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April 22-23, 1999

After our unsuccessful Whale Shark expedition, we notice that the company's advertisement guaranteed a sighting or a free whale-sharking trip on the next available boat. The next morning we called the Blue Horizon office to schedule our trip. We were told that the M/V Blue Horizon was booked full and chartered until May 1st. We, and two other annoyed Australians from our boat, stormed the tourist office and staged a sit in vigil until finally, one of the lovely Exmouth tourist ladies called her ole' buddy, Captain George King - the king of whale sharking and the owner of King Divers. The Captain said he felt that we had been "spat on" by Blue Horizon and offered us a "nearly free" trip on Saturday, two days later. Realizing that in Cyclonville, dollars were hard fought and won, we took up Captain George on his offer and booked ourselves in for our seventh attempt at a sighting of the Elusive Whale Shark.

Unfortunately (more to some then others) this meant we were doomed (or privileged) to stay in Exmouth two more nights. Our, Co-complainers, now friends, Ben and Jen (or Jane) clued us in to the fact that, due to the cyclone, the enormous, nearby, national park was deserted, and there were beautiful, beach front camping sites. We moved from the KOA park to the gorgeous desolation of the Cape Range National Park, shared, only casually, with 100s of kangaroos.

We spent our free days driving Pavlova (unbeknownst to Camperworld van rentals) on the rocky paths to Yardie Creek Gorge and Charles Knife Canyon. At Yardie Creek Gorge, we walked about a kilometer along the top of the gorge rim. We sat on the top of the high cliff wall absorbing the tranquil environment, and watched a "ray" fish of some kind in the creek about 50 meters below us. We drove Pavlova up the steep, and not so smooth, roads of Charles Knife Canyon and into the bush. It provided us excellent views of the Cape Range Mountains and the Gulf of Exmouth.

We went to sleep early Friday night because we knew we would have to be on our toes for Saturday's expedition to seek the elusive whale shark once again.