Tom Price to Coral Bay 21/7 to 5/7

Lyndon River Rest Stop

After leaving Karajini we retraced our steps, returning to Tom Price and then travelling onto the Coral Bay area.  On the return trip we once again stopped overnight at the Barradale River Rest Area.  We then headed for the Lyndon River West Rest Stop where we had arranged to meet up with John and Kathie as they were travelling south to meet friends.  On our way we did our bit for the local farmers by killing thousands of kamikaze locusts that came out of nowhere to bounce off both the caravan and the car.  It was quite an eerie feeling as the swarm passed over us for about a kilometre.

After we arrived at the rest stop and set up, a procession of three orange-coloured Chamberlain Champion Tractors, bedecked with flags, and towing off-road Coromal pop top vans, pulled up for lunch.  These three intrepid couples usually drive for fundraising events, however this time they were purely on holiday and were returning (at 50 km an hour...wearing ear muffs and overcoats) from a trip through the wilderness.  They had just returned from Millstream Chichester National Park via a number of non gazetted dirt tracks, and were now ready to return home in the south.

Dinner with John & Kathie

We then met up with John and Kathie who both looked very tanned and relaxed after their six + weeks at the Cape Range National Park.  We shared an evening of good food and drinks and celebrated Kathie’s birthday...was that the 48^th Kathie?  They are now in Denham where they’re catching up with friends who have a holiday home, and they are both hoping that the weather in Shark Bay will be warm and sunny.

Caravan & Warroora Station View - Can you see the whale spouts?

The view from the caravan door

 We then headed northwards to Warroora Station and camped at a wonderful campsite on 14 Mile Beach.  The view from our caravan door is picture postcard material - white sand, turquoise and aquamarine water, Ningaloo Reef in the midrange beyond that the Indian Ocean.  Sitting outside the caravan at happy hour, looking over the Ningaloo Reef and whale watching has certainly been an experience of a lifetime.  

 At low tide we watch the avid octopus hunters walking over the exposed rocks ready to snare their bait for the next day.  For three days we also watched a black mass of bait fish moving up and down the beach being dive bombed by over-enthusiastic birds looking to share in a feast, and also at times this school of bait fish was being herded by a shark. 

Birds Feeding from the School of Bait Fish

Octopus Hunters at Low Tide

Oyster Catcher at Low Tide

While we camped on a ridge that overlooks the beach, there are about thirty sites situated right on the beach itself.  The sandy road to the campsites is very well compacted and of course the beach is only metres away.  Unfortunately all of the beach sites were taken but we managed to find a great spot overlooking the bay.  During our stay we noted that the downside of having a beachside campsite is that they can be subject to flooding during an abnormally high tide and while we were there the campers were busy making moats around their sites in preparation for a 3 metre high tide that was expected to wash over the camping area.

According to a friend’s depth sounder, the water temperature at 14 Mile beach is 28degrees at present and once again we’ve enjoyed swimming and snorkelling.  Swimming at 14 Mile Beach has been great and most days we’ve shared the waters with a few turtles, who were only a few feet away. 

Elles Beach

After speaking with the camp caretaker we were recommended Elles Beach as being a great snorkelling spot.  (Poppy said after we’d been there that it should have been named Ellie’s Beach as he thought it was very ‘special and beautiful’, just like Eloise.)  It was absolutely magical.  At Elles Beach, Ningaloo Reef has branches that reach nearly to the white sand.  We both were amazed at the variety of fish, coral and shellfish in this tiny section of the reef and are now looking forward even more to our trip to Coral Bay and Cape Range National Park where we plan to do lots more snorkelling. Mark went fishing and caught a Charlie Court Cod (named after a previous premier of WA who locals obviously thought had a big mouth).

Donna Snorkelling at Elles Beach

Mark Fishing at Elles Beach

Part of the Track to Elles Beach

 Mark is also getting much more comfortable driving over the rough, corrugated or deep sand tracks in this area. Tom Cruiser has done a wonderful job on the trip so far and is now averaging under 16L per 100 kilometres.  Because we have 4 wheel drive capacity, we’ve found that we are able to visit some out of the way locations that we would otherwise miss.  On one excursion we travelled about 20 km along some narrow sandy tracks to Turtle Beach which houses a large population of turtles.  Sadly on the day we visited we managed to spot only one turtle and we ended up with several photographs of the surrounding seas, but nothing that resembled the shape of a turtle.

The View South from Turtle Beach

During our stay at 14 Mile Beach, we also ran into some not quite so balmy weather.  Gale force winds buffeting the caravan one evening made for a very uneasy night’s sleep.  Luckily all was well with both the car and the van, however we could relate to Jeff & Michele’s stories of stormy weather that can often come out of nowhere in this region.

Mark Returning fromSandy Point

It felt great to also climb back on our trusty (and now quite rusty) bikes and we cycled about 8 km down to Sandy Point.  We packed morning tea and lunch and made a day of this excursion.  When we arrived at Sandy Point we saw several beautiful beaches on both sides of the point, but we also noted the number of midsized fishing boats that the campers had bought with them to these beachside campsites.  Sandy Point has a gentle sloping beach access which makes it perfect for launching these larger boats.  Many boaters took the opportunity to venture outside the Ningaloo Reef so they could fish the many outer reefs.

Sandy Beach Campsites

Wildflowers at Sandy Beach

We’d had a great time at Warroora but it was time to move on.  So we travelled another 15km north to the Coral Bay turnoff, and then west until we reached the town.  However not sure if it can be called that, as it’s really only one street – 2 caravan parks, 1 hotel, 2 grocery shops, a bakery, newsagent/postoffice, and about 6 tour offices.  We had booked the Bayview Caravan Park and it wasn’t until we had booked in and paid our money that we found out that the on-site water provided was bore water.  Drinking water taps are available throughout the park.  (The People’s Park which is next door has town water available to all campsites - much better than the bore water option we faced.)

Coral Bay

 We’d heard that Coral Bay is very touristy, and while that is true, it is a really beautiful spot.  The swimming is wonderful and Mark and I were both surprised that even in the sandy swimming area there are numerous large fish. 

Mark Snorkelling

 

We had our snorkel gear and were swimming with large spangled emperor within minutes. 

Fish Competing for Food

 At 3pm every day they feed fish and the sight of these huge fish virtually jumping out of the water for some fish pellets was quite amazing.

   

Victor & Vanquished

 We also witnessed another sight which could have been in a wildlife documentary.  While lazing on the beach after our snorkel we were quite startled as a skinny sand goanna came rushing down to the water from a tree nearby.  There he stopped and while some tourists said “How cute!” this intrepid lizard attacked a smaller lizard and then quickly made its way back up the beach through the gaggle of tourists and sunbakers, with its prey dangling from its mouth.  The shock on the overseas tourists faces had to be seen to be believed.

At Coral Bay we also booked a  4 hour coastal cruise on a sailing catamaran the ‘Coral Breeze.’  This was quite a memorable day for us.  Wonderful blue skies, warm sunshine and the peace and tranquillity as we sailed along this spectacular coastline were well worth the cost. 

Wonderful Day Sailing

Maud Point

We Swam With Green Turtles Just Like This One!

 We were able to snorkel the colourful coral gardens of the Outer Ningaloo Reef.  The variety of fish and corals was quite amazing.  A highlight was swimming with turtles and a reef shark.  The only downside was that we couldn’t photograph it all for you but instead bought a DVD of images of Coral Bay and have some to share.

Fluorescent Blue Fish Were Everywhere!

Lots of Fish Under and In the Coral

At Times the Coral Platforms Were Thirty Metres Deep