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gemfyre22/3/2011
Last night was very buggy. A couple of big cockroaches had taken up residence in the ablution block and I had ants and these dark crickets on my swag. When I went to unroll the top layer of my swag, I found it was FULL of these darn cricket things. Of course all they did was crawl underneath the bit of cloth, still on my swag, and it took a lot of shaking to get them all out – I found one had hitched a ride when I set up my swag this evening. I also was getting a nosefull of the fish bin on occasion. Not pleasant. It was also a barrel of laughs getting in and out of the swag with my bung knee. Despite all this I slept quite well.
I was on the road a bit later than usual but it didn't matter, Coral Bay was less than 200km away. I stopped in at a few places I didn't look at on the way up – like the wreck of a ship called the Mildura. Not awfully exciting from above the water. Again, the evidence of Cyclone Carlos was around, the steps to the beach ended at a drop of about 1.5 metres instead of a slope of sand.
I stopped at Exmouth for a few supplies and to see if I could get on a glass- bottomed boat tour either this afternoon or tomorrow. I figured with my knee I'd better go the safest route. Yes, I could be on a tour at 2:30 in the afternoon. Brilliant! Off I went.
Seeing as I was taking the tour today, I seriously contemplated only spending one night in Coral Bay. My resolve began to falter as soon as I arrived in the town.
Coral Bay is a town that exists for tourism. I've maybe seen 3 houses down the far end of town. All within walking distance of each other are 2 caravan parks, a resort, a hotel/backpackers, 2 general stores, various speciality stores (mainly souvenirs and diving gear), a couple of bakeries, a few restaurants, various places to book tours, and the beach.
It's beautiful just from the surface. But you just need to go out about 50m and a whole new world emerges beneath. The boat tour was amazing. The only other people on today's tour were a couple from Albany with 2 young girls, one of which fell asleep after managing to fall onto the glass. So many kinds of fish and coral. I found the staghorn to be somewhat boring, because it forms a bit of a monoculture at times, brain, mushroom, cabbage and shelf corals are the prettiest in my opinion. We passed over a “Bombie” the locals call Ayer's Rock. This is a HUGE mound of coral that has formed over thousands of years. It can't have been more than 20cm from the bottom of the boat when we passed over it, but the sides dropped down about 2m and fish were teeming around its base.
After the boat tour it was fish feeding time. A group of Spangled Emperor fish have learned of this free and easy meal and wait around at 3:30 everyday for the handout. A couple of other kinds of fish hang around the edges sometimes, but it's all about the emperors. Elsewhere these would be being caught for dinner tables, but here we're the ones feeding them. It's a marine sanctuary so they are safe from fishermen. I think they are very aware of this fact. You can just sit in the shallow water and let them swim around you. I would have taken photos, but my camera is not waterproof.
After such a satisfying tour I was still tossing up whether to stay another day – and spend most of it just lazing about on the beach and resting my knee - or to move on to Carnarvon. As I wandered along the group of shops near People's Park (the other caravan park, right next to the one I am staying at – Bayview), I had a read of a board describing the tours you could go on. One was a half day 'Eco Tour' that looked interesting. So I asked about it. It involved snorkelling in various places, swimming with Manta Rays (!) and checking out the turtle sanctuary. It's also whale shark season so you may get lucky – even though this was not a tour where they specifically sought out whale sharks. I was sold. Swimming, unlike walking, places no weight on my knee so it's easy and probably a great, gentle exercise for it.
I decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants. The prices are surprisingly good for such a remote spot. For $16 I got 4 slices of really good garlic bread and a bowl of seafood chowder. Yummy.
The caravan park is full of young European tourists in various shades from brown to red to white and all with amazing bodies. I am hearing more Eastern European languages than English. It's someone's birthday, I've heard Happy Birthday being sung loudly twice now. They have to pipe down by 10pm though.
Well, I better go, my battery is about to go flat and it's 9:30 and I have a big day tomorrow.
22/3/2011 (Yardie Creek Homestead, Mildura Wreck, Exmouth, Coral Bay)
Australian Pipit
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Brown Songlark
Crested Pigeon
Eastern Reef Egret
Galah
Lesser Crested Tern
Little Corella
Magpie Lark
Nankeen Kestrel
Pied Butcherbird
Silver Gull
Singing Honeyeater
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow
Yellow-throated Miner
Zebra Finch
See all of today's photos here.
