4 Stray Katz: 10 days on the Ningaloo Reef

Amazing remote beach camp on Lefroy Bay right behind a small dune on a stretch of beach where the incredible Ningaloo reef lies only metres from the edge. We snorkeled several times a day, paddleboarded, fished, whale watched (we saw so many whales swimming just behind the reef, they often put on a show, continually breaching or pec slapping), kayaked, floated down the current and built so many sandcastles (including a sand couch for each of the kids!). We had dolphins swimming close by and such an array of reef fish we seemed to see something new every time we snorkeled. The coral was also very impressive, huge blue staghorn coral bommies that were only metres from the shore at low tide. We took the kids with us once, Jackson in a clear bottom blow up boat and Emilia with her own snorkel holding onto a noodle. They were very impressed with all the fish. I also saw a couple of turtles and Daniel saw heaps of reef sharks when he went snorkeling out to some deep holes.

We explored the surrounding area and found a beach that was home to heaps of turtles, I went for a snorkel but the visibility was unfortunately very poor, so poor that I didn't see a huge green sea turtle until I was about 20cm away from it, it was bigger than me so I froze in fright and amazement while I watched it gracefully glide away. As we went to leave this beach Daniel carefully inched backwards but we became more and more bogged in the deep, soft sand. After much digging and slow moving on the maxx tracks (thank god we had them on the roof rack) we managed (with a big help from Henry) to get out. I think Henry was glad he wasn't the only one to have been bogged on the trip! We checked out Yardie Creek and decided it wouldn't be too hard to cross it at low tide so we began preparing for a few nights in Exmouth to watch the Grand Final, leaving the caravan at Ningaloo to return to our pristine stretch of beach and reef.