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Young Travel Writer Giulia Villa in Ningaloo

Giulia Villa was one of our two Young Travel Writer competition winners this year, travelling with us on assignment to Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef. Here, she shares her impressions.

The colours here are something else. As we cruise through the national park, our four-wheel-drive leaves a cloud of dust in our wake. The red specks settle on the greenest expanse of Australian bushland I’ve ever seen. It’s our first day in Exmouth and, lulled by the dull whirr of the vehicle, I hope this little patch of natural marvel will welcome us as warmly as the shrubs on the ground seem to have welcomed the heavy rainfall from the recent cyclone.

At a brief stop on North T Bone Bay, I feel like I’m on top of the world. Above us, wispy clouds mix and swirl like a blob of cream in unstirred soup. Below us, the glistening turquoise of the ocean fuses with the emerald of the bush. I am a dot in the middle of a canvas, lost in a whirl of watercolours.

And as our boat glides through Yardie Creek, shattering the still water into a million tiny ripples, I can’t take my eyes off the rock. Our guide, Boxie, is animated, experienced.

The colours of the rock in Yardie Creek are white and bricky-red. Picture: Giulia Villa

He speaks about our surroundings with the knowledge of a local and the excitement of a first-time tourist. Still my gaze is glued to the rock. White granite streaks through the bricky-red, then dribbles and bleeds into the water. When paired with the occasional tentative bush, growing through the cracks, this makes for a marvel of hues. Boxie is quick to point out wallabies and they stare back at us, momentarily intrigued by our pointed cameras.

I can’t help but wish I was with them, revelling in the cool crevices of the rock, as my hands on the camera start to get clammy from humidity. I pray the clouds will give way soon.

The next morning is when the real adventure begins. My prayers have been answered. Our bus pulls up at Tantabiddi boat ramp and if you asked me to draw a line between the empty sky and clear water, I don’t think I could. There are myriad smaller boats coming towards us, the only movement on the flat ocean surface. In small groups, they take us further out in the water. A turtle glides past us unperturbed and it’s enough to send a buzz of excitement throughout our little group before we’ve even set foot on the charter boat.

The day’s off to a good start as we plunge one by one into the water for a morning snorkel.

The fish around these parts must be used to having visitors as they don’t budge when I approach them; instead they stick in their schools and rush towards me at full pelt. A stingray lies comfortably, like a dusty rug, on the sandy ocean floor and starfish bask in the sunlight that filters through.

The turquoise of the ocean fuses with the emerald of the bush. Picture: Giulia Villa

Back on the boat, the energy of the crew is contagious, and once all the safety rules have been explained, an aura of anticipation settles among all the passengers. The next few hours are a blur. There’s a frantic scramble of putting on snorkel equipment and keeping fingers crossed that the whale shark won’t dive under and disappear, again. When we do get to swim with it, it’s all a rush of getting ahead of the others, of dodging the GoPros and of keeping up with the whale shark itself. The last thing you want is to get stuck in an endless vortex of flipper bubbles.

The last two swims are a whole other story.

It’s the biggest shark we’ve seen all day and it’s slow, calm, following the current. Tiny golden fish gather around its mouth, under its belly, seeking protection and simply latching on for an easy ride. I’m so close I almost feel, like the fish, enveloped in a marine embrace of safety. For those instants when Jesse (Tucek, the other Young Travel Writer winner) and I sneak to the opposite side of the shark to everyone else, time seems to stop. I can almost feel a mermaid tail growing in place of my flippers and I’m just about to channel my inner Ariel and twirl a fork through my hair. It’s the voice of Row, one of the girls on the boat, telling us to stop swimming, that calls me back to reality.

Nothing is muted. Everything is alive.

Giulia Villa was a guest of Australia’s Coral Coast tourism.

FACT FILE

For Ningaloo Reef and Exmouth planning and itineraries, see australiascoralcoast.com.

For the Canon SX60 camera Giulia used: cameraelectronic.com.au and canon.com.au.

For details on whale-shark days with Ningaloo Blue, go to ningalooblue.com.au and 1800 811 338.

Giulia and the Travel team stayed at Novotel Ningaloo Resort. novotelningaloo.com.au and 9949 0000.