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!