Finally, we drove to Exmouth today. It seems as if we have been travelling forever to get here. Both David and I have been longing to get to what we expected to be diving paradise. The water is beautiful, the beaches are white but the caravan parks have little shade. We chose to stay at the one with the beautiful pool on the beach side and it seems to have everything including backpackers accommodation, upmarket accommodation, camping and a scuba diving school. We drove into town and as expected it was small but had a beachy feel. We visited the dive shops and tourist information centre and booked a double boat dive out to the Murion Islands 9km offshore to the North West.

We priced all the diving and we had to admit we were a little shocked to find the pricing a little higher than expected. The most disappointing thing for us is that there is very little saving for us even though we have brought all our own gear including tanks and weightbelts. On a $130 per person boat trip we saved only $20.

We didn't have any fresh food and were trying to keep our expenses down so dinner was just a thai vegetable curry made with sweet potato and dried lime leaves.

DAY 119 Wednesday 18^th November

We left the camp ground at 7.45am this morning and were collected at the front gate by the dive shop bus service. Our gear was too heavy and bulky to take to the front gate so I had them drive right up to our camp site and load on our dive tubs. We'd spent all afternoon preparing our camera gear and were really keen for our day on the water.

The bus took us back to the shop to fill tanks and load up and then took us about 5km out to Bundegi Wharf. There were 10 divers and we had to transfer all our gear from the trailer to the boat waiting at the wharf. Although the boat looked huge and had plenty of covered area it was very slow. The 9km trip took an hour and 40mins. The sea was a bit lumpy and we were both thankful for the sea sick tablets offered by the divemaster back at the shop.

Everything was supplied from cold cans of drinks in eskys full of ice to fully laid out salads, rolls and cold meats for lunch. We had dips and biscuits for morning tea and rockmelon and fruitcake for afternoon tea. Hot drinks and sweet biscuits between dives and just about every convenience we could wish for including a toilet!

The diving was good but certainly not up to our expectations. The visability was a disappointing 12m but the variety of reef fish certainly made up for it. Between dives we were taken to a beautiful beach for lunch where after eating, we swam back to shore, walked up to the point and then jumped back in to take the current back to the boat whilst snorkelling along the reef. I was disappointed that I couldn't take my camera underwater after all the preparation we'd done - the sensor connector was jammed and couldn't be undone.

It was a big day, finishing at after 6pm when we were all given a can of beer at the dive shop. I'm off beer and so David got mine after I had one refreshing sip!

Again, dinner was something out of a packet and tin - risotto with tinned marinara in a tomato base sauce. Unfortunatley, I forgot I was cooking it whilst talking to our neighbors and burnt the dinner a little. Time to go shopping.

David managed to remove the jammed connector in my strobe but could not repair it suitably for diving. We have to send it back to Sydney for repair. There goes all my underwater photographic opportunities on the West Coast I suppose!

DAY 120 Thursday 19^th November

We did our shopping early but did not buy any meat as we planned to do some serious fishing later in the day and were expecting to leave Exmouth and head into the Cape Range National Park for some beach camping with no facilities tomorrow. We met the Adcocks at the Bundegi Wharft as recommended to us by Spencer, a "feral" traveller we have seen on a number of occassions who told us he was catching Queenfish with no bait.

I had told Dorothy that it was a really great spot because the girls could sunbake and swim right beside the wharf whilst the boys fished. We all had a fabulous day swimming, sunning and fishing. Both David and Rob caught huge Queenfish although David was not satisified with just one. There were two meals in just one fish but David was mesmerised by the clear water and the sight of such huge fish. The fishing technique was fun too. First, they started with triple hooks and just jiggled their lines amongst the mass of schooling small fish which we thought were anchovies. This was either a quick snag or took an hour. Half the challenge was to get the bait! The next step was to use the live anchovies as bait to catch the big Queenfish seen circling below the wharf. The boys had many big fish get off their hooks including a 1m Queenfish for David and then a big cod for Rob that David also caught and got away.

We had our catch for the day but realised we probably couldn't eat it since we were booked to go on a night dive to the Navy Pier - reputed to be one of the top 10 dives in Australia.

We set up David'd underwater video gear and dive torches etc and waited to be collected from our camping ground as per the day before. The bus never came and a very disappointed David and Michelle made our way to the office to make phone calls. We finally realised they had gone without us and reluctantly packed up our campervan and drove into town to stick a note on the shop door asking for an explanation. We had booked and pre-paid this dive and were intending to leave Exmouth in the morning.

In the meantime, we realised we could at least enjoy our fresh catch and marinated the Queenfish fillets in olive oil, fish sauce, white wine, garlic, ginger, fresh chillies, fresh lemon grass, fresh corriander, basil and lemon juice. Cooked on the hotplate of our gas cooker and served with raw salad of snow peas, broccoli and red capsicum - YUM!

The diveshop finally rang at 10pm and apologised profusely - it was all their fault, they had simply not checked the booking sheet. Could we come into the shop in the morning and sort it out? Of course we could.

DAY 121 Friday 20^th November

We arrived at the dive shop and instantly received apologies and suggestions to sort out our mess. We were offered a full refund and then free dive on the Navy Pier at 2.30pm that day. In fact, that plan suited us perfectly as it meant we could get our diving gear dry overnight and packed so we could leave first thing in the morning.

We had some business to attend to in town for the morning such as email and post office before diving and got ourselves sorted out and relaxed. This time we took ourselves to the dive shop. We went out to the Pier with a group of Open Water Course students but were allowed to do our own thing. We were able to get in the water first and left alone to explore the wonders under the Pier. It really is a great dive, but again, shame about the low visibility around 10m. The Pier is enormous and at a maximum of 14m and the majority between 8 - 3m we were able to spend an hour in the water. Access to the Pier is restricted and permits must be obtained or entry permitted only through two of the local dive operators who must collect an entrance key from the APS (Australian Protective Services) before every visit. Only a few years ago, when the Americans ran the naval communications operation, access had to be approved 2 weeks in advance. The Pier is now used to supply the Harold Holt Naval Communications base at Exmouth that operates an impressive VLF (Very Low Frequency) series of transmitters, which are taller than the Eifel Tower.

Tonight we cooked our second fillet of Queenfish which was prepared in a thai red curry sauce with fresh corriander and rice. Tomorrow we plan to move on around the Cape into the National Park area where there are about 90 great beach camp spots for only $5 per night on an honour system. We intend to stock up so we can spend at least 5 days out there before continuing down the coastline to Coral Bay. The area is too shallow for diving but some excellent snorkelling is expected and great fishing too. David was really impressed by catching the Queenfish and is looking forward to catching all we need for the next week.