The Coral Coast
Finally after driving through the Outback we arrived on the west coast, or Coral Coast as it is called. We spent nearly a week driving from Ningaloo Reef to Perth…
Ningaloo Reef
Ningaloo is the world’s second biggest reef and the only other living organism viewable from space (other than the great barrier reef, which we have visited quite a few times) and it is the reason we were taking this trip in the first place. June is prime whale shark season…the largest fish in the sea. That’s right, whales are actually mammals and not fish. The whale shark is really shark and named after a whale because if averages 5-18 meters!!! That’s the size of a bus. So we arrived in Exmouth, the first small town (very small and not at all tourist friendly) and stayed a night in the 5 star Novotel after our outback days and the horrific rains hitting the region…Katie was in pure heaven. There is a national park that lines the beach and we hit up torquois bay and a few other spectacular beaches with reef literally 30 meters from shore for some great snorkelling and then spent the evenings watching the sun set over the ocean. The water was warm as bath water, turquoise as turquoise can be, and crystal clear.
Of course we didn’t leave Ningaloo, without the main purpose of our visit…swimming with the whale shark. We had the best luck and swam with them all day until we were board silly. Some were fast and hard to keep up with. The ones we saw were small and ranged from 4-6 metres but all were huge in comparison to us! This is the part of the trip that Jared was in heaven.
We then spent a few nights in coral bay, a small camping resort town, with time for more torqouis beaches and sunsets and a day of diving in the reef. We spotted tiger sharks from the boat and then we dove with grey nurse sharks, giant sea turtles, rays as big as us, beautiful fishes, and coral that appeared to be a thousand years old…it was like swimming in a canyon of ancient ruins.
We didn’t leave the region without a stop to the local fish market with fresh prawns, fish and even lobster for $14. We stocked up for a few days and ate like kings!
Monkey Mia
Monkey Mia was our next major destination. We arrived in time to watch the sunset with a few lucky dolphins popping up in the foreground. Then we got up early the next day to feed them in the morning. Crowds were thick at the first feeding but we grabbed a coffee and waited for the second feeding when we could get a chance to feed them as well. The dolphins are so used to it and swim right up to the beach right under your feet. There was even a baby there that day.
Then we booked an afternoon cruise to see more dolphins and dugongs. Dugongs (aka sea cows) are very shy and very hard to see…very different from dolphins who are curious and swim right up to the boat. The cruise also included a tour of the local pearl farm which was quite interesting. Pearling is one of Australia’s most well known gems and western occupations along with mining.
Cervantes
Unfortunately, our trip to Cervantes was overshadowed by the rainy and miserably cold weather (too cold for camping and our last night in the tent before we packed it up in exchange for some proper shelter). The Cervantes National Park is home to the Pinnacles which are other-wordly. The landscape is strange and feels like you have just landed on the moon…orange sand and pinnacle-like sand structures taller than us.
Ningaloo Reef
Ningaloo is the world’s second biggest reef and the only other living organism viewable from space (other than the great barrier reef, which we have visited quite a few times) and it is the reason we were taking this trip in the first place. June is prime whale shark season…the largest fish in the sea. That’s right, whales are actually mammals and not fish. The whale shark is really shark and named after a whale because if averages 5-18 meters!!! That’s the size of a bus. So we arrived in Exmouth, the first small town (very small and not at all tourist friendly) and stayed a night in the 5 star Novotel after our outback days and the horrific rains hitting the region…Katie was in pure heaven. There is a national park that lines the beach and we hit up torquois bay and a few other spectacular beaches with reef literally 30 meters from shore for some great snorkelling and then spent the evenings watching the sun set over the ocean. The water was warm as bath water, turquoise as turquoise can be, and crystal clear.
Of course we didn’t leave Ningaloo, without the main purpose of our visit…swimming with the whale shark. We had the best luck and swam with them all day until we were board silly. Some were fast and hard to keep up with. The ones we saw were small and ranged from 4-6 metres but all were huge in comparison to us! This is the part of the trip that Jared was in heaven.
We then spent a few nights in coral bay, a small camping resort town, with time for more torqouis beaches and sunsets and a day of diving in the reef. We spotted tiger sharks from the boat and then we dove with grey nurse sharks, giant sea turtles, rays as big as us, beautiful fishes, and coral that appeared to be a thousand years old…it was like swimming in a canyon of ancient ruins.
We didn’t leave the region without a stop to the local fish market with fresh prawns, fish and even lobster for $14. We stocked up for a few days and ate like kings!
Monkey Mia
Monkey Mia was our next major destination. We arrived in time to watch the sunset with a few lucky dolphins popping up in the foreground. Then we got up early the next day to feed them in the morning. Crowds were thick at the first feeding but we grabbed a coffee and waited for the second feeding when we could get a chance to feed them as well. The dolphins are so used to it and swim right up to the beach right under your feet. There was even a baby there that day.
Then we booked an afternoon cruise to see more dolphins and dugongs. Dugongs (aka sea cows) are very shy and very hard to see…very different from dolphins who are curious and swim right up to the boat. The cruise also included a tour of the local pearl farm which was quite interesting. Pearling is one of Australia’s most well known gems and western occupations along with mining.
Cervantes
Unfortunately, our trip to Cervantes was overshadowed by the rainy and miserably cold weather (too cold for camping and our last night in the tent before we packed it up in exchange for some proper shelter). The Cervantes National Park is home to the Pinnacles which are other-wordly. The landscape is strange and feels like you have just landed on the moon…orange sand and pinnacle-like sand structures taller than us.
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