CAMPSITE # 123 - A Bay on a pedastool

We're officially in the Tropics!!

Tom’s brother, Will, has already beaten Tom to it. He did the trip around Oz two years ago. When we asked him where his absolute favourite place in the whole of Australia was... the one that stood out the most, the one he dreams about when he’s busy working away slugging it out in cold & rainy old England...

It was, in Will’s words, “without a doubt... Coral Bay”.

What that meant for us was that we now had Coral Bay perched very high on top of a giant pedastool, we had very high expectations of the place. Coral Bay is a small settlement that lies protected from the Indian Ocean by the Ningaloo Reef. It is Australia's only fringing reef (where the reef grows directly from the shoreline). 

Now, for those of you in the South Easterly side of Australia who are busy battling through the wintery months, I should start by pointing out our weather conditions. We were blessed with day after day of premium beach conditions – 26 degress, not a cloud in the sky, just a glorious blue, calm, bloody perfect sky above us. Optimum condition for our very first Coral Bay experience. 

Apparently the water supply into Coral Bay is extremely limited so the town is literally a tourist destination with a very limited number of permanent residents. It’s a very small town, with just your necessity stores and loads of touristy junk to buy. The majority of the town is taken up by its two Caravan Parks. Wanting to ensure we made the most of our Coral Bay experience, we headed straight towards the Caravan Park closest to the bay. We knew things really were going to work in our favour when the lovely, lonely looking grassy patch closest to bay that we eyed off on our way in was... free and just waiting for a Troopie to perch itself on top!!!

Weather – TICK.
Campsite – TICK, TICK.
But what about the beach?

Rather than paying $15each to hire a pair of snorkels for two hours, we went and bought two pairs for $19 each. We then knew we were sorted for any future snorkling that may come our way.

We were set for our first swim in the ocean since... wait for it... Tasmania! How pathetic is that?!

Forget winter, the water temperature was simply divine. As we waded around the corner with our snorkels in hand, I spotted my very first fish through the crystal clear water. It wasn’t just your run of the mill bait fish, oh no, it was an Emperor Something-or-other the size of my forearm. And it was less than a metre away from my feet just calmly passing by without a care in the world. 

We were told that the best spot to snorkel was just 20 metres off the shore around the point. As we made our way to the spot, we were busy observing other swimmings in the water snorkelling away but also drifting at a speed faster than I could swim. Note to self... do not get carried away. Literally.

I really wish I had more photos of Coral Bay and its beauty. But, knowing that we were going to be out in the ocean enjoying the scenery for a long while, we didn't desperately want to take our camera to the beach. Which, if we had, could have easily resulted in no more camera because when we finally returned to our towels all neatly rolled up and left on the sand, we noticed someone had helped themselves through our stuff and were rummaging around to find nothing at all (thank god!!)

At times like these, I desperately wished we had an underwater camera. Some of the fish were an arms length away and totally ok with us being there. It truly was an incredible experience being able to appreciate the beauties of the underwater world.

Will Bill... I’m not sure that I can say that Coral Bay was the best place we’ve been to but you were right... it was absolutely freakin’ awesome!!! Aside from the locusts...
That's not a cloudy haze about those mountains...

Site : Peoples Park Coral Bay
Rating : 11 / 20
Facilities : Much better position than the other park. Well manicured gardens & lawns. Clean & tidy facilties. Very pricey though - $38 for a beachside unpowered site although we could have paid $4 less and had the cheaper site right at the back of the caravan park.