Coral Coast Pt. 2 (16610km)

Shark Bay:

North of Kalbarri lies the Shark Bay world heritage area. Around the Peron peninsula is the Shark Bay marine park with tons of different animals and fish. The landscape on land is boring however, just flat plains of small bushes as far as the eye can see. In fact the drive there is ridiculously uninteresting. The first thing we wanted to do was to go to a place called big lagoon, but it was a 4WD track only and it was getting late so we decided not to go. Instead we visited the old Peron Homestead in the Francois Peron National Park. At the homestead they have an outdoor hot tub. The water comes from a bore around 500 meters deep and at a temperature of 40 degrees C.

As I mentioned it was already afternoon when we arrived so we only had time for one more thing before it was getting dark. (It gets dark at 6PM here on the west coast) On the way to the campsite was a place called Eagle Bluff lookout with a great view of the Shark Bay marine park. The campsite was located right next to the water and was great. We had a great view of the sunset while going to bed. The next morning we got up before the sunrise because we wanted to see the dolphin feeding in Monkey Mia. As we were leaving the campsite I took a wrong turn and ended up on a muddy part of the shore. Of course we got stuck and I had to use 4WD to get out. At that moment I was very happy that I bought a 4WD car.

At ten past seven in the morning we were lined up on the beach with the rest of the people that wanted to see the dolphins of Monkey Mia. Every morning since the early 60s they and their earlier generations have come to the beach to get fed and look at the humans, and just like every other day they arrived this morning as well. The dolphins are wild and get fed a third of their daily intake so that they also maintain their normal hunting abilities. The people watching can stand in the water and look at them but are not allowed to touch or pet them. It was still a great thing to see them come all the way into the shallows to get fish, some with their small baby dolphins swimming behind them. I took a lot of photos while I watched them swim around and play.

We also saw a turtle and a baby sting ray or something that looked similar swimming around near shore. On the beach was a couple of big pelicans that also wanted fish. One of the rangers had to feed them away from the shore so they wouldn't steal the dolphins fish. They were really tame and you could get close to them and make photos. Later that day I saw them sleeping on the beach. They looked funny.

From Monkey Mia (which is basically a information hut, a small resort and the beach) I walked a small trail through the dunes. It took me past a old aboriginal cave, a watering hole for birds, some great lookout spots and on the way back along the beach.

In the afternoon I visited the Ocean Park Aquarium while Annina was relaxing at a place called Little Lagoon. The aquarium turned out to be very nice. It was not like a normal aquarium but instead a guided one. The guide took us from tank to tank and explained about the different fish and animals. They also had three bigger pools with fish, the biggest with sharks. Every creature there could be found in the Shark Bay marine park. The most impressive was of course the sharks. The biggest one they had was a tiger shark. The guide dangled a piece of fish from the edge and the sharks tried to get it. One of them, a lemon shark I think, got a good grip of it and the guide lifted it halfway out of the water! They also had sea snakes, turtles and rays. It was informative and a fun place.

I picked up Annina at the Little Lagoon and for fun we drove half way around it on the sand. The lagoon is almost perfectly round. Apparently the water was super shallow all the way across so it was not that easy to swim. We then started our drive back out of the Peron peninsula and Shark Bay. Along the way was shell beach which as the name suggests was covered in shells. More precisely, the whole beach is only shells forming dunes next to the ocean. The thought of a beach made up of only shells is nice, but sand is still more comfortable when it comes to relaxing by the water. A bit further along the road was a place with ancient stromatolites, a kind of living rock that has survived for billions of years. In fact they were one of the first living things on this planet and in Hamelin Pool is one of the only places where they still live today. I have to admit that looking at them was not that interesting.

Carnarvon

We continued north past Shark Bay to a town called Carnarvon. Here we had to get the car checked at a car garage. It was getting much hotter than normal. It turned out we had a leak in our radiator and it was empty. In Carnarvon I also went and looked at a large satellite dish that was located next to the town. It was built in the 60s by NASA and used among other things during the Apollo space missions. Now it is not used anymore. We also restocked our supplies in Carnarvon before heading north.

In the afternoon we went to a nice camp spot by the beach north of Carnarvon. We wanted to go snorkeling but the waves were to big. Even swimming was risky so we had to stay on the beach and tan instead. Just north of the campsite was a couple of blowholes. A place where the rocks go over the ocean and have holes where the waves gets pushed through with a mighty force creating a fountain up to 20 meters high. We stood there for a while watching and took some nice pictures.

Ningaloo:

We kept on driving north until we arrived at a small holiday village called Coral Bay. It's name comes from the Ningaloo reef that runs along the coast from south of Coral Bay in the south to Exmouth in the north. The Ningaloo reef is one of the most accessible reefs in the world for snorkelers, growing as close as 5-10 meters from shore. Coral Bay is located right next to an amazing beach that stretches around a small bay and just off the shore is the reef. There are almost no waves which makes it ideal for beginner snorkelers and families with kids. It is a wonderful place. We spent two days in Coral Bay snorkeling and getting brown on the beach.

Half a days drive north is Exmouth, a small town also next to the Ningaloo reef. We camped that night at a spot called Thomas Carter Lookout. The road there was steep and narrow and a bit creepy to drive in the dark. The next morning when we drove back down we realised how crazy this road really was. There was steep cliffs on both sides off the road hundreds of meters down into the gorge. We got some amazing views and photo opportunities and were happy we went there.

East of Exmouth is the Cape Range National Park and home to some of the best snorkeling beaches in Australia. Possibly the best one is called Turquoise Bay. As the name suggests the water is turquoise and just off the shore is the Ningaloo reef. There is a spot there where you can do something called drift snorkeling. You swim into the water until you reach the reef, then let the current carry you down along the beach while you watch the scenery below. You then get out again and walk back up the beach for another go. The reef at Turquoise Bay is even better than Coral Bay, with more variety of corals and fish. I saw two octopus's and tons of fish in all imaginable colors, some tiny and others huge. It felt like we had found paradise in the middle of nowhere. With Turquoise Bay the coral coast comes to and end and the great north west begins. The road now takes us inland again and so does our next adventure!