Monthly Archives: June 2022

Who wants to swim with Whale Sharks?

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Last year we vow, in Arnie’s immortal words, “we’ll be back” – and nine months and one bout of Covid (me) later, we are. Our favourite WA destination has to be Coral Bay on the Ningaloo Reef. You can read about last year’s adventures of swimming with Manta Rays and being entertained by Humpback whales and graceful Manta Rays in my blog Good times with the mega fauna, so I won’t repeat myself. NB – it is worth reading, or re-reading.

The Ningaloo Reef is both not as readily accessible as the Great Barrier Reef and also more accessible. Ningaloo is remote: Perth, the most remote city on Earth, more or less, is 1,200kms (745 miles) south, so it’s not a day trip. Conversely, as a fringing reef it grows within a few metres of the shore – you can literally snorkel from the shore, where Great Barrier needs a boat trip. Ningaloo is one of the longest near-shore reefs in the world with over 300 species of coral, but if you expect lurid colours you will be disappointed – mostly it is grey/brown, but the size of the formations is impressive. Fish, 500 species on fact, are everywhere and all the rainbow of usual suspects abound: Parrotfish, Butterflyfish, Angelfish, Nemo lookalikes, and bigger species including reef sharks and turtles are at ease in the marine sanctuary. (underwater photos all by @elle_gillett)

Now, like many my age, I carry the trauma of the movie Jaws deep in my psyche. I can’t hear da dum………da dum……..da dum da dum da dum music without my sphincter tightening ever so slightly, so it’s big thing for me to go to the deep water. To swim with the Humpback and Whale Sharks however, you need to take a trip outside the reef to much deeper water. I’m not a natural snorkeler but I remember last year’s magic time with the Humpback whales and Manta rays. Yet, Whale sharks are less whale and more shark as they do not need to come up for air, but engage in constant motion as a shark. Like Lady MacBeth, but without the knife, I screw my courage to the sticking place and off we go.

last year’s trip – humpbacks showing off

This experience is nothing short of spectacular. We snorkel inside the reef then move out through the gap in the coral to open water. A couple of Humpbacks come along to amuse us, but we are here for bigger things. The skipper motors about 20 nautical miles (37kms) up the coast before the spotter plane calls and guides us to the appropriate area. As with the swims last year our guides divide us into two groups – no more than 10 to a group and we are a boat of 18.

The first 10 swimmers get the call to go in while the rest of us sit ready, heart pounding in my case, on the marlin board (platform at the stern of the boat). The skipper positions the boat ahead and off to the side of the Whale shark: Slide in and swim right!  the call comes and off we go. Next thing, coming straight at us is the most awe inspiring and beautiful sight, a 7-8 metre spotty beast, lazily moving through the water.

I quickly turn in the same direction the Whale Shark is moving and try to stay abreast of the pectoral fin. It is swimming slowly enough to keep up without too much effort. Eventually the guide calls for us to stop and re-group and the boat comes back to pick us up. We repeat the process and see three different Whale Sharks in all – it’s hard to stop smiling.

And harder to haul yourself out of the water for the 4th time in half and hour – note to self, work on upper body strength. I bet Lady MacBeth wouldn’t have any problems.

Everyone is buzzing after a close encounter with one of the giants of the ocean, and the day gets even better as we motor back to base. Dolphins come and perform and ride along and then, back inside the reef, two more Humpback whales arrive alongside. The skipper and crew tell us it is extremely rare to find them inside the reef, and we are in only 10 metres of water. They hang around for ages and come up close to the boat several times. All we need now is Aquaman and a few mermaids and on a day like this, anything’s possible.

And then, because nothing is ever perfect, three days later Scott tests positive for Covid. We find out two of the crew are also now in isolation. Just proves it – you catch Covid from Whale Sharks.

So you want to go camping

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It is an ongoing source of fascination to see the wide range of caravan/camper-van/camping set-ups that abound in this country. To be fair, we do not camp or use campgrounds in New Zealand, but the press inches devoted to freedom campers and camper-vans suggests they are more of a problem rather than a desirable tourism asset. Unlike New Zealand, Australia is a country of people who head off regularly as well as many overseas visitors travelling in car, campers, vans and caravans. Consequently, there are as many types of camping areas as there are ways to camp.

The most basic level is just a swag at ground level, more or less a one person mini tent. this is for Nigel no-mates, or of you have mates then you can each have your own “bedroom”.

your most basic camping – a bed roll in a one person ‘tent’

Next up is the roof top camper which is very popular, especially with young people who tend to be lithe enough to climb up and bend themselves in the required shapes to be comfortable. And people who don’t have to go to the toilet during the night. Often the vehicle is set up with a drawers and pull outs to make a camp kitchen, or sometimes a small camper trailer is along for the ride.

Now, camper trailers come in all shapes and sizes and put you in mind of kids’ transformer toys. They fold out and up and change personality. One of my favourites is the little white one in the photo below. It opens its bum and doubles its size immediately – and not all of us can say that.

Camper-vans are the same in that you have a multitude of options, some from the factory, some homebuilt or conversions. In New Zealand, we are more than familiar with the camper-van and the multitude of companies hiring them out – at least, before Covid we were. Some of the same names appear here, Britz and Maui for example, but there are so many more.

everything in its place
home built, 14 years on the road and three kids

Caravans come in three main types: on-road standard, semi off-road like ours, which means it has more clearance but is not necessarily more rugged, and off-road which means tough. Length and breadth are also variable. Breadth can increase considerably with the use of slide-outs which give more internal space. I could not guess at the number of manufacturers, and we hear there is still a 12 -18 month waiting list to get one. When people had to cancel overseas trips they looked homewards and traded Bali for Birdsville and Amsterdam for Alice Springs.

Then for some people there is no limit to the amount of space or stuff they need. In this case you graduate to a bigger caravan or a bus. We see everything from converted public transport buses, the kind that takes the kids to school, through to custom built luxury liners.

or you can have a bus, with slide outs and tow a small car

Now just when we think we’ve seen it all, we see a convertible towing a camper trailer. We are so intrigued we watch them set up. None of it looks comfortable for long journeys or comfortable sleeping. They are not young. I ask how long they’ve been travelling – 61 days she says. How much longer? another 61 days, and the look on her face tells me she has it counted down to hours, if not minutes. This is not really her happy place, and if I had to crawl into that space to sleep I think I’d been signing the divorce papers sooner rather than later.

So there you have it – you pay your money and make your choice. I haven’t touched on the people you meet (as varied as there are ways to camp) or the types of places to camp, so if you want to hear more on the topic, let me know,