Coral Bay

Denham – Carnarvon:  3 July [330 km]

The sun returned this morning and we were on the road quite early to drive through to Carnarvon.  The conditions were excellent and we made good time, stopping at a nice little road house at Worramel for morning tea.  Needless to say, the country through which we drove was flat and generally the vegetation was low and scrubby.  There were lots of goats grazing along the road on grass which has grown following all the recent rain.  The temperature has been increasing day by day and it reached 26 degrees by the time we reached Carnarvon.  This is a great winter!

Carnarvon is quite a pretty little town located where the Gascoyne River meets the Indian Ocean (although there is no water flowing in the river at this time of year).  After a lovely lunch of fish and chips from Westcoast Fish & Chips (recommended by Lonely Planet), we drove out to the site of the long jetty.  With a bit of a breeze blowing and the sun shining, we set off to walk the mile to the end of the jetty:  the planks need some care as they are in various stages of repair but the walk was well worth it and then we walked back again – beating the small train that runs along the jetty!

We visited some plantations around the Gascoyne River and bought a good supply of high quality vegetables.  We then stocked up on supplies for our stay in Coral Bay before booking in to the Wintersun Caravan Park and relaxing for the evening.

Carnarvon – Coral Bay:  4 July [336 km]

[Note that this day included a round trip of 100 km into Point Quobba]

On a glorious morning, we made an early start so that we could drive into Point Quobba to see the blowholes. 

 

As the weather has been relatively calm for some days, however, the blowholes were not performing at all.  Nevertheless, the coastline itself was interesting with smaller but still steep and rugged cliffs reaching north and south.  We had morning tea at the beaut Minilya Bridge Roadhouse and then turned off onto the road to Coral Bay. 

What a lovely sight when we reached Coral Bay:  the sun was shining brightly (26 degrees!), the sea was a sparkling green/blue with lots of people swimming, snorkelling and paddling and others just lazing around in the sun.  It’s what you do in Coral Bay and it’s such a hard life.  Not far off shore, you can see Ningaloo Reef.  This Reef has formed along nearly 300 kilometres of coastline and in some places it is only a few metres off the shore.  The Reef contains many varieties of coral, hundreds of types of fish, four species of turtle, five species of whale and many rays.

After we had lunch, we walked around the beach and watched a dolphin quietly swim right along the beachfront through people snorkelling and swimming.  What a beautiful sight.  We booked into our well-appointed cabin and then had our first swim and snorkel at Coral Bay.  The water was superb – clear and almost warm.  This was a great way to end our first day in this little bit of paradise.

 

We also did something special today:  we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn again.  This means that we have crossed this Tropic on the east coast at Rockhampton, in central Australia at Longreach and north of Alice Springs and now on the west coast just south of Coral Bay.  (Question:  What is the significance of the Tropic of Capricorn and are there any other Tropics?)

Coral Bay:  5 July

Another cloudless day in this small part of paradise:  and the temperature went as high as 25 degrees.  We simply relaxed with a combination of snorkelling, walking, eating and just doing nothing.  Our argument is that someone has got to do these things:  at this time, it is up to us!  These activities are what most people around here are doing – except for those who want to go fishing.  Our first proper snorkel onto the reef was off the beach at Coral Bay:  what a wonderful experience.  Even being so close to the beach, it was stunning to look down on a myriad of fish and types of coral.  The fish were of many shapes and colours.  Some of the most dazzling were a number of very small bright blue fish.  We now look forward to more snorkelling further north on Ningaloo Reef. Oh – and guess what we had for dinner?  Fish and chips again.  We are certainly doing what we can to support the local fishing industry wherever we are on our trip.