Week 10 – Karijini National Park to Coral Bay – 1450 kms

Week 10 – Karijini National Park to Coral Bay – 1450 kms

Day 64 was again spent exploring Karijini National Park. This time we headed off to the western side of the park and went on an exhilarating walk in Hancock Gorge. Hancock Gorge was probably the most spectacular gorge walk we have been on, that’s saying a lot as we were starting to feel very Gorged out (just like the Church experience in Europe). The walk started with a steep cliff descent, followed by a ladder to get you to the floor of the gorge. Just a few meters from the bottom of the ladder Octavia came face to face with our first live snake for the holiday, an olive python which was approx 4 foot long. Without a scream but backing away very quickly and with a very shaky voice, she quietly explained what she saw. Once a suitable path was found we all moved loudly past the snake, keeping a very close eye on its movements. The next part of the walk was along the side of the river bed, often requiring our rock climbing skills or alternatively the need to swim through some very cold water. The gorge opened up into a beautiful natural amphitheatre. Next for the adventurous ones there was a spider walk through a very tight section of the gorge into Kermit’s pool, a breathtaking rock pool. For well equipped mountaineers the walk could continue, for us it was too challenging and thus Kermit’s pool marked the end of the trial, After the strenuous morning walk Pete and Fred decided to spend the late afternoon resting whilst the girls and I headed back to Dales Gorge, this time exploring Circular Pool. The national park has a wonderful junior ranger program and thus the children participated in the required activities diligently to ensure that they would earn their Junior Ranger badges, Thankfully, there was success all around and we now have 3 Karijini junior rangers.

Day 65 saw us depart Karijini and start to head towards Exmouth. Given the drive was about 8 hours long, we decided to break the trip at Nanutarra Roadhouse, an interesting experience. The woman working in the restaurant was a true delight, as I witnessed her tell an elderly German tourist as he was having trouble explaining his order, to not mess with her. I suppose living in the middle of nowhere can bring out people’s best qualities. On the way to Nanutarra we detoured to Tom Price and went on an Iron Ore mining tour. Pete was fascinated by the money the train drivers make and thus I can see that if anything anything happens to Geoffrey Thompson’s he will be heading to Tom Price!

Day 66 we left Nanutarra early and completed our journey to Exmouth. After setting up and all feeling quite drained from the 2 days of long driving, we headed to the local beach and swam and snorkeled the afternoon away. The early evening was completed by a visit to the wreck of the SS Mildura, a cattle ship which was wreck in bad weather in the early 1900’s and the lighthouse. We then enjoyed one of our best meals of the holiday, Indian curries prepared by Sri Lankan chef in the local Exmouth pub.

Day 67 was spent exploring Ningaloo Reef from Cape Range National Park. We all enjoyed some great swimming and snorkeling straight off the beach at Turquoise Bay and Oyster Stack, including a very pleasant drift snorkel at Turquoise Bay. Oyster Stack was fantastic, great coral and a wide range of marine life all in under 1.5 metres of water.

Day 68 saw us move off to Coral Bay to explore a different section of the Ningaloo Reef. Coral Bay is a tiny seaside town on the edge of this wonderful reef. We can only hope that Coral Bay can keep its quaint seaside charm in the years to come. Once again we spent the afternoon relaxing by swimming and snorkeling off the beach. There were two highlights to the afternoon the first was participating in the daily feeding of the Spangle Emperor off the beach and the second was once again catching up with the Dagassan family.

Day 69 saw us head off on a Quad Bike snorkeling tour, the children especially Fred think that it is the best thing we have done for the whole trip. The tour involved Pete and I each riding a quad bike with a child as a passenger, the third child went with the guide though sand dunes and along the beach. We stopped at Oyster Bridge and The Lagoon for a snorkel. Oyster Bridge was a great little cove, very protective and only about 2 meters deep with lots of coral and marine life. Fred voted Mum as the safest driver, Dad as a crazy driver and the Guide as a very crazy driver. We were fortunate to be the only ones on the tour and thus we had the beach and the bay to ourselves. The afternoon saw us again snorkel off Coral Bay’s main beach at Bill’s bay and take a stroll to see the Reef Shark at the Shark Sanctuary approximately 1km along thee beach. As the sun was setting on the water, shark spotting was difficult but we did manage to see a number of dark shark shadows in the water and some flying fish.

Day 70 again saw us head off on a tour, this time a boat tour to the outer reef for some more snorkeling and in Pete’s case a scuba dive and the highlight of the tour, swimming with a Manta Ray. Snorkeling on the outer reef was great, lots more colourful and bigger coral and marine life, including 3 reef sharks. Unfortunately the wind was quite strong so the snorkel was spoiled somewhat by a very choppy sea and low visibility. The second part of the tour was the highlight, being in the water whilst a Manta Ray of a wing span of some 6 metres quietly swims below you is quite an experience. Unfortunately the Manta Ray wasn’t in a stay and play mood and thus even with 2 swims we only got visibility of the Manta Ray for about 5 minutes, on well there is always next time. The evening was spent sharing a meal with the Dagassan’s at the local pub, the last time we would be sharing each others company on this trip as we would be heading off in separate directions. The children all played together happily on the pub lawn watching a movie on an outdoor inflatable movie screen, that’s living the dream.