Australia - West Coast - Monkey Mia to Coral Bay

---

THE WEST COAST continued

Saturday 29 May - Denham to Monkey Mia and Coral Bay
We were up at 6.30 after 2 hours sleep (it's safe to saw I wasn't really feeling 100%!) and left at 7 for a quick drive to Monkey Mia (we should have just stayed there last night!). There were Kangaroos all over the place and one Emu crossing the road who was so slow he was asking to be run over (of course, we didn't). We arrived in time for the 1st feeding and there were a lot of people. We weren’t allowed on the beach until they said and only allowed in the water until they started feeding; bit different to last night. It was nice to see the Dolphins up close but so staged. It was interesting as we learned about the Dolphins; they've been coming there to feed for nearly 40 years, started off with them coming after the fishermen’s scraps. Now they only feed 5 mature dolphins who have already had a baby so are capable of fending for themselves. I have mixed feelings about it all, the locals say the Dolphins are "f*cked up" because they can't feed themselves but I don't know enough about it all. We certainly saw them feeding for themselves last night. We didn't watch the second or third feedings, concentrated on breakfast, but did see the Pelicans which are HUGE HUGE things. If you do go to Monkey Mia, stay after the 1st feeding as most people leave then so it's a lot quieter. It is a beautiful place though, lovely white sand and clear blue sea. The highlight for me was bumping into Kiwi Graham! I also found after looking through my pictures that he just wandered into another as well, hoped to see him again to show him (I did see him again in Coral Bay)!
We had a long drive ahead of us to Coral Bay. Not much happened. We stopped in Carnarvon for supplies and crossed the Gasgoigne River on the way out which is very deep and wide but completely empty of water. Apparently there is a constant flow underground. The road to Coral Bay from Carnarvon really was the Road To Hell for Kangaroos; there were hundreds of them dead on the side of the road and I am not exaggerating. We saw a few feral cats crossing the road too, strange to see them out in the desert. And a cow, that stood there, in the middle of the road, so we had to stop and wait until it deigned to move on. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and it immediately felt warmer once we were back in the Tropics 😉 We got into Coral Bay at 6ish and had a 2 minute drive round so Jenny could show us where everything was. There is not a lot there at all, in 2 minutes we covered the whole town. It's a really small tourist holiday resort, on the Ningaloo Reef which is supposed to have more amazing coral than the Great Barrier Reef, it's just not as big or famous. We got checked in then had takeaway pizza, which was nice, well at least Andrea’s was. They gave me completely the wrong one (olives and anchovies on it) and as I can't stand anchovies Andrea very kindly swapped her lovely vegetable one with mine (we later learned that a standard Margherita there is a Reef Margherita, which comes with anchovies and olives, they don‘t tell you that there, a lot of people had the same trouble, good job I wasn‘t allergic to fish). We were so tired we went to bed early; whilst we were leaving there was a lot of noise and I was nominated to go and have a look to see what it was as I was closest to the door and went out to see a naked man being thrown in the pool! It could be an interesting few days......!

Sunday 30 May - Coral Bay
We were up at a reasonable time, had brekkie, got ready for snorkelling later and went for a wander around town. It took all of 10 minutes. The sea is beautiful, and the sand clean and white, although not much of a beach at the time as the tide was in. We had a look in the shops and sat in sunchairs by the pool; it's a hard life. After lunch we had kayaking, which we expected to be very interesting after our recent canoeing experience!!! We got to the 'shack' on the beach and were given flippers and masks and wetsuits, which were actually quite nice ones. Andrea and I were together again, she’s brave! We got going really well although it was hard work as we were paddling against the current and there was quite a swell. We got out to where the waves were breaking on the reef (they told us that luckily most of the big sharks stay out of the reef., note that I said “most“) and then secured the kayaks and got out for a snorkel. As soon as I got in the water I panicked as I couldn't breathe properly but managed to calm down and properly snorkel. It was so so beautiful, the coral was really clean and the fish - there were SOOOO many of them. All different types and sizes and colours and shapes. We saw BIG snapper, big black ones, brightly coloured tiny ones, little shoals, so so many different things (luckily we had a DVD of photos included so have some good pictures). It was amazing. I can see why they say it's better than the Great Barrier Reef, for me it was better than the Red Sea too but then I was only in there for a little while as I was a bit poorly at the time. After 20 minutes or so of snorkelling we got back into the Kayaks (which is much easier said than done, Mario had to hold the other side of the Kayak so Andrea and I could get in (even then I could have done with a push) and paddled back towards the shore (easier this time, with the current and the wind behind us) to stop at another snorkel site. That was pretty cool too, there were so many fish under the Kayaks I was a bit worried about getting in, didn't want to land on the poor things but they got out the way. We saw clams and a small turtle. And loads of other beautiful things but I have no idea what they are called. We then had to get back in the Kayaks (I would rather tow the Kayak back than have to do that again, hard work!) which was PAINFUL (now have a huge bruise on my leg) and paddle back to shore. Once there we got to see the photos and they are amazing, although I look awful in them. We walked back to the hostel and came across a beach wedding reception, was so cool (we'd seen them setting up earlier in the day, and I'd seen the grooms party on their way wherever they were going in a jeep with a bow on it) and it looked so chilled. Everyone was barefoot and dancing and the band was amazing. We sorted out our next few days (booking hostels etc) then had burgers at the hostel. I watched the others have a few drinks, and playing Jenga, and playing Twister. Then had a good chat with some lads from Carnarvon who were telling us all the exciting goings on from such a small town, then bed.

Next up: Karijini National Park, including Hancock Gorge!

Miss you all Xx

---