Behind the Scenes: Filming Ningaloo’s Nursery

“THERE ARE EXPERIENCES THAT SHIFT YOUR PERSPECTIVE. NINGALOO’S NURSERY WAS ONE OF THEM.”

Months before we began filming, the concept for the final chapter of our Now You See Me series had already taken shape. At first, it was a story of scale and spectacle; whale sharks, manta rays, pristine coral reefs. But the more we listened, the more urgent the story became.

Our filmmaker, Alice Wesley-Smith, and I spoke with scientists and conservationists who explained the interdependence of three ecosystems: Ningaloo Reef, Cape Range, and Exmouth Gulf. What stayed with me wasn’t just what had been protected, but what hadn’t. Exmouth Gulf, often referred to as Ningaloo’s nursery for its critical role in early marine life stages, remains outside the World Heritage boundaries.

When we landed in Exmouth, the heat was immediate and intense. We arrived after a cyclone, in the middle of a historic marine heatwave and a mass coral bleaching event. The damage was clear. But so was the opportunity: to shine a light on a place that urgently needs protection.

NINGALOO REEF

Filming in remote locations always comes with its own set of challenges; equipment, logistics, finding the wildlife, dealing with weather. And that's all before you even get wet.

“UNDERWATER, NINGALOO IS HYPNOTIC. IT’S ONE OF THE MOST BIODIVERSE PLACES I’VE EVER SEEN...”

Kaleidoscopic coral gardens, an abundance of fish weaving through reefs, and that rare sense of being a visitor in someone else’s world.

But not everything was as it should be. The coral bleaching was even more devastating than we’d expected. So much so that on a couple of dives we just couldn’t stay underwater any longer, it was too heartbreaking to witness.

Still, there were moments that left me speechless. A manta ray swam beside me, mirroring my movements for what felt like minutes. Later, swimming alongside whale sharks was humbling. And exhausting. Even when they glide, they move faster than you think.

THE GULF

To the east, the Gulf is quieter. Less photographed. But ecologically, just as important.

The palette changed, deeper greens, silty browns, thick mangrove roots. Our drone followed the winding channels of the wetlands. We waded through knee-deep shallows, tracking shovelnose rays in seagrass beds. We snorkelled through mangroves, trying not to stir the bottom and cloud the frame, holding our breath, waiting for stillness.

CAPE RANGE 

Rising between reef and gulf, the Cape Range is the spine of the peninsula. On our first morning, we woke before dawn to visit Charles Knife Canyon for sunrise. We drove through the pitch black and parked alongside a steep gorge. As the sun came up over the horizon, we caught our first glimpse of the incredible scale of this place and raced to capture the glow of first light before the sun climbed too high.

At Yardie Creek, on our last night, we hiked through fossil beds etched with coral from millions of years ago. Rock wallabies watched us from the cliffs. The past felt close here.

As we packed up our cameras for the final time and looked out towards the reef, I felt the weight of what we’d witnessed. Ningaloo’s Nursery is exactly that, a cradle of life. It’s where humpbacks return to raise their calves, where endangered sawfish still slip through the estuaries, where coral, mangrove, and mountain all converge.

And yet, it’s not protected.

“DESPITE EVERYTHING WE KNOW; THE SCIENCE, THE CULTURAL VALUE, THE IRREPLACEABLE BIODIVERSITY. EXMOUTH GULT IS STILL VULNERABLE...”

To dredging, to development, to pollution. We saw firsthand what’s at stake. We felt it in the heat of the water and in the silence of dying coral.

Over five films, Now You See Me has taken us across Australia’s coastlines, from southern kelp forests to tropical reefs. Each film has revealed what’s at risk. This final chapter is a call to action.

If you do one thing for our oceans today, make it count. Sign our petition to strengthen Australia’s nature laws. Because places like this can’t speak for themselves. But we can.