Day 128-129 Coral Bay
Trip Start
Dec 01, 2008
1
43
84
Trip End
Nov 08, 2009
Coral Bay, Western Australia, Australia
Sunday, May 3, 2009
We left Carnarvon as early as possible to maximise our time in Coral Bay. I rang the CALM office in Exmouth to try to determine how early we would need to be at Cape Range National Park to ensure a camp site before the Easter crowds - bookings are not accepted. The information I gleaned from the non-advice given, was that the camp host at Lakeside (the campsite we were keen to stay in) was due on Wednesday. We decided we would best arrive on that day also....
The drive from Carnarvon to Coral Bay was uneventful, it was a hot 37 degrees with a light wind and we were keen to get into the water and try the snorkelling at Coral Bay, to see what all the fuss was about. It was really hot when we arrived at 11am, there are two caravan parks to choose from and we were feeling exhausted already
Monck Pt Snorkelling
. I wasn't keen to be running around comparing prices and sites. The Peoples Park don't advertise, I couldn't ring ahead for a price, when I presented at the office they told me they are busy year round and operate on reputation and recommendation. Their price was more expensive, so we chose the second park, called Bayview.Coral Bay is purely a resort town, solely set up for tourists with no permanent residents other than workers. There is a hotel with self catering accommodation and several other apartments and villas plus the two caravan parks. Two small general stores and a bakery are out numbered by tourist operators! Once you've parked there is no real need to use your car as everything is in walking or riding distance. One thing you can count on is the large wads of cash that you could spend whilst staying here!
Quickly we set up the bare essentials at our site, there is no point putting everything out as we were off the next day. Then we rode to the beach with our snorkelling gear, specifically to Monck Pt. On our way we noticed it was happy hour at the pub, starting at 5.30pm, Greg and I noted the time and reconfigured our timetable accordingly. The turquoise water here is beautiful, the bay itself is visually gorgeous and the whole place has a great feel about it. It would is too easy to overlook the costs of being in such a place and before long I was trying to figure out a way to extend our stay
human can opener!!
!The snorkelling was not the step up from Quobba Pt that I had hoped for but we stayed in the water a while anyway, then left for the van to eat a late lunch. We returned for another snorkel at the same spot, this time we drove the car and a brought a change of clothes so we could go straight to the hotel which is across the road for happy hour, allowing us maximum time in the water.
We arrived at the hotel fortuitously at 5.15pm and found a table on the lawn, overlooking the pool and the beach. We were set to watch another beautiful sunset and enjoy a cold (cheap) beverage! The tables and lawn area was full by 5.30pm -people were everywhere!
Fellow Expanda travellers (last seen at Denham) - Jaime, Marni and their kids Jack and Gypsy had managed to secure a two week spot at Peoples Park thanks to a cancellation, presenting two days before we arrived. We found them at happy hour and the kids all took off, joining the growing band of children running amok on the grounds.
I had no intention of cooking tonight so I ordered some hot snack foods for dinner, no dishes and general mess at the van would allow for a quick get away tomorrow....
Next day an expected temperature of 39 degrees and the need to get to Cape Range National Park as soon as possible saw Greg and I begin packing up at 6am to leave by 7. We went to the bakery on the way out for breakfast arriving in Exmouth at 8.30am to buy groceries, pick up mail and send off some postcards before driving onwards into Cape Range...
