My new things of the week:

• Did some snorkelling for the first time in about 20 years!
• Snorkelled my way round the Ningaloo Reef
• Oh yeah, I swam with a whale shark…! 😉

Yes, I swam with a whale shark! Since arriving in my hostel all the girls have told me that I 'had' to do it and that it was 'amazing'! Keen to do a tour and see some of the reef, debating between a few, a coin toss between whale sharks and manta rays let me know I would rather do whale sharks… With a 'why not' attitude I booked it for the next day. I'm not going to lie, it's not one of the easiest things I've done… It is hard work trying to keep up with a whale shark and keep out of the way of others swimming around you… Especially children with flippers aimed at your head ;-). Some perseverance and lots of swimming later, I very much like that it has been added to the list of things I've done in Australia :-). Beautiful, peaceful, graceful animals, they make swimming in deep, choppy water look easy ;-).

The tour also enabling us to snorkel the reef, it was awesome to float through the underwater world of the Ningaloo reef. Amazing, it genuinely felt like I was in Finding Nemo! Debating the merits of an underwater camera, I decided to just enjoy it :-). Migration Media have helped me out a little though! Buying some shots from the day including my whale sharking exploits, they also included a 'best of the reef' collection. Here's some pictures of the reef for you :-). And one of me swimming it ;-).

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Enjoying Coral Bay's stars (actually amazing), soaking up some much needed vitamin D, having proper time to relax, enjoying some colourful sunsets, meeting some cool people and having some proper conversations, Coral Bay has been just what I needed. My head back in a much happier place, it has made a plan to just work my way to Darwin, job hunting on the way and see what happens :-). Next stop: Exmouth… 🙂 With hopefully my next update informing I've found work, we'll see what banter I find on the way ;-).

Some Coral Bay Backpacking Tips: Fin's cafe is the only place you can use a USB in a computer. They also have extremely tasty cheese dogs. Want to book a tour and have a yha card? Book it at the dive shop, a yha card offers you discount. If you are staying at the backpackers your key also offers discounts at the Reef Cafe. Cheap drinking can be facilitated at Ningaloo Reef Resort's happy hour every day from 5:30 – 6:30pm… Running out of travel funds? Ask at the backpackers if you can do work for accommodation. Swap 2 hours of cleaning for a free night. Not that bad at all, you can still factor in beach time and listen to your iPod. Back to working through my unplayed list, now only 788 songs to go, I might just manage to listen to it all before I get home ;-).