Ningaloo Reef - Worth the Wait

We woke up this morning to a glorious sun shiny day, finally!, and rang the shire of Exmouth for a status update on the National Park only to be told they thought it would open at 12 but still weren't 100% certain. We again decided to try our luck so packed up and headed in. We stopped on the way to have a look at the SS Mildura shipwreck, which could be seen from the shore.

We got to the Rangers station where they opened the gates at 12 and we were in! Finally! 

There was quite a bit of damage to the roads, and evidence of where the flowing water carried debris around, but the campsite we booked looked untouched, and fantastic! 

We set up camp and headed straight over the dunes for a snorkel. The visibility was not too bad considering the recent downpour, and we saw quite a few fish in the reef.  We headed back to camp for a bite to eat before heading to Turquiose Bay, obviously getting it's name from the magnificent colour of the water! 

We had a snorkel at the Drift, which is where you get in the water at one point and the gentle current carries you down over the reef to the other end. There was heaps to see here, a sting ray, a huge cod, angel fish and heaps of other species that I don't know!! The coral was also really nice here too. After our snorkel we had a bit of a paddle in the shallows only to be surrounded by a heap of dart fish. They came so close you could almost reach out and grab one, which Stella tried to do several times only they were a little quick! We then came back to camp, losing count of the number of kangas on the sides of the road. There were heaps of them, and heaps of joeys that were too cute! 

We were blessed with an amazing sunset, then had tea out under the stars, thanking our lucky stars we were finally in the Cape Range National Park!!