Day 86

27 April 2013

Unfortunately we haven't been able to get in contact with the guy who was meant to be buying the boat. We assume he has gone away for school holidays but we have even asked around to see if anyone knows them but haven't found anyone. We rang them about 100 times while we were here so we tried.

We were off to Coral Bay today which homes the Ningaloo Reef and we were excited. It is about 190km from Carnarvon so not too bad of a drive. We did run into a lot of wildlife on the way up there....emus are scary! You just never know which way they want to go so slow right down to let them figure it out! Their head goes one way and their body goes another, I'm not sure there is much going on up there in their little head!

Anyway made it safely to Coral Bay, there is a small little town with a backpackers and a couple of shops when you first drive in and then further towards the reef are two caravan parks and the ningaloo reef resort. We got to the first park and there was a line up of about 10 cars and vans waiting to get in! We were a bit worried that maybe we should have booked after all! Went to the next park and while it looked busy, we went in and asked if they had anything free. They did and it was right on the water! Of course you pay for it at $42 a night but it is stunning here so it's worth it. And there's nowhere cheaper!

Setup, had some lunch and then headed to the beach. We had bought a snorkel to share but after we both had a go we decided that we needed to buy another one! Reef is amazing! The beach is really flat so for about 50m the water is just ankle deep, so you have to walk out to the deeper part where the reef is. Then it drops off and there is a whole underworld to discover! Fish are in abundance here, this area is a sanctuary zone so no fishing can be done here and it's almost like the fish know to come here! So many different types of fish, big, small and the coral is amazing, hence the name coral bay. You can float for a while and see so many different things in a short period of time! Unfortunately the camera doesn't capture the amazing array of colours that you see...

At 3.30 each afternoon they do fish feeding on the beach here. They tell you a bit about the fish and then hand you pellets which you throw into the water and the fish come and swim through ya legs and round you to get the pellets. It's pretty incredible actually, they are big fish too, spangled emperors. Well worth a look, there was a lot of people there but the fish will come to wherever the pellets are so can just spread out along the beach. Was like monkey Mia except with fish! Haha

Decided to book a tour on a glass bottom boat here for tomorrow! They swim with whale sharks here too but it's like $400 pp and that is just a bit much for us atm so will have to go on the bucket list!

Did a bit more relaxing on the beach, soaked up the sun, beautiful days here, hot but not too hot. Oh and the water here is warm, like bath water almost! Perfect spot for a holiday!! And this is proven in all the families that are here for school holidays!

Spent afternoon relaxing and watching the sun go down...

Carly & Joel

 

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