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Published: June 11th 2011
Finding Paradise!
It may not look much but it IS Paradise Beach!Saturday 4th – overnight it rained heavily and woke us up - it was still very overcast in the morning so we had a bit of a lie-in. We had decided to have a quietish day to get over the rigours of the Manta Ray trip so it was late morning when we walked to the Bakery for a loaf of bread. Even I was tempted by the splendid array of lovely cakes there, but we resisted them and just came away with the bread! After lunch the skies cleared a bit so we strolled down on to the beach. We wanted to walk along the beach in the direction of the boat ramp we had used for our trip yesterday but the tide was very high cutting off a dry route. Undaunted, we just waded through the knee-deep water until we reached another stretch of sand. We walked on for some time and eventually reached a rocky stretch which was virtually impassable, especially as we only had our beach shoes on. But, again undaunted, we simply climbed the sand dunes and made our way around the rocks. By this time we were quite close to the boat ramp car-park so
decided we might as well walk all the way and explore the area at our leisure. There were some brilliant notice boards there detailing the marine wildlife that could be found throughout the Ningaloo Reef. Since we were there we decided to walk down to the ramp and the adjacent jetties and explore more fully. The water was clear and we could see shoals of fish swimming around and under the jetties – there must have been thousands of them! There was no boating activity, just one or two fishermen, but we didn’t see anyone catch anything. On closer inspection we spotted some crabs venturing out across the huge stones/rocks that had been used for the foundations of the boat ramp. A heron flew in quite close to us, seemingly oblivious to our presence.
Eventually we made our way back out of the ramp area but decided to walk back along the road. We had seen a couple of lookouts whilst on the bus yesterday so we thought we would go and investigate. Unfortunately, we misjudged the length of the route the road followed and realized we would have to walk twice as far again to reach the lookouts.
We found a short cut which took us more directly back to the centre of Coral Bay, spotting an entertaining “family” of kestrels on the way. Back at the caravan, I rustled up a quick lunch but had it in mind to have another snorkel in the afternoon. Graham didn’t fancy it but he came with me to the beach, carrying his latest book and a folding chair, and while I ventured into the water, he spent some time reading. He got talking to a family on the beach who hailed from Mansfield in Victoria, where Sarah and Darryl had stored the caravan ready for us to pick up. The Cronan family with two children, a girl of about 8 and a slightly younger boy, knew of The Reeves family and were doing what they had done when they first met Sarah and Darryl – taking time out to travel around Aus. I caught up with them when I came back from snorkelling to watch the daily routine of fish feeding. It always attracts a huge audience but it’s quite surprising how many young children are unnerved by all the fish – some about 2 or 3 feet long –
swimming around their legs.
We returned to the caravan and were delighted to find some new neighbours. The ones who didn’t speak, and whose pride and joy seemed to be their satellite dish, had been replaced by a delightful couple from WINCHCOMBE!! – well, Toddington actually - and it was such a pleasure to have neighbours with whom it was easy to pass the time of day. Unfortunately they were only to be there for one night as their visit to Aus of a few weeks would soon be at an end and they were returning to the UK via Hong Kong.
Late in the afternoon we put the laptop on and straightaway could see Tania (sister-in-law in Calne, UK) ringing us via Skype. We rushed and plugged the webcam in but for a few minutes we couldn’t make contact. Surprisingly, it was a problem in Calne and not us but eventually we could see Sarah who, with Darryl, was visiting Calne for a family get-together and Sarah had ‘taken over’ the computer. Our nephew Grant, wife Anna and children Charlotte and Amy are visiting the UK from Melbourne and were staying in Calne. We saw everyone briefly
including Tania and my brothers Rod and John. We spent quite a while chatting and catching up with what Grant and family had been up to on their travels. Unfortunately, young Amy had fallen down some stairs in Canada and broken her ankle but she seemed to be coping very well. We were so pleased to have been able to be part of the get-together (albeit from 10000 miles away) and felt quite sad we couldn’t be there in person.
