Wilderness Part one

We have been on an adventure but this blog entry is not so much about what we did on this trip but what this trip did to us and for us. How it made us feel, how just a little bit of us will never be quite the same again.............................moments of sheer joy.

Amazing how you can take 2 flights, be in transit for 12 hours and yet still find yourself in the same country! Albeit we were in one of the most untouched and remote places in the whole world and boy do you get that message loud and clear. Ningaloo Reef and the Cape Range National Park, Western Australia.

The raw isolation and the sensation that time has just stood still and you are as transient in this space as a shifting grain of sand, packs a massive punch.

I remember once again, just as I did when I stood on the terracotta dunes of the Kalahari desert, how much I love this feeling and I realise how much I have come to need it too.

I have to thank the Hubster for opening this door for me, taking me away from the mundane, making me push my boundaries and step out of a zone away from modern comforts and conveniences, just to feel - Life.

Together we view the world with awe and childlike wonder, we seek out the places that have not been too sullied by human footprints and marvel at the beautiful creatures we find there.

It's emotional.

We need no words.

We stand locked in a united reverie, a shared moment which we know will emanate in knowing smiles and melancholic tears long into our old age.

It is in these moments, where there are no words, we both feel totally connected to our Earth and to eachother, especially.

So it is, we found ourselves at the Sal Salis Eco-Wildnerness Camp. Just 9 tents nestled into the sand dunes of the Cape Range National Park looking out to the Ningaloo Reef and the Indian Ocean.

During our time here the Ocean shows all sides to her personality, she is wild and powerful and to be fully respected as the many ship wrecks littered along the coast prove. She roars and purrs in equal measure and when the day ebbs, she is gentle and nurturing as she embraces the sun goodnight.

Everynight we watch transfixed as she works her magic aiding the dying sun to paint the most beautiful picture across the sky, no human hand could replicate.

She has precious cargo right now. At this time of year she provides passage for 43,000 humpback whales on their huge 10,000 kilometre migration and rich, nutritous feeding grounds for the rare and beautiful Whale Sharks, the largest fish in the ocean.

We were truly honoured to be with these incredible animals. We felt so privileged that we had the chance, a chance so relatively few humans would ever have. Never are you more in the present than when you are swimming beside the dorsal fin of a Whale Shark or gasping at the sight of a barnacled Humpback Whale breach wildly from the water. To be continued...................
The enormity of what we did will take some time to sink in. The fact that our bags got lost on the return flight at the end of the holiday, just didnt seem to matter that much, not after that! Now I know how and why Sir David Attenborough is so chilled and humble.

Mother Nature puts all into perspective, she does all that to you and just when you need her to.

The bags eventually turned up. Just like we knew they would.