• Category Archives australia
  • Coral Bay Snorkelling

    Before and after the whale shark snorkelling we got to check out Ningaloo reef. There were many types of coral we hadn’t seen before.

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    This example of brain coral was impressive.

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    Even though it isn’t jellyfish season this area traps the jellies and there aren’t enough predators to cut down the population.

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    They do sting but you can swim around pretty easily. They are very relaxing to watch swim by.

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    A few people did get stung but it only lasts for about an hour or so.

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    Their tops don’t sting so the guides were pushing them around by the top towards each other. This one got lifted out of the water further showing why they have the name jellyfish.

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  • Whaleshark

    After 12 hours of driving through the rain and waking up to pouring rain at 4 am we made it out to Ningaloo reef to search for whale sharks. After waiting for a bit the spotter plane found one and we got to get in the water.

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    He was just a small guy at 5m in size.

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    They say whale sharks are solitary but he had a whole bunch of friends hanging out with him.

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    Some of those friends were us for the day.

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    The other fish are hanging around to clean the whale shark, or feed on the plankton as well.

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    The spot pattern is unique to each whale and can be used to identify the different individuals.

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    His tail is really big and even though he barely moved it he cut through the water very quickly.

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    Sometimes he would turn to get a look at us.

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    It was totally worth the effort to get to see such a cool animal.

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  • Other Things at the Pinnacles

    While we were checking out the pinnacles we saw several cool things on the way. Like this bug.

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    He was just taking a walk and not bothered by us taking several pictures.

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    We also noticed that the walls looked a little weird.

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    That’s because they were covered with millipedes.

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    Some of the piles were smaller than others. It was strange that it was only 2 of the walls. The other walls were completely clean with more birds around. For some reason the birds weren’t eating these guys.

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    We also got a closer picture of these odd flowers. We saw them on the drive but it was hard to get a picture while moving.

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  • More Stromatolites

    These stromatolites were growing in a lake by Cervantes. They looked quite a bit different from the ones at Shark Bay.

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    They had much more of a conical shape.

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    Still very old and very salty water so nothing eats the bacteria or disturbs them, other than people that is.

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  • Jurien Bay

    On our way back down from Coral Bay we stopped in Jurien Bay to check out the beach and grab a snack.

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    There were a few other birds hanging out as well. image

    The crabs were all hiding though.

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    Even Matt couldn’t prod them out of their homes.

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    Most of the birds were just gulls.

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    It was nice out but not that warm.

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    So instead of getting into the water we watched the birds.

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    Kerri continued to watch while Matt was getting the food.

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    This is Petey Pegleg, the most evil pirate bird on this coast.

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    Even though it was cold (18 C) we had fun in the park.

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