Poor Graham had a bit of a setback this evening - because of our proximity to everything, he’s been trying to adopt the macho Aussie thing of going everywhere barefoot. He’s been doing very well but this evening he stumbled and stubbed his toe on a concrete step. It was a bit bloody and bruised, poor dab, so now he’s feeling very sorry for himself and not a little embarrassed! To aid recovery he had an early night and I followed soon after.
On Sunday 5th we decided we would like to have a snorkel so at about mid-morning, despite Graham’s battered toe, we both made our way to the beach, already dressed for the occasion, and spent
quite a long time in the water. The tide was still well in so we had to negotiate about 50 meters of shallow water before we found the sudden drop into the deeper water where the coral was. When the tide is out it is simple to walk directly to the deeper water and plunge in. By now, though, we are well versed at putting on our goggles and flippers in or out of the water so reaching the coral was no problem. The rest of the day passed quietly. More and more neighbours were beginning to pass the time of day with us which was nice. We had been there the best part of a week so I guess our faces were becoming more familiar to them. One lady, who we had met in Kalbarri and whose husband, Dave, had been one of the leading lights at the karaoke, collared Graham and, amongst other things, went on about how good Dave was at singing and playing a guitar and how he loved to entertain. Actually, he had been pleasant at the karaoke but he hadn’t been that good!! Having listened for the best part of ten minutes, Graham finally
revealed that he had played in a couple of folk bands and had recorded some CDs. With that she seemed to dash off rather suddenly. Graham thought he might have upset her - but within minutes Dave came around wanting Graham to have a “jamming” session with him. They agreed that the following day, Monday, would probably be best. Dave came round twice more to make sure Graham would be able to find some time on the Monday!!
Monday morning came and we decided we would like to go kayaking. The weather wasn’t brilliant, being very cloudy, and no other kayaks were out on the water. One or two hardy snorkellers were out but, generally, there was not much activity going on. But we decided to persevere and went ahead and hired a glass bottomed kayak for an hour. There was a bit of a swell so progress was slow and with only one person able to paddle (Graham – suitably shod in his beach shoes) it was quite tough to get out as far as we wanted. With the glass panel being in the centre, we sat facing each other – Graham in the back. I actually had
a single oar but it was next to useless so poor Graham, with his double paddle, did well to get us far beyond the normal snorkel area. The water was a bit cloudy but we still saw some magnificent coral and quite a few varieties of fish. Our hope that we might see a turtle, or be followed by some dolphins, didn’t materialize but we thoroughly enjoyed it nevertheless.
On returning to the caravan we were met by an enthusiastic Dave who was still anxiously trying to arrange a music session. Graham agreed that he would go round after lunch for an hour or so and see what developed. So at about 1:30pm, off he went with his guitar and his music. He was there for well over an hour and, apparently, Dave was most impressed by Graham’s prowess, and his wife, who normally goes off and leaves Dave to it, sat and listened along with a few neighbours. I went around later with my camera to capture a photo for the blog but spent most of the time chatting to Dave’s wife. At about 3 o’clock, Graham made an excuse for leaving (me going snorkelling again) and the
session came to an end. Dave seemed thrilled that it had taken place and Graham was happy that he had had an outlet for his singing, instead of just singing to himself in the caravan. Then we went to the beach for a final snorkel before preparing to leave Coral Bay the following day. Once again, Graham contented himself with his book rather than a snorkel. He said he was looking after his toe but I suspect the bevy of young beauties he chose to sit next to had something to do with that!!! Later we had a brief walk along the path overlooking the beach. Then we made some advanced preparations for the next day’s journey to Exmouth and reflected on what a fabulous week we had had in Coral Bay.
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Emma, Mike and Ben
non-member comment
Hello
Hello Pootling Possums, Thanks for Ben's card, he now doesn't think snorkeling is a good idea in case a big mantra comes up to him, we explained he should be ok in this country!! It was lovely too meet the Aussie pack, and it was great that we had a Jackson get together, shame you two weren't there. It was a shame we didn't have longer with the girls Ben was just getting to start playing with them. I expect Sarah will be tired after her stint with them. Anyway keep up the good blogs, you both look very well, here U/Graham got a pony tail now haven't seen any pics of this! Take Care Lots of love Emma, Mike and Ben xxx