Ningaloo and the Coral Coast

Heading North.  This is flat, seemingly featureless, land, grey saltbush and windswept straggly trees ... but it is also hauntingly beautiful.  But there was no delaying my trip to ooh and ahhh, I was on a mission ... as were hoards of grey nomads, holiday makers and attractive, bronzed European backpackers.  It was busy!  So busy that I'd had to book ahead and even then, there are places that I just can't get into, due to the double whammy of NT and WA school holidays starting.  And, to make matters worse, I've reached a stretch of the coastline where there are virtually no free camps.  

Useless Loop Road takes you to Useless Loop, another place that is rather well named!

Everyone knows about Monkey Mia, and it will be no surprise to you that everyone goes there.  The campground was booked out so I stayed in Denham.  As I drove along the road, the beaches became whiter, the sea more brilliantly turquoise and the 1080 signs more frequent.  The coastline is nearly all national park ... no dogs, lots of baits ... so Maggie and I explored the town where we discovered a lovely off-lead park (with grass!) and a pleasant walk along the foreshore.

Red rocks, white sands and striped waters

There were a few buildings in Denham constructed from bricks made of shells

Let's talk about Monkey Mia.  I was SO disenchanted with the whole experience.  I don't understand why my National Parks Pass didn't count and I had to pay $10 to go and stand on a beach with another 150 people to see the 'wild' dolphins, that somehow know to come at 7:45am to get fed fish.  Wild, my foot!  And if you miss that feeding, there's another one at 10am so why not go and buy things in the Parks shop or eat something in the over-priced resort cafe.  I've swum with pods of dolphins in Vanuatu, watched them dance in the surf and cheered them on as they raced the boat I was on.  Did I need to see these tamed travesties?  No.  It's probably a thrill for some but I was quite angry at the exploitation of these animals and the role that the National Parks have in it.  OK, rant over!

It's interesting to note what this area deems important to the tourist and what is basically ignored.  Leaving Denham, on my way to Carnarvon, there was a sign for a lookout.  Now, I'm a sucker for a good lookout so up we went and ... OMG! it was an asteroid impact crater!  I'd wondered about the old sand dunes that I'd been passing.  Sand dunes?  No, they were the ripples of earth from the impact of a 6 to 12 km wide asteroid, 360 million years ago.  It's the fourth largest impact crater in the world!  And it was fascinating ... but who would know it was there?

I had a couple of days in Carnarvon, marking time before I could go to Coral Bay.  Carnarvon is a rather lovely place, full of market gardens.  So the van is now full of ruby grapefruit and other fruit and vegetables.  Maggie enjoyed walking over to Babbage Island and swimming in the beautiful clear waters.  I was also happy that she was swimming since the bore water she's been drinking has given her terrible diarrhoea - not very pleasant when you're sharing a small space like Van Morrison!  I visited the Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Gwoonwardu Mia, which has an excellent interpretive exhibition.  Really interesting and beautifully presented, with elders telling there stories through film. 

The footbridge over to Maggie's island paradise

Finally it was time to go to Coral Bay.  This was it!  I was booked in on a whale shark snorkel tour and was starting to get very excited.  

There's been rain in this area and I kept seeing water next to the road, even driving through one flooded floodway.

I told you it had been wet!  Mind you, I think this is being a bit pretentious ... look at me, look at me!

Sunrise at Coral Bay

The campground was full!  Packed like sardines!

My full day Whale Shark tour was great!  Although the whale shark was elusive, it was a day jammed-packed with fabulous snorkelling over the inner and outer reefs, lots of amazing wildlife, and a very efficient boat and crew.  They have a plane up in the air to spot the sharks, so when it seemed that we were out of luck, they found us whales and then manta rays.  These were incredible - I was lucky enough to be by myself (and with the photographer), suspended above a female as she rolled and looped while feeding.  A dugong and her calf swam around the boat and humpbacks breached beyond the outer reef.  By the time we finished, I was really tired and very satisfied.

We saw quite a few different sharks 

My manta ray - it was feeding in the shallows so the water was quite clear

These fish (mackeral?) were swimming in a circle around me

A catfish doing what catfish do

Me, hovering above my manta ray and trying to avoid my fellow snorkellers

We saw a lot of turtles - the coral here is brown with the occasional flash of colour

Probably my favourite photo

The coral might have been brown but the fish were very colourful

The dugong and calf - I remember swimming with one in Vanuatu and being unpleasantly surprised at the spiky hairs that cover the animals, like a 5 o'clock shadow.

Leaving Coral Bay, my next stop was Exmouth, where I had the van booked in for a service.  But I wasn't staying there, instead heading to Bullara Station where I was booked in for four nights.  This is where Mark and Sharyn Howlett are working and it was fabulous catching up with them.  We have eaten fantastic food, talked a lot and had a wow of a time ... well, I have!  They've had to work!

Going to the beach, WA-style, Exmouth town beach 

Maggie and I waiting for the van to be serviced in Exmouth ... a toastie and coffee at Mutts Cafe (dog-friendly in case you hadn't realised)

Maggie and me at Vlamingh Head Lighthouse

These 'rocks' are sandbags, left over from the war!

Rain!

The road between Bullara and Exmouth is speckled with termite mounds.  I'm not sure the termites would be happy with this makeover!

Mark and Sharyn had booked us into The Table, a fine dining experience where there is a set menu and the food is divine!  We had pit-fired grass-fed sirloin, cauliflower cheese, onion rings, green beans with pepper gravy.  Dessert was Bullara's burnt station cheesecake with pineapple and mango.  I honestly have to say that it was the best cheesecake I have ever eaten.  And the meat was so flavoursome and tender.  It was the best food of this entire trip!

