Coral coast capers.

After the change in plan and an extra night in Carnarvon we reached the delights of Coral Bay in good weather and were soon off to snorkel in the clear warm waters with an amazing variety of fish and marine life just yards offshore. A downpour late afternoon was followed that night by a mighty thunderstorm that tested the repair to our possum damaged roof - watertight thank goodness unlike a number of caravans who had left roof lights open in the humidity.

Moving on to Exmouth and the Cape Range NP we passed hundreds of large termitaria, lunched on the deserted beach near the wreck of the SS Mildura and then booked in at the campsite below the Vlaming Lighthouse.

Cape Range Park gave us the chance for even more rewarding snorkeling with a large ray or skate and a sea turtle providing fascinating images - Sarah also saw a metre long reef shark and now holds the 100m splash and paddle record. The ease of access, warm water and good visibility made for some memorable experiences.

Up in the hills we enjoyed a hot but rewarding 8km walk to Shothole Canyon and then stayed overnight at moving Girallia Station - flattened by a cyclone in 1999 the family rebuilt but have never really recovered and are now living on as hosts to a few campers, fishermen and the very occasional coach party in a vast area devoid of livestock. We were the only guests and were rewarded with a true outback sunset and a full orange moon rising soon after.

A long drive today has brought us near to Karratha in the Pilbara where Oz's resource boom in the shape of large iron ore mines and gas plants is well underway.

We have found a peaceful bush camp area on the coast decorated with the first croc warning signs we have seen so neither of us are likely to venture in to the sea again for a while despite the daytime temperatures reaching the mid thirties.

Finally after much mulling over and consideration of the numerous options we have decided not to return to Oz after this trip just yet. The uncertainty over visa extensions, shipping and carnet issues, expiring passports and the high mileage the van has covered means we will now return to the UK in September 2011, ship the van back, enjoy Christmas with family and then head to Southern Europe for the rest of the winter whilst a new base vehicle is on order.

Then it will be a conversion over the summer and probably another European based test trip before a return overseas in 2013 to include at some stage a return here in what should be a relatively youthful 4x4 that will enable us to do the remote bits of the 'Top End' we will miss this time.

It feels good to have made some decisions so we can now concentrate on our remaining 3 months here - up to Darwin and then back to Sydney via Alice Springs and Adelaide means we still have loads to look forward to.

Fishy pics here (I hope to be able to provide a link to some video I took soon) and the locations here

A slide show covering Tasmania (now a much colder place) is also included.