Coral Bay & Exmouth

We arrived at Coral bay for the last week of the WA school holidays! hence very lucky to get a site - unpowered but at least somewhere we could wash our red dirt ridden clothes and soak up some beautiful sun and coral reef.

We decided to ride the last week of the WA school holidays out in sleepy little Coral bay as it is truly one of the most picturesque and easy places to visit.  Coral Bay is a tiny little town of approx 200 permanent residents which I am sure swells to many hundreds in peak tourist season and school holidays.

Coral bay and Exmouth are part of the Ningaloo marine park = Awesome snorkelling! and pristine beaches.

http://www.westernaustralia.com/Experience_Extraordinary/Pages/Ningaloo_Reef.aspx?CID=dgm:sem:aud1112:WA+Extraordinary+Experiences+Ningaloo+:Ningaloo+Reef


Coral bay has 2 Caravan parks a set of little shops including a fantastic bakery - We recommend the chicken & veg pie, sausage roll and choc doughnuts!

Ok now for some pics to get you excited..

We caught fish each time we went out off the beach.  Some small Trevally and Dart and a little long Tom which was thrown back. 

We fished at a place called Maudes landing pretty secluded and only a short drive out of town.

The kids had a ball playing in the sand

One of the best things about Coral bay is that the reef is accessible from the beach which is right in town! a quick 2min walk and you are there ready to snorkel and see some amazing fish and coral.  We have not snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef but our new Travel buddies have and they believe this is much much better!

It was great we rarely got in the car and enjoyed mornings on the beach an an afternoon exploring and fishing

This was one of our expeditions to a reef called "five fingers"  We did some sand 4WD which was a bit of fun, went in one way and managed to get completely lost and came out thank goodness but not where we  started! hmmmmm 

We stayed in Coral bay for the week and then hooked up and travelled north 152km's to Exmouth. Once all the school holiday makers had buggered off!

Exmouth is huge in comparison to Coral bay!  it has shops and houses and more than one road..

Vlaming head lighthouse.  We stayed at the Caravan Park just below this.

There is at surf beach in Exmouth and how cool is this little viewing platform

Memorial for a long lost surfer taken by the waves

Oh and we just had to take a pic of the "Big Prawn"!

By far the best thing we saw was the Turtles which had come up to the beach to nest!

This was amazing there was literally 15-20 turtles beached, either making there way up to nest or back to the water to begin the long journey home

Turtle 4WD

http://www.ningalooturtles.org.au/jurabi.html

Jack pretending to be a Turtle at Turquoise bay.  Another awesome spot to snorkel!

Sophie and Mum relaxing in the Sun. Slip Slop and Slapping

Oh yeah it is pretty......

We drove into the Cape Range National Park but we could not stay there even if we wanted too as it was all booked out.  The national park enables bush camping right on the sand dunes allowing direct access to snorkelling and recreational fishing

http://www.exmouthwa.com.au/pages/cape-range-national-park/

I have had lots of problems with the computer tonight so hopefully this will work!  Firstly it would not start and then I tried to sync my phone with itunes and now my phone is well lets just say stuffed! It is now nearly midnight and well past my bedtime!  We are off to Carnarvon tomorrow to get supplies and do some more beach camping and check out "Red Bluff and Narloo" region.  If need to call us I suggest you try Paul's phone.

Ciao xx

5 Today in Coral Bay! Happy Birthday Jack xx

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Jack

Happy Birthday to you

xxx

Jack had a great day. It began with presents (thanks to Grandparents and Australia Post), fishing with the boys - no fish caught :( and ended with a little party with new friends with cake! yum yum  

(managed to purchase cake in Broome and freeze it in the Engel - thanks Engel)

We managed to suprise Jack with balloons and a little party when he got back from fishing with the boys.  He was very excited

We had to have the cake inside as there was 40kph winds outside nearly blowing us away!..... Thank goodness they have now settled

Jack told me this morning that today was like his "pretend" birthday because he thought he would not be getting a party or presents and that he would have to wait until we got down south!  Soooo

Thank you to all our family and friends near and far who made our boy feel very special on his birthday 

xxx

Cape Keraudren --- Karijini

Firstly we need to start with "Happy 5th Birthday Jack" Woo hoo!
Jack is very excited to be turning 5, he was lucky enough to open some presents thanks to Australia Post, Grandparents, Mum, Dad and Sophie and new travelling companions xx

We turned right from Broome and headed south down the WA coast to an over night camp at Cape Keraudren.  Very picturesque spot, where we could camp right on the oceans edge.  We have been very fortunate to meet and began travelling with the "Foots" (Emma, Adam, Anais, and Amelie).  The girls are the same age as Jack and Sophie and we seem to be heading the same way and just get along really well- So why not!

