Riding off into the Sunset

Our last two ports of call in Northern Australia were Broome and Exmouth. The approach into Broome harbour was delayed several hours to wait for the tides to rise and for the winds to die down, but this highlighted even more all the different torquoise colours of the water, the blueness of the sky and the red earth of the cliffs. The sun beat mercilessly down and the mercury topped out at about 38 deg C as we toured the pearl shops the port is famous for.

During the late afternoon we headed off for an adventure we had been anticipating for several days, a sunset camel ride on Cable beach! What an adventure as we go from sharks to crocs to snakes to koalas and now camels...what's next? Here is Jude petting and talking nicely to our trusty Horace hoping that it wouldn't spit at her.

When they are crouched down it's actually not too hard to climb aboard, you just have to watch out when they stand up. The back end goes up first so if you are not holding on you can get tossed off right over their head. Horace was the lead camel and a bit of an attention seeker, just look at him smiling for the camera!

Horace was a gentle beast, he didn't spit, hiss, complain or do any other nasty things everyone had warned us that camels do. Most of the camels in the train of 15 animals were captured in the wild but he was the exception being raised in captivity and also the oldest at 25 years old. As the sun set, the shadows grew longer, the moon rose up behind us and we enjoyed our ride more and more. What a great way to spend an afternoon on a stunning beach with a gorgeous view of the sunset and doing something you may never get another chance to do!

After another two days at sea to relax and eat even more food, we stopped in the small town of Exmouth, population 2000, until we showed up and it doubled! This town is really in the start of the outback which we knew as soon as we drove into town and had to stop to let wild Emus cross the highway.

Even though it was just at the end of "The Wet" as they call the rainy season, the air was dry and the ground was parched. Most of the Roos were hiding in the shade but we scared a couple off and I managed to get this parting shot as they hopped and bounded away.

One of the most famous attractions of the area is the Ningaloo reef which is the best place in the world to swim with the huge but harmless whale sharks. Unfortunately they were just starting to return to the area but we did go out to Turquoise Bay to snorkel, float effortlessly in the 32 deg C Indian Ocean water and soak up some rays on the pure white sand beaches. It really was paradise as we almost had the entire beach to ourselves!

Besides wild camels in the area, the outback here also has herds of wild horses roaming around. These two were just standing off the highway, which is the only paved road in this whole area, munching on grass and keeping a close eye on us. There are supposed to be hundreds of thousands of camels and horses that have bred from those that escaped or were released into the wild after the job they brought them here for, like mining or construction, was done.

After another day at sea we had to say goodbye to all the new friends we met on the ship and enjoyed time with. We had some great dinner conversations and tried out various pubs with Keith and Sammy and Bob and Kymm and enjoyed a number of shore excursions together as well. They were all continuing on the cruise as it made its way to Tasmania and New Zealand but we were excited to disembark the Rhapsody of the Seas in Perth so that we could spend time with Amanda and learn more about Western Australia.