Coral Bay

I've been on my own for a week now, as Gary has been out on the boat, and it's long enough to get a feel for the village of Coral Bay.

The days are clear, bright and sunny; around 26 degrees Celsius, and the nights around 10-12 degrees. It is usually very still in the early morning and late afternoon, with a breeze during the warmer hours. The weather is the same every day at this time of year (an easy gig for the forecasters I'd imagine), and that's why it attracts so many tourists: perfect, predictable beach holiday weather. Along with the natural beauty of the place, but we'll get to that.

The caravan parks are bursting with campers, motorhomes and caravans all lined up in neat rows directly across from the beach. Grey nomads are firmly ensconced in the front row, and have been for quite some time, and others come and go at steady rate; particularly now that it's school holidays. The drone of the whale shark and manta ray spotter plane is a familiar daily sound as I head off exploring on foot. The airstrip is over the sand dune at the back of the purpose built staff accommodation village, fondly called 'Pleasantville', and walking trails lead off from there, up and over the dunes to the coast at the north of the town.

 

 

The shoreline is a mixture of sand, dotted with pitted limestone or horizontal platforms and a scattering of shells and old coral. The distant roar of the waves breaking over the reef a couple of hundred metres off shore is a constant companion. The crystal-clear aquamarine water is inviting, not only because of its colour, but what lies beneath. As Australia's longest fringing coral reef, Ningaloo, meaning 'deep water', is easily accessible by just walking off the beach. Head to the southern side of Coral Bay Beach and drift snorkel towards the point where you can spend hours exploring the underwater coral jungle. Green or purple tipped antler-like branches of Staghorn; flat and broad Elkhorn; Lettuce coral shaped like turned tomatoes of dinosaur proportions; Brain coral reminiscent of Ayers Rock; twisted and gnarled Clubbed Finger coral; domed shaped Great Star coral; and car bonnet sized Plate coral provide remarkable textures and colours. The fish are plentiful and too numerous to mention, but a few notables are: two foot long yellow or green Trumpetfish; iridescent Parrotfish; hundreds of Blue-Green Damsels; Half-circle Angelfish outlined in fluorescent blue; schools of Convict Surgeonfish; and if you're lucky, Green Sea Turtles. Larger marine creatures, such as manta rays, dugongs and sharks, can be viewed by boat a little further off-shore at a multitude of snorkel and dive sites in this World Heritage Area. Whale sharks and Humpback whales are seen outside of the reef break, which extends about 260 kilometres up to North West Cape at Exmouth.

When the tide is at its lowest, it's possible to walk south along the shoreline to the Coral Bay Marine Facility instead of along the two kilometres of sealed road. In the early morning, the only sounds are the boom of the reef break, the occasional seagull squawk, and the swishing of the three wind turbines; and the only person you'll see is yourself. Boats bob around on their moorings waiting for the next charter, but I feel I am the only one here. It's hard to imagine that some 2000 people are just beyond the sand dunes; such solitude can sometimes be difficult to find in a busy tourist town. 

Coral Bay is how I'd imagine Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays looking and feeling like 30 years ago; an undeveloped and understated idyllic family beach/reef holiday destination with a come as you like attitude. And there are no crocodiles here, or sightings of marine stingers; the only creature that could put a dampener on your day is a tiger shark.

The 200 metre long main street consists of the post office, a bakery, one over priced supermarket and a not as expensive smaller one, a beauty salon, a resident artist, a souvenir shop, dive, snorkelling, kayaking, fishing and coral viewing tour desks, a pub, public toilets, showers and fish cleaning area, a backpackers, a 3 star resort and two caravan parks. That's it; that is Coral Bay. For the foreseeable future anyway. The town is part of Cardabia Station, a 200 000ha cattle grazing property, that was purchased by the Indigenous Land Corporation in 1997 and is now run by the title-holding body, Baiyangu Aboriginal Corporation (BAC). They, along with the Department of Parks and Wildlife, appear to be taking a conservative and unhurried approach to tourism development which will enable them to maintain its sustainability. Here's hoping anyway.

The local permanent population sits at around 190, with a few more in the peak tourist season (now), and consists of some typical characters of remote, north west coastal areas with sun weathered skin and long, disheveled hair, barefoot and a penchant for Emu Export. Though there are a few young families, singles and couples predominate; or, again, typical of the transience of the tourist town, singles that are now couples and vice versa. For evening entertainment, sunset viewing is a popular choice for many, as is a few drinks at the pub with the occasional live music, or a frame or two on the pool table. If that's too much to handle, make sure you have a memory stick so you can swap movies with the neighbours for a night in front of the TV. And if you're feeling really lonely, there is a resident horse; he hangs around Pleasantville and is always up for a chat.

As far as bike riding is concerned, there's really only the road to the turnoff: an undulating 12 kilometres that presents more of a workout the windier it gets. Hence, it's best to pedal out early. There are a few sandy tracks around but near impossible (and downright annoying) on slick tyres. So, unless we venture out on the main road (not ideal really), 24kms is about the stretch of road riding around here. We'll just have to ride it a couple of times to get more time in the saddle! Anyway, it's quite a scenic route as hints of purple are emerging in amongst the straw-green grass as wildflower season gets underway, and wedge-tail eagles can often be seen close to the ground.

Besides biking, walking and snorkelling, what else have I been doing to amuse myself you ask? I have done a couple of airport transfers for Sail Ningaloo. This involves picking up disembarking guests from the jetty and driving them 120kms along a rather monotonous road to Learmonth, 37kms south of Exmouth. I then meet guests disembarking from the plane and retrace my steps back to the Coral Bay jetty. Job done in three hours. Oh, and I've also been doing a fair bit of book reading.

Gary's back home tomorrow, then we will head to Tom Price and Karijini National Park for a week and a change of scenery.