Jan. 29: Exmouth (Ningaloo Reef!)

We had a wonderful night's sleep in our Exmouth Hotel / Resort room. Everyone woke up refreshed and ready to explore. We had breakfast in the room and then packed up our things (while doing so, C took some photos of herself and things around her). We were going snorkeling! We made sandwiches and packed the cooler we bought in Broome with all the things we'd need for a picnic - grapes, popcorn, watermelon, pouches and a beer for G! We headed off through the town of Exmouth and out the other side, direction Ningaloo Reef National Park. Ningaloo is on the UNESCO World Heritage List (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/). We bought a day pass (which we later upgraded to a 4-week holiday pass so we can enter other National Parks (like Shark Bay in Monkey Mia, which is next on our itinerary!). We parked and started the 500+ meter walk in to do our first snorkeling with the girls. We rented a beach umbrella from the local visitor's center and set that up for some shade.

We found some preschool-child aged snorkeling gear in Melbourne, which come with adorable backpacks. We also bought 2mm wetsuits so the girls would not be at any risk of being too cold. While the water was very warm to me and G today, we were glad to have the wetsuits because it would have felt too chilly for the girls. With the wetsuits on, they had no desire to leave the water early.

Unfortunately, I could not get G's Christmas present of the GoPro working by today. But I have since charged it and practiced with it and it is ready to go for our next adventure tomorrow (we are heading to Turquoise Bay).

Snorkeling with the girls was amazing. They were all very nervous at first, as the waves were pushing them around while we were trying to get the new-and-strange-to-them snorkel gear on. We had practiced with it around the house but that was totally different, it turns out. But we powered through the unease and G and I stayed confident and kind and happy. The girls, one by one, realized how cool it is to snorkel. C, shortly after we got into the water, declared "I love snorkeling." And they went to bed tonight telling Ii "you just have to practice" in response to her talking about snorkeling tomorrow.

After snorkeling, the girls changed into their quick-dry beach outfits and played in the sand (yes, we brought sand toys all the way from Portland!). G walked into chest-high water and out to a large rock. He climbed up and saw a large sting ray and large fish. I then asked him to try some yoga moves up there.

We headed back to our hotel and the girls played in the pool. They made friends with 2 other little girls, around the same age, and they all played happily in the pool for an hour. Then everyone went their separate ways for dinner.

We headed to "BBQ Godfather," a strange and lovely little place in Exmouth. Started by some Italians, they served pizza for a long time but then decided to switch to BBQ (???). They tried to quit making pizza but there was apparently a huge outcry and demand for their pizza ... so they now do pizza AND bbq ... and sell the honey the owner's husband makes (he has 6 bee hives) AND they sell home-made gelato. It was lovely and we expect we'll head that way again.

Tomorrow, we go in search of some aloe (G and I got slightly burned in some places we didn't sunscreen enough, but thankfully the kiddos are all good) and also some straight zinc. We also go in search of more turtles and sting rays and other sea life.