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Published: January 26th 2009
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We were almost out of drinking water in the van but unfortunately we couldn’t fill up at Lighthouse Bay as they had limited drinking water and even the salty shower water came from bore holes. Instead we set off to Coral Bay, another part of the marine park just own the coast, hoping we’d be able to fill up there instead.
On the way we called into town as Matt insisted on buying a silly looking hat with a net attached to keep the flies off. That is the problem about Exmouth - there are hundreds of flies everywhere many of which do their best to get in your nose, ears or mouth despite your best efforts to swipe them away.
While he was in the camping shop I stood outside looking in the estate agents window. For £280,000 we could buy a huge five bed, three bath house with garages and a big swimming pool. Tempting!
As we drove out of town we came up alongside an emu. It looked panic stricken as we slowed down next to it. We’d seen them enough times to know that they have a tendancy to bolt in front of a
car rather than head into the safety of the open bush so we crawled along and waited to see what it’s next move was going to be. We could see it debating about whether to run in front of us but eventually it took the easy way out and jumped the low fence at the side of the road and disappeared from view. A wise escape.
It took us a while to get a safe distance from this one as it really seemed to have a death wish. Eventually after debating about running in front of us it figured out that it could escape much easier by heading into the bush. A wide choice.
The journey was another quiet one with little or no traffic and another long straight road. The landscape was slowly starting to change as we travelled south - the soil was turning more yellow than orange, and the grass became a little greener.
It didn’t take us long to get to Coral Bay. The town was a single street made up campsites and hotels, a couple of shops and sand dunes leading to a beach. We picked a campsite and got ourselves settled
in. As it was past lunch I made a tasty bacon sandwich and we sat outside under a tree with a beer to treat ourselves. It was tempting to have an afternoon nap as the sun was high and it was hot, but instead we got our beach bags together and headed to the sand.
The pathway lead us to a wide bay of white sand, with a stunning aqua lagoon. Initially the water was so shallow you could wade out to your knees for at least 100m, then you could see the deeper blue as the sand suddenly dipped deeper. A bit father out the water became darker still as the depth increased even more. Around the crescent of sand there were a few pergolas to provide some basic shade, and as we walked along we were lucky enough to arrive at one just as its previous occupants were leaving.
I had to go straight into the lagoon as it looked too inviting. The shallow water was lovely and warm, but as I stepped further out it became cold again with thermaclimes running through it. I braced myself as I came to the line where it became
deeper and colder still, and jumped in for a swim.
There were about fifty people on the beach and it was a large bay that could take it without feeling overcrowded. I drifted back into the shallows and then lay in the water enjoying the feeling of the cool water and the warm sun. Eventually I got out and took the camera on a walk to capture some images of the day.
I’d just joined Matt for a sunbathe when he shouted and pointed at the bag by my head. I jumped up in time to see something small dash into the opening of the bag. I thought for a second that it was a small gecko but it turned out to be a weird, fast moving centipede. Matt laughed at me as I hesitantly emptied the bag item by item looking for it, only to find that it wasn’t there after all and had found it’s way underneath my towel instead. I shooed it away - it ran too quickly for me to get a photo.
Matt went for a snorkel and I settled down to read my book. He was gone for ages so I
thought he must have found something good to look at. When I spotted his luminous snorkel bobbing towards the beach I waded into the water to join him. As we met in the shallows we saw a blue spotted stingray swim by. We followed him for a bit on foot as Matt told me about his snorkelling experience - the coral was all dead and the reason he‘d been gone for so long was because he had been trying to find some that was alive.
Disappointed that such a beautiful place had been destroyed probably by tourists, we went back to the campsite to do some chores. Afterwards as it was late we treated ourselves to a take away meal from the on site café.
We sat outside until it got too dark to see our beers on the table in front of us.
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