for him. It was 7:03am, bouncy castle gets blown up at 7:00am! Jeez, it would be so nice if I could get him up and out that quickly most other days. Both kids had the morning to play, this is our downfall as we may have said before. If we don’t knuckle down and get the hard stuff completed first, the day turns quickly to ash. Today was one of those days.

After lunch it was time to get started, Lexi finally buckled down and cracked on with it after a shaky start. Reo was a different case altogether. He was not in the mood (is he ever!?!) and as the day wore on, my patience wore thinner. One could take the philosophy of ‘just let him be this once’, however, the once would then become twice, twice to thrice….you get the picture. No school would ever get done. If we stop even for a few days, it’s hard to get back into a rhythm so we do try for ‘little and often’ to make a steady progress. The highlight of Reo’s day was when I popped out of the van to get something and he escaped through the window, straight to the bouncy pillow again! It’s hard to be so angry at him when you’re laughing at his ingenuity to get out of school. Still, he was not going to get one over on me and off I went to drag him off said pillow. 4 hours!! It took 4 hours to get 2 pages of school done (and I’m talking about 15 questions!!)… just another day in the life of a home-schooling mum.

The following day knocked all the remnants of frustration out of the window (get it!!) and was much more fun! Alex had wanted to swim with Humpback Whales but the literature he’d seen previously was that the first commercial swim was from 1^st Aug in Exmouth, this didn’t fit with our plans. We then came across a flyer stating that Coral Bay started on 1^st July. This timeline we could accommodate and the plan had been to hang around so we booked in for 1^st July and then we’d fit in activities to fill the time. Little did we know at the time Tinfish would then take all of that out of our hands!

Still, the day had arrived and the alarm woke us at 6.30am, much to the disgust of Reo, for another anticipated fun-filled day. We told the kids it was a school excursion day, no written work would need to be completed. I thought this might cheer Reo up (Lexi was her usual ecstatic self, quickly guessing which water-borne activity we would be pursuing today), alas no, he was still reeling from being woken by that alarm.

We returned to the same shop we’d done the Manta Ray tour with and quickly got our wetsuits before going through the same routine of returning to the boat. Chatting with one of the girls who worked at the shop, she said they hadn’t seen many Humpbacks to date, but then I figured they’d been looking for Whales Sharks and Mantas in the season so far, and anyway, today was officially the first day of the season, surely they now knew it was time to come out and play.

There was one other family on the boat with a boy 6 and girl 8, bingo! It took a while for them all to pluck up courage to talk, but after we’d had a snorkel on the inner reef confidence was boosted and firm friends were made for the rest of the day. We then cruised to the other side of the reef where we’d hopefully get up close and personal with a humpback or two. Again the spotter plane was up and had found some much further south, so we started to cruise in that direction. All eyes on the boat were still searching for any signs of them closer in; a little spurt from the blowhole, smooth back rippling the water and personally I’d have been happy with a full breach clearly saying “hello, I’m here!”.

It wasn’t actually long until there was a shout from the wheelhouse; the Captain had seen something in the distance. Off we shot, a mother and her calf. The spotter plane came over as it needed to check the size of the baby and there are many rules regarding when and how you’re allowed to swim with the whales. The baby needs to be over 50% the size of the mother, but this was a newbie, so we had to admire from a distance.  Another 2 sets of mothers and calves passed by but again, the babies were all too small for us to jump in. Our hopes were raised as 2 adult males came cruising along, tails splashing, pectoral fins heaved out of the water bouncing down again as if smashing rocks, but they began to move out to deeper water and if they were startled by the boat they would just dive deep and be gone. We continued to cruise south again.

Suddenly there was hurried activity, the spotter plane had seen a solitary whale and we lined ourselves up with it to observe a little to ensure it was displaying the correct behaviours before jumping in. We got the call…. It was time for ‘interaction whale’. We were in group 2, so readied ourselves while the other group jumped in. As the boat manoeuvred further down the projected path of the whale, it was our turn to jump. The guide was rigged up with a radio directly talking to the pilot so we could be guided as to the path the whale took and a compass to aid direction. 

It all happened so quickly. In we jumped and we had to swim, HARD. Following the guide who had pelagic fins (bigger and stronger than ours to give more propulsion) we needed to keep up with her so we wouldn’t miss our opportunity. Reo had opted to stay on the boat which was a good thing as he wouldn’t have been able to keep up. With Lexi in front of me I gave her a push to ensure she was in front of me and off she sped. I was in awe of her, she really was incredible as she kept up with the guide. I struggled, but the anticipation of seeing one of these amazing mammals spurred me on. Completely breathless and heart pumping we stopped as the guide was given more instructions from the air. The whale had suddenly changed direction and was heading straight for us! We stilled and looked down into the water. There it was, it swam directly beneath us! I N C R E D I B L E. I just wanted to freeze frame as it glided under us, fins at its side like it was a torpedo. It went as quickly as it came, but such an incredible experience. My heart was pounding for a different reason this time. The other group had missed the whale first time and went for a second chance, so officially we were the first people to sight a Humpback under water in 2019. Wowee.

We were on a high for the rest of the day. We finished our second snorkel on a shallow reef and after the kids had fun jumping off the boat, returned to land. I felt sad that Reo hadn’t seen the one underwater, but he wasn’t really fussed as he’d had his fun playing with his new friend on the bridge “helping” the Captain, yet he wouldn’t have made the swim, which meant that Alex or I would have also missed out, so selfishly I was glad he made that choice. We had another lovely evening with Jo and Paul again sharing the last 2 days adventures before retiring our weary bodies to bed.

Next day was a trip back to Exmouth, picking up our repaired Tinfish, restocking food, fuel & water, maaaybe a visit back to the bakery for a few goodies and then the slog inland heading towards Karijini. We knew we wouldn’t get there in one day and we’d already had to forfeit a booked night due to the repairs, so we stopped at a roadside for the night before a long 7 hour drive the following day. A quick stop at Cheela Plains for a C&C (coffee & cake for the uninitiated) before rolling into Dales campground at Karijini to be greeted by Jen, Jacob, Julie & Larry for well-earned drink.