Tim Winton on a wild life in Ningaloo, where the desert meets the sea - in pictures

Twenty years ago, it was so obscure you couldn't refer to the place without maps and graphics. These days, thanks to an historic campaign to save it from inappropriate development, many know Ningaloo as a coral reef in remote north-western Australia - an ecosystem distinguished by remoteness, astounding megafauna and healthy corals. In short, a world heritage-listed reef in the middle of dusty nowhere. Where folks go to swim with a whale shark or a humpback whale. But, for those better acquainted, Ningaloo is more than just a coral reef - it's a region. And a lifestyle. For most locals, it's a life choice as well. There's only one town in the whole shire and you'll find it 1,300km north of Perth, perched near the end of a vast peninsula that seems inclined to peel free from the rest of the continent. Exmouth isn't a place you stumble into on the way to somewhere else; you were either determined to get there, or once you arrive you realise you've taken one hell of a wrong turn.This is a place that attracts the curious and retains the hardy. The people who call it home are a peculiar mix from all over the world - tradies, ecotour operators, rangers, new-fangled entrepreneurs - and to some degree they all become a little bent out of shape. By the heat, the isolation and the singular beauty of a desert-maritime landscape. With so few places like Ningaloo left anywhere on Earth, its people stick around for what nature can still provide the adventurous spirit - a wild life where the desert meets the sea.o Tim Winton: I'm face to face with Ningaloo's living miracles and it feels holy Continue reading...