That cheesecake ... to die for!

We had such a great evening and the food was superb ... the only downside was that Sharyn had lost her sense of taste due to a bout of Covid, but she said the textures were lovely!

A beautiful mural near the woolshed cafe

Rueben sandwiches and the famous Bullara scones

Red-backed kingfisher

Bee-eater

Tonight is my last night at Bullara before I head off into the great unknown.  I tried to go to Karjini but it is booked out, as is Tom Price, so I'll save that for another time.  Tonight, Mark, Sharyn and I are going to Bullara's (also famous) burger night, a fitting end for a fab four days!

The Pinnacles, Kalbarri & Inbetween

We (Phill, Liz, Maggie and me) had planned to meet up at a farmstay on Nambung Station, which is near Cervantes.  It was still raining off and on, all grey gloomy skies but not really that cold.  I swung through Cervantes on my way to the farmstay ... and was seriously unimpressed.  Apart from some awful coffee, there was nothing much there.  The stromatolites were a great disappointment and looked nothing like the impressive pictures in the tourist brochure ... a few vaguely circular blobs, half covered with sand and submerged under murky water.  Hmmm ... I think there's been some serious spin going on here!

We went to the Lobster Shack (along with every Asian tourist in the area) but left again ... another merchandising success

The roads around here were lined with beautiful vibrant orange banksias

The stromatolites ... see what I mean?!

I am blessed with a very well behaved, biddable and patient border collie.  It probably helps that she's starting to feel her age (nearly her birthday, folks!) and that she LOVES the van.  So when we decided to go and see the pinnacles (NO dogs allowed), she was 'happy' for me to lock her in the van and leave her for four hours.  We drove to the National Park and didn't stop saying wow! or stop! or look! for the next few hours.

I was fascinated that there is still debate about why and how (apart from erosion) these pillars were formed.

Also interesting were the bands of different terrains

Phill and Liz

Small, squat, tall and curved, some with holes, some with the vestiges of roots (?) 

The twelve kilometre stretch of dirt road that Van Morrison had to cover before reaching the highway was a lovely challenge.  We felt like we were real off-roaders (as much as a 2WD van on a well graded road can feel) and I was proud of the orange mud covering the van ... until it rained and it all washed away.

We had decided to head to Geraldton.  There were things there to see and I was hoping that it would become fine as we traveled north.  After Geraldton, Phill and Liz would be starting the long trek home ... and Maggie and I would be on our own again.  I was going to miss them a lot.  We got to our caravan park.  It was wet.  Set up camp and it got wetter.  

A fascinating map, showing the inundation of Geraldton it they have a once in 100 year tidal event.

Geraldton ... at night ... in the rain ... it's actually lovelier than if the weather was good.  This is at the memorial to HMAS Sydney II 

The lighthouse at Point Moore, near our caravan park

But the wet weather couldn't last forever and we had a delightful day looking at the sights, going for walks (Liz and I) or visiting museums (Phill).

The St Francis Xavier Cathedral was a delight, with its bold striped interior

The Big Marble - I couldn't resist sitting Maggie so that I have a picture of her upside down.  Its other name is Horizon (for fairly obvious reasons) and it contains a massive 1800 litres of water!

This is the Donor Awareness Fountain - it was quite fascinating as it moved (rolled) in its cradle.  These delightful children made it stop rolling, changed its direction and were reluctant to get out of Liz's photo.  Small tantrum.  We left.

On our last evening, we decided to go out for dinner.  The ladies in the office had recommended a pub.  It DID have these gorgeous tiles on the tables (Andy Warhol tiles! I want some!) but otherwise it didn't have a lot going for it.  We changed venues, had a lovely meal and a good bottle of red (not on offer at the pub) and now it's goodbye!

Waving goodbye to Phill and Liz the next morning, I was again impressed with how easily we fitted into each others travel plans.  Ah well, there's plenty more to explore and we will travel together again, I'm sure!  I was off to Kalbarri.  I'd managed to snaffle the last site at the caravan park (there are very few free camps in this area and even less that allow dogs) AND had booked Lynette, the dog sitter.  On a roll, Anthea!  On the way to Kalbarri, I passed the famous pink-hued Hutt Lagoon.  OK, I know it's a bit underwhelming but it's the pinkist pink lake I've seen this trip!

The Lynton Convict Depot

Lynette, the dog sitter, is a legend!  I was happy to leave Maggie to be spoiled rotten as I explored Kalbarri National Park.  The first day, I headed inland, through vast plains of scrubby banksia and grass trees.  Before I reached the huge red gorges of the Murchison River.  Impressive and beautiful  

Nature's window - took me a while to wait for this photo since a family of bloggers were busy doing all the poses (including some that involved hanging their 3 year old from rock ledges ... "come on, you can hang on for a bit for mummy to take your photo")

And then there were the sunsets.  They have been glorious every night.  

My second day (Maggie ran back to see Lynette ... she has a cat) of wandering in Kalbarri, I went to all the clifftop places, doing a few walks (hot and sweaty! Yay!) and marvelling at the different stone formations.

Sandplains Woody Pear

Diplolaena

Many sections were burnt, although the grasstrees were remarkably resilient

Burnt and dead banksia ... not so resilient ... however, scattered all around the trunk were little seedlings emerging.  So perhaps very resilient afterall!

Warrine (Dioscorea hastifolia) otherwise known as the Native Yam, an important Noongar bush food.

And here's some photos from the coast of Kalbarri ...

What a wonderful place!  I'm off tomorrow ... fingers crossed since it has rained A LOT up north and there are flood warnings for where I want to go.  Watch this space!