Forays into Travel Blogging: Life Interlude

I haven't finished the saga of the GRR, but I have been alerted (by M&D) that I have had other "blog-worthy" adventures since returning that really deserve a post. This is that post!

First one was going for a one-night camping trip with Chiara and Corinne down to Bullara Station, just an hour south of Exmouth. We went last Thursday just to get out of town and sleep under the stars, but man was it chilly and windy! Thank goodness there were some campfires scattered about that we could bask in, but mostly it was just a great chance to sit around and shoot the shit. I didn't take any photos, but the station is known for their delicious scones, so I was pumped to have a warm baked scone for breaky before heading back to town for a busy Friday night. Realistically, the scones are just vessels for the cream and jam anyway. Perfect.

Mulla Mulla wildflowers and a termite mound on the drive back from Bullara

Gaia's birthday was on September 13th, two weeks to the day after mine, and we spent the whole day hanging out with friends and diving. First up was breakfast at the beach shack with a big group, then Rhys, her boyfriend, took Gaia and me out for a day of scuba diving! It was so beautiful. The wind cooperated, we got to swim in a giant bait ball (a school of little bait fish that attract bigger predatory fish like tuna and trevally and the like), and because we weren't out on a commercial boat (like when we get to go for fun dive days at work), we didn't have time limits! So two, hour+ dives in a row. And then after diving we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking beers and fishing, watched the sunset, and tried not to laugh so hard we fell off the boat. It starts to sound repetitive in this blog, I guess, but it was a perfect day.

Ready for action

Rhys

Gulf sunsets

This past Sunday I worked on the boats on what was billed as a humpback whale tour day. The weather conditions were absolutely mint (gentle breeze, warm sun, very low swell) and the animals were cooperating, and I was working with an awesome crew of friends. We started the morning off with a snorkel with some sea turtles and reef sharks, and then when we headed outside the lagoon a pod of pilot whales swam along with the boat! They have these adorable smooshy faces and look like fat dolphins. Or maybe torpedos. So good.

After the pilot whales, our spotter plane pilot found us some whale sharks! This late in the season that's awesome and by no means a guarantee. We spent most of the morning swimming with three different whale sharks that were SO SLOW. They just had no where to be and were in no rush to get there; it was amazing. Some days the sharks just don't want to play ball. They dive too deep for us to see them, they swim fast, they change direction suddenly and we can't keep up. But not on Sunday, y'all.

Our last shark as she melted down into the water and slipped out of sight

Probably a boat strike caused the top of this one's tail to look like a chunk has been taken out. Predator strike would take out a different-shaped chunk.

Beauty!

When we got to swim with whale sharks this late in the season I chalked it up as a win! But then when the skipper said the spotter plane had found a mama humpy and her calf I was stoked! Best news? Baby was more than 50% the size of mama, which means they were fair game to swim with if their behavior indicated we weren't distressing them! So that's how it happened that I got to watch a mama and baby humpy swim directly underneath me in the water. Ningaloo magic.

Y'all, what a day. Since then I've been out snorkeling with Carly, to dinner with Stewie, and had some of the girls around for a dinner of wine and cheese. Kieran came through town on his drive from Perth back to Broome on a work trip, and I've been hanging out with co-workers a few nights this week who have had lots of fresh caught mahi mahi and tuna that they needed help eating. And in an hour or so, Corinne and I are going to head to the beach for some R&R before a hectic Friday night at work.

It's funny how I go through these phases of super sociability and then other times I feel like an absolute recluse, but I guess it's just the spring-time air around town. Wildflowers, warm days, cool nights, and the joy of having an apartment to call home that I really love. An apartment which I've just negotiated a 2-year lease on! So holy cow, life is good.