Our camp on the beach

Enjoying a refreshment before dinner

Collecting Shells

Sophie and Anais

http://www.eastpilbara.wa.gov.au/inter_site/php_scripts/see_ck.php

The only disappointing thing about this site was the long drop was pooey! (not long enough)

From Cape Kerauden we headed of south dropping into Port Hedland.  Port Hedland's is well known for it's Mining of Iron ore and Salt.  We felt very out of place as we were not wearing reflective work shirts and pants...

The whole of the Pilbara is Mining Mining some red dust and more Mining!

Big boat coming into Port Hedland

The kids having a well earned break from the car!

Heading East now we had a huge drive into Karijini National Park

http://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Destinations/Australias_North_West/Karijini_National_Park/Pages/Karijini_National_Park.aspx

This place really was spectacular and we are so glad that we decided to drive east and have a look.  We stayed 2 nights and walked into Fortesque Falls, Circular Pool, and Fern Pool.  

Fortesque Falls

Top of Fortesque Falls. Kids walked all the way!

Fern Pool

Circular Pool 

Escarpments

Beginning of walk down to circular Pool

Circular Pool

The walk down to the falls was a bit harrowing particularly with small children who want to jump from rock to rock!  Sadly only a few days before we arrived a father lost his life trying to rescue his son who had fallen down the escarpment.  The son (aged 7) is in a critical but stable condition in a Perth hospital.  We could see how easy this could have happened, and we were watching the kids and ourselves like a hawk.  Such a terrible accident in an extremely remote spectacular location

We formed a relationship with the red dust!  It stuck to our clothes, skin and hair....  Oh and just as we were about to leave camp (all packed up) Sophie managed to fall flat faced into the dust! hmmmm. I have spent today soaking our clothes with napisan and then washing them today! I wait to see if the red dust comes out.  

From Karijini we began the trek back over to the west coast through Tom Price stopping at Coral Bay.

This place is spectacular and we will tell you all about it very soon.  We are staying in an unpowered site, the only ones available as it is WA school holidays.  We have decided to park here for the week while we wait out the school holiday crowd!  

Broome really is beautiful xx

We arrived in Broome last Thursday initially we were going to stay only a few days and then decided this place is just too beautiful and relaxing to only stay a few days so we have ended up staying a week.

We have not done a lot other than swim, enjoy sunsets on the beach with new found friends and generally poke our way around town looking and enjoying all Broome has to offer

Broome is well known for it's Pearls and pristine beaches that you can swim in. But we found a few other things to enjoy as well

We went to the Sun pictures outdoor movie theatre to watch "Red Dog".  This really was a hoot!  We had low flying domestic planes flying over to land at the very close Broome airport during the film. The kids squealed with terror and delight.

http://www.broomemovies.com.au/

We then rode the very famous camels on cable beach!.  Out Camel was called "Ollie" and he had starred in the movie Australia, and had a bit of an attitude!
http://www.shipsofthedesert.com.au/

Pucker up xx

We have enjoyed many a sunset on the beach

Gantheaume Point Rocks

Light house

Anastasia's Pool

Another Sunset BBQ

The water is amazing, and you can swim! Yippeee

Town Beach xx

We really don't have much to report, other than we really enjoyed Broome and it has got us into the mood for what I am sure the rest of the West Coast has to offer.  

We leave Broome tomorrow heading south on the Great Northern Highway to Cape Keraudren (approx 400kms south)

We have heard we can camp right on the beach!  We will then most likely drive to Karijini National Park.

So if anyone is considering a trip to Broome we highly recommend it a place to visit young or old, heaps to do with kids and enough play and relaxing for those without.

http://www.broomevisitorcentre.com.au/

Busy doing nothing in Broome!

I am going to try post using just my iPhone! Found the app the other day so here goes.....

Apologies for the delay in posting but we have been particularly busy doing not much but enjoying all that Broome had to offer xx

We have met a couple of families with young kids and enjoyed a few gatherings at the beach!

Watched "Red Dog" the movie at the open air cinema, very cool! We had planes flying very low over the top of us.

Town beach is particularly nice with a undercover park and water play area and every parents delight a cafe that serves great take away coffee!

Anyway thought I would just test this out and see how it worked on the iPhone we will be back for more shortly xx