South Coral Coast

This part of the WA coastline contains some of the most stunning scenery we have come across in our trip, with Denham, Monkey Mia and Kalbarri being the highlights. Unfortunately our visit to Monkey Mia coincided with one of the very rare "no shows" from the resident Dolphin population for which it is famous.

We can tell we are getting further south with the temperatures getting cooler and in Kalbarri we experienced our first rain for 7 months. The weather is also getting wilder with the WA south west experiencing some very unsettled patterns. Hopefully it will get better for our SW section exploration of WA.

A local dropping by

The "Quobba Point Blowholes"

Some rocks and water

Our one and only Monkey Mia Dolphin which left 5mins after we got there

Monkey Mia is a stunning location even without dolphins

"Shell Beach" outside Denham

"Photo Bomb" at secluded "Eagle Gorge Beach" - Kalbarri National park

"Eagle Gorge Beach"

Stunning coastline (Kalbarri NP) - very average looking people spoiling the photo :)

Don't these guys know they are supposed to be at Monkey Mia

Don't know who he is - just a good photo

"Natures Window" - Kalbarri National park

About to walk the "Kalbarri Skywalk"

The valley from "Kalbarri Skywalk"

View at the bottom of our "Class 4" walk on the Z - Bend River Trail

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Next stop Jurien Bay to check out the Turquoise Coast

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Ningaloo Reef

Using Bullara Station as a base we hit the highlights of Ningaloo Reef. This included a day on the water out of Coral Bay and a trip to Turquoise Bay where we both did another snorkel.

No doubt a beautiful area but the jury is out as to it's comparison to the Great Barrier Reef.

The Marina/Boat Ramp at Coral Bay

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Bullara Station

Bullara Station is 250,000 acres of cattle station that has diversified into a camping/caravan host site of renown. Leonie will not forgive me if I fail to mention the morning teas with scones and cream. We also attended a "Long Table" dinner sampling the meat from the station.

A couple of days each week they do a free damper tasting

The Bottle Tree. Native to these parts.

Outside our caravan one morning.

Live entertainment most nights around the fire.

One of the outdoor showers.

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Ningaloo Reef

UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ningaloo’s most notable visitors are the whale sharks and Manta Rays. We missed the Whale Sharks but managed to see some Manta Rays.

The following video is of the day we spent on the reef. I managed to get in 2 dives and we both did a snorkel looking for Mantas.

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Turquoise Bay

A small settlement near Exmouth that lies protected from the Indian ocean by the Ningaloo reef. White sands and great snorkeling just off the beach.

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Next stop Southern Coral Coast - Thanks for watching

Karijini National Park

Memories of Karijini - Pilbara Red Dust, fantastic gorges, dust, Best hamburger in a long time, Col found a new Porter (beer), dust, Some of the hardest climbing we have done, dust, our 1st flat tyre (getting too old for tossing large 4x4 tyres around in the dirt), dust, mines, mines and mines, largest Iron Ore concentrations in the world, trains a mile long (mines), hundreds of road trains carrying iron ore (mines) AND did I mention the dust. The birds were flying backwards to keep it out of their eyes :)

We also saw more unbelievable rock formations, some great swimming holes and terrific scenery.

Hamersley Gorge

Weano Gorge

Joffre Gorge

Took millions of years to create this. The rock, not the walkway :-)

Nature will find a way.

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Handrail Pool. These 3 photos are of the hardest channel/gorge/cave I have done on the trip. Leonie, wisely decided to wait for me to return spending the time searching for my insurance policy. A climb over steep and slippery rocks and a 50m swim/wade through a small passage to the cavern at the end. Brilliant.

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Fortescue Falls/Dales Gorge

Fern Pool/Dales Gorge

The walk in to Knox Gorge

Tw0 examples of what constitutes a Grade 5 track that we navigated successfully.

Note... "High level of fitness and agility required", or, lack of common sense. We accomplished four Cat 5 walks.

Out of focus but you get the idea. Us trying not to drown while having lots of fun.

End of Knox Gorge

Wild flowers and termites.

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Coral Coast next.

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