Last night was very buggy. A couple of big cockroaches had taken up residence in the ablution block and I had ants and these dark crickets on my swag. When I went to unroll the top layer of my swag, I found it was FULL of these darn cricket things. Of course all they did was crawl underneath the bit of cloth, still on my swag, and it took a lot of shaking to get them all out – I found one had hitched a ride when I set up my swag this evening. I also was getting a nosefull of the fish bin on occasion. Not pleasant. It was also a barrel of laughs getting in and out of the swag with my bung knee. Despite all this I slept quite well.
I was on the road a bit later than usual but it didn't matter, Coral Bay was less than 200km away. I stopped in at a few places I didn't look at on the way up – like the wreck of a ship called the Mildura. Not awfully exciting from above the water. Again, the evidence of Cyclone Carlos was around, the steps to the beach ended at a drop of about 1.5 metres instead of a slope of sand.
 |
Wreck of the Mildura This cattle ship ran aground in 1907 and sat undisturbed until World War 2 when it was used for bombing practice. It now provides a nursery for reef sharks. |
I stopped at Exmouth for a few supplies and to see if I could get on a glass- bottomed boat tour either this afternoon or tomorrow. I figured with my knee I'd better go the safest route. Yes, I could be on a tour at 2:30 in the afternoon. Brilliant! Off I went.
Seeing as I was taking the tour today, I seriously contemplated only spending one night in Coral Bay. My resolve began to falter as soon as I arrived in the town.
Coral Bay is a town that exists for tourism. I've maybe seen 3 houses down the far end of town. All within walking distance of each other are 2 caravan parks, a resort, a hotel/backpackers, 2 general stores, various speciality stores (mainly souvenirs and diving gear), a couple of bakeries, a few restaurants, various places to book tours, and the beach.
| Coral bay from the glass-bottomed boat I went on the Miss Coral Bay. |
 |
It's beautiful just from the surface. But you just need to go out about 50m and a whole new world emerges beneath. The boat tour was amazing. The only other people on today's tour were a couple from Albany with 2 young girls, one of which fell asleep after managing to fall onto the glass. So many kinds of fish and coral. I found the staghorn to be somewhat boring, because it forms a bit of a monoculture at times, brain, mushroom, cabbage and shelf corals are the prettiest in my opinion. We passed over a “Bombie” the locals call Ayer's Rock. This is a HUGE mound of coral that has formed over thousands of years. It can't have been more than 20cm from the bottom of the boat when we passed over it, but the sides dropped down about 2m and fish were teeming around its base.
 |
Coral! Views through the glass bottom. Heh, you can see the reflection of my hands. |
After the boat tour it was fish feeding time. A group of Spangled Emperor fish have learned of this free and easy meal and wait around at 3:30 everyday for the handout. A couple of other kinds of fish hang around the edges sometimes, but it's all about the emperors. Elsewhere these would be being caught for dinner tables, but here we're the ones feeding them. It's a marine sanctuary so they are safe from fishermen. I think they are very aware of this fact. You can just sit in the shallow water and let them swim around you. I would have taken photos, but my camera is not waterproof.
After such a satisfying tour I was still tossing up whether to stay another day – and spend most of it just lazing about on the beach and resting my knee - or to move on to Carnarvon. As I wandered along the group of shops near People's Park (the other caravan park, right next to the one I am staying at – Bayview), I had a read of a board describing the tours you could go on. One was a half day 'Eco Tour' that looked interesting. So I asked about it. It involved snorkelling in various places, swimming with Manta Rays (!) and checking out the turtle sanctuary. It's also whale shark season so you may get lucky – even though this was not a tour where they specifically sought out whale sharks. I was sold. Swimming, unlike walking, places no weight on my knee so it's easy and probably a great, gentle exercise for it.
I decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants. The prices are surprisingly good for such a remote spot. For $16 I got 4 slices of really good garlic bread and a bowl of seafood chowder. Yummy.
The caravan park is full of young European tourists in various shades from brown to red to white and all with amazing bodies. I am hearing more Eastern European languages than English. It's someone's birthday, I've heard Happy Birthday being sung loudly twice now. They have to pipe down by 10pm though.
Well, I better go, my battery is about to go flat and it's 9:30 and I have a big day tomorrow.
22/3/2011 (Yardie Creek Homestead, Mildura Wreck, Exmouth, Coral Bay)
Australian Pipit
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Brown Songlark
Crested Pigeon
Eastern Reef Egret
Galah
Lesser Crested Tern
Little Corella
Magpie Lark
Nankeen Kestrel
Pied Butcherbird
Silver Gull
Singing Honeyeater
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow
Yellow-throated Miner
Zebra Finch
See all of today's photos here.
