Warroora Via Coral Bay To Exmouth

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Warroora Station via Coral Bay to Exmouth

Again, we have to get up early this morning as another long stint up north is waiting for us. As Christina’s and my room is right next door to the communal kitchen we wake up as the first people from our group start preparing breakfast. I remember that I made the foolish promise to cook pancakes for everyone. Well, this means playing the chef for 15 people… The first problem I come across: The eggs are frozen. *hmpf* That freezer unit on the truck seems to be operating in either one of two modes: Antarctic cold or Australian heat – we experienced that already on the previous days, having fun with frozen cucumbers and tomatoes. Scott has the great idea of melting the eggs in a water bath however the batter does not get as smooth as I want it to. The pancakes work out anyway and everyone seems to like them. Hah, cooking for other people can sometimes be so rewarding – if they are good liars ;-)

After breakfast we hit the track and go further north to make it to Coral Bay. Along the track Scott spots a thorny devil – at last. We already had a couple of u-turns during the trip because of suspected snakes and lizards, which turned out as being either “tyre snakes” or “the wooden western mirage lizard” ;-)

Arriving at Coral Bay, we actually have half the day to spend there, and considering the great beach it is worth it. We quickly hire some snorkelling equipment while some people of our group go for the glass-bottom boat and some of the girls get ready for the quad bike tour. I personally prefer the snorkelling to anything else, as it will be my first time. We head for the beach and Scott gives us a quick introduction to snorkelling including how to duck dive. We head of the beach and after swimming out 20m we can see the first corals and fish. I am very impressed. The corals are not as colourful as in “real” tropical waters, but the marine life is still very impressive. The most striking thing is the fact, that you get so close to everything. A big shoal of fish circles us while we are snorkelling and as soon as you try to dive into them they just open up like a curtain and close immediately after you again – that really makes great visual effects. The interesting thing about the climate at the west coast is, that even though we are already north of the tropic of Capricorn (tropical region) the temperatures are not too high and the area as a whole is much drier than the region on the east coast of Australia (Rockhampton is about the same degree of latitude as Coral Bay – but it is much more humid). I guess this somehow has to do with the fact that a current of cold water runs north along the west coast, is heated up in the tropical regions and runs back south even closer to the west coast. The so called Leeuwin current thereby strongly influences weather along most parts of the west coast, along the south coast and parts of Tasmania ( see

http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=Leeuwinlong

).
After lunch we have a second snorkelling session, but the sea breeze is picking up and the visibility in the water decreases, so we call it a day, spend some more time on the beach and finally leave Coral Bay to drive to Exmouth.

While driving to Exmouth we discuss the question, why we are going to Exmouth at all. Ok, there is one girl on the trip who is staying there to take a dive course but apart from that there is no other reason. At our accommodation we have to work out, where our rooms are. Not too easy a task, when even the hostel staff is not able to find room 101 (“99, 100, 98…” where the f*** is room 101?”). We sort it out eventually and after everyone had a shower we meet again in the bar for having our dinner… The night ends early as most of us are pretty sunkissed, exhausted and tired.

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Photos

Warroora Station
A shot of our bunks.

Warroora Station
The infamous toilet - a stargazers dream *g*

Thorny Devil
Scott did it at last: He found his "(t)horny devil". Considering that we were driving at 60kph along a dusty track, I have to admit that Scott has good eyes.

Coral Bay
Lunch at Coral Bay

Coral Bay
Snorkelling in Coral Bay - some specimens.

Coral Bay
Me, snorkelling.

Coral Bay
A sting ray before it completely hides in the sand.

Comments

[anonymous]

Ach, ....
Was soll man da sagen wenn man diese Bilder sieht!? Das alles auf engl. zu schreiben is mir jetzt nicht genehm drum sag ich: Mann; lass´ja nix aus da aufm Kontinent. Wir halten hier so lang die Stellung!! Yours sincirly (is datt so richtich geschriehm?) PoL - Daniel the Kraut