Coral Bay

Another night where we listened to the heavy pounding of waves on the shore only a hundred meters away for our caravan. As night falls the noise seems to be getting louder and the sound is a bit like continuos rolling thunder. After 3 nights of it I have to admit that one has to get used to this sort of noise.

We had a reasonably early start and got on the road before 9am but had to stop at the blow holes to take video of the gigantic waves with 3.5mt swell today.

The track took us back down south to within 30km of Carnarvon but then north again on highway #1 until we reached the Minilya River where we refuelled at the Minilya River Bridge Roadhouse. A short distance after the roadhouse we left hwy #1 to drive up north towards Exmouth.

We stopped to take a photo as we officially entered the tropics when we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn (ToC). The ToC is currently located 23Deg 26min South of the equator and marks the most southerly point at which the sun can appear directly overhead. Although this point is slowly moving northwards, at a rate of 15mt per year, the sign was still in exactly the same spot where we saw it two years ago. I guess they just can't be bothered shifting it every year!

The first sign that we had arrived in tropics were the termite mounts on the side of the road. Mind you, with the temperature sitting at 26 DegC in the middle of winter we could easily confirm that we really had reached the tropics.

A bit further along the road we turned left to head for Coral Bay, a small place which has nothing but two caravan parks and other tourist accommodation and the infrastructure to support the tourists. Coral Bay is located on the southern tip of Ningaloo reef and has a spectacular beach only a short walk away from our caravan.

We spent the afternoon snorkelling on the reef which is only 50mt off the beach in well protected and sheltered water, no waves whatsoever. The marine life is very impressive with large Spangled Emperors and various Stingrays frolicking just under our noses (goggles). The reef corals afford protection to many colourful little reef fish which are a pleasure to watch.

For a bit of a change in diet, we're not having fish tonight but frozen food that we brought with us. Our dessert today was especially nice with fresh Carnarvon Bananas (ripened on the tree not by gas) with ice cream and homemade Mango topping also from Carnarvon.

Here is the link to today's travel map.