Woke up to a beautiful day; blue sky and a gentle breeze. Ems and Ollie wasted no time getting up and dressed, and had their breakfast in double quick time, they even did the washing up without being asked! After the shock had worn off, Charlotte and I realised that they had an agenda; get to Tulki Beach ASAP and see the Kellam team.
Oscar, the Kellam Team bus.
The drive to Tulki was uneventful, apart from the large Emu that wandered nonchalantly across our path, and we arrived at Oscar, the Kellam team bus, in time for coffee. The Kellams were in good form and were game for a trip to Turquoise Bay.
Before we could get into the water a distressed Frenchman asked if we could help look for his friend who had gone missing whilst snorkelling. Whilst Charlotte used the emergency phone to ring the Ranger I grabbed the Binoculars from the car and started to scan the sea. Eventually we spotted a lonely figure making slow progress back across the Bay. He was a long way out so his friend swam out to see if he was OK. He was but he looked very tired and was shivering a lot. Although Charlotte had updated the Ranger, he arrived shortly afterwards with a boat to check that all was well.
It’s always exciting to snorkel on the Ningaloo reef, there’s so much to see, and occasionally some of the larger wildlife comes close to take a look at the weird beings bobbing on the surface with their coloured flippers, one big eye and a tube for a mouth. Today’s highlights were a large Stingray and a Black Tipped Shark (open with Windows Media Player):
Later we jumped in the cars and followed the Kellams back to Oscar for Afternoon Tea (very civilised). The drive was enlivened by a Kangaroo that decided to cross the road just as the Kellams were passing by. It bounded straight out of the Bush towards the side of the car. Then, just as it was about hit the car (and had presumably identified the folly of its decision) it leapt high into the air in an attempt to go over the car. Now, the kangaroo’s plan might have worked if the Kellams were driving a Ferrari, but they were in a Suzuki 4WD. So we watched the scene with baited breath – the Kangaroo flying through the air (altitude: about 1.2 metres) straight towards the side window of the car (height: about 1.8 metres).
Whilst I was still processing the altitude/height conundrum, the Kangaroo had already considered the bigger picture and had included velocity – its own and the car’s. As the car moved forward I’m sure I saw the Kangaroo widen its ears to arrest its speed. It worked because, rather than hit the car, the Kangaroo slid across the rear window (narrowly missing the spare wheel), landed on all fours, shook its head, and bounded off into the Bush. Perhaps some Kangaroos deserve more credit than they are given – particularly in the field of aerodynamics.
Whilst we were having Tea there was more drama. A distressed woman arrived at the site looking for the Ranger, she had a tiny hairless Joey tucked under her jacket. She had found it further up the road trying to get into its dead mother’s pouch – the mother had been hit by a car. The children were able to see the Joey before the Ranger took it to be looked after at one of the Rescue Centres.
The Kellam and Mawle Children
Later we said our Goodbyes and the children gave each other lots of hugs. It had been another excellent, fun-filled day with the Kellams. We even saw another Echidna on the way back to Exmouth!