Spoiler alert – this post contains far, far, far too many photos of the beautiful beaches of Western Australia. It was impossible to stop snapping away like a lunatic – they are just that beautiful and empty and untouched and other-worldly and…0k, ok, ok. Far too many adjectives too. I’ll stop.
We picked up our mammoth beast of a campervan, got a 30 second lesson from the worst customer service rep we’ve ever encountered and we were off. To the Ningaloo Reef! Even the name is awesome.
When people think about Australia, it’s usually the Great Barrier Reef that comes to mind, but think again. The Ningaloo is the world’s longest fringing reef and, unlike the Great Barrier Reef, it’s accessible from the beach. You just grab your snorkel gear and wade out about 50 metres and wham! you’re snorkelling some of the most beautiful coral gardens you can imagine. But first, you have to get there….a mere 1500 kms north of Perth into the vast emptiness that is Western Australia’s Coral Coast.
Beauty and the Beast
It took a while for me to get used to the enormous campervan and the way that it sways and rolls. Every time we turned a corner, I was convinced we were going to roll over. The kids were so excited and wanted to use the toilet every two seconds. Gross. Especially when I accidentally dumped the very full and heavy cartridge all over myself on my first dump station mission. We had a hard and fast rule – no poop in the Beast, dude. And good thing too, because on our last night, Mike had to crawl under the Beast to unplug a blocked hose only to have the entire contents of the waste pipe burst all over him. Yup…livin’ the dream. I’m still kicking myself for not getting a photo of that precious moment. It ain’t all roses, baby!
Ablution mishaps aside, we didn’t have big ambitions for our first night. We made it to Jurien Bay in just a few hours and set about trying to set up. The kids took one look at the campsite’s ‘bounce pillow’ and that was the extent of their help. They were off and we didn’t see them again for a few hours.
We figured out the hoses and 240V and the meaning of ‘dump station’. I burned our dinner on the strangest looking BBQ I’ve ever seen and then we called it a night, excited to make up the bunks and the beds and get sorted and settled. So cool! A motorhome! Oh, silly us. How we’d come to dread those same tasks in just a few short nights. Bah. And Mike was consumed with rage at the flies that seemed to constantly converge on him (and no one else). Jurien Bay is tiny, but he stomped off in search of a fly swatter and came back triumphant, wielding his weapon.
After a decent night’s sleep, we pushed off knowing we had to a long day’s driving ahead. We made it to Kalbarri, a tiny town further north along the coast, only to discover that our motorhome’s fridge wasn’t working in the 30 degree weather. Gah. Had to toss much of our groceries and spent a good 2 days trying to figure out how to get it going again. Kalbarri, however, was a pretty nice little place to hang for a few days. We met a nice family, travelling around Australia for a year in their camper and the kids liked having some many kids around to play with. We spent an evening at an outdoor concert in the town oval as kangaroos hopped around and fed the friendly pelicans that wander up to the beach each morning.
After Kalbarri, we pushed on to Shark Bay. It’s a World Heritage listed area for several reasons, not the least of which is beautiful Shell Beach. Imagine – a huge crescent of beach made up entirely of trillions of cockle shells. It was so cool and so white – blinding, actually. And all to ourselves. Like everywhere else in Western Australia (except Perth). It was as remote as we’ve ever been, except Namibia.
We continued driving and dipped up into the remote Shark Bay peninsula until we made it to Monkey Mia. This is little more than a small resort-ish town, made famous for the wild dolphins that visit the shore every morning. Why it’s called Monkey Mia is beyond me. There are definitely no monkeys. There might be a Mia or two, but doubt it.
Decades ago, the dolphins started coming in to shore to eat the fishermen’s scraps. Now, there’s an entire volunteer-run program to ensure that they remain wild and that the tourists don’t get too close. We loved the sunsets at Monkey Mia and got to see the dolphins and pelicans in the morning before pushing off, once again, for another long drive. But I’ve gotta admit, it was a long detour to see a few dolphins and a nice sunset.
Leaving Monkey Mia, we made a few stops en route to Carnarvon to snorkel in the ocean-side lagoons and visit the ‘world famous’ stromatolites – the world’s oldest living organisms.
our campervan in the background….and NOTHING else….for miles
We spent two nights in little Carnarvon to stock up on groceries, do laundry and sort out a few motorhome issues. Carnarvon felt like a sad little town, with empty shops and empty shelves and many indigenous people shuffling aimlessly around. Other than meeting a lovely Australian couple at our campsite (who regularly ski BC), we didn’t tarry. Off again with our final destination in sight – Coral Bay on the Ningaloo Reef. But between Carnarvon and Coral Bay – many hundred of kilometres – there’s very, very, very little. Of anything.
When we finally pulled into Coral Bay, we were tired and dusty and grumpy. But oh, what a reward for all that endless driving. Coral Bay is tiny, but whoa Nellie! We had the prettiest little campervan site and settled in for three nights, which turned into five.
After driving so many kilometres in the Beast, it was nice to just sit for a few days. No plugging, unplugging, emptying grey water, etc. And to our delight, both families we’d met also wound up in Coral Bay so the kids had their playmates back while the adults sat around drinking gintos. The weather hovered in the early 30s during the day, but the evenings were perfectly warm and breezy.
We spent our five days in Coral Bay mostly in the water. You grab your gear, walk about 15 minutes down the beach to a little rocky outcropping and hop in the water. While you snorkel, you’re gently pushed along by the current until you’re deposited back where you started in Coral Bay. Otherwise known as a ‘drift snorkel’. So that’s what we did…over and over. And over. Each time was different – with different corals, manta rays, an octopus, lots of fish (no sharks…phew). Drift. Snorkel. Repeat.
start of the drift snorkel – the dark water is where the reef begins
looooves having his photo taken…
Coral Bay and the Ningaloo are home to the world’s largest population of whale sharks – they congregate here for a few months each year and you can actually snorkel with these gentle giants. We were a little wary about the impact snorkelling might have on these creatures, but it was a moot point anyway. The price tag ($1500!) for our family for a day trip was well beyond our budget. Instead, we opted to go out to the barrier reef in a glass bottom boat for a much more reasonable $40. It turned out to be a great, albeit somewhat nerve-wracking day out.
I was amazed at how clearly we could see through the boat’s glass bottom – turtles and manta rays galore, countless corals and fish. We hopped into the water at three different spots to snorkel – but they were deep spots. One, in fact, was called ‘The Edge of the World’ because of the steep, endless drop off. Now, normally, sharks don’t bother me nearly as much as say…dirty fingernails or box jellyfish. But being out in such deep waters with the littles snorkelling around made me just a tiny bit nervous. It helped (and also didn’t), that the boats employ spotter planes to keep in touch with the captain. Ostensibly, these spotter planes are to look for the whale sharks, but they also report other shark sightings. The captain kept reassuring us that there were so many turtles that the sharks weren’t hungry enough to eat us. Umm… gee… thanks.
It was our last day on the Ningaloo. As the boat pulled into the bay, we discovered that the entire beach had been invaded by masses of stinging jellies. It was like jelly armageddon. Coming for ME – my nightmare in purple technicolour. We had to jump off the boat and wade to shore, jumping between the jellies like we’d been dumped into a demented game of Frogger. We all escaped unscathed except for poor Luce who wound up stung multiple times on her legs and then, when she fell, on the face. Ok, Coral Bay. We get the message…time to leave.
3 days post-sting. Poor Luce.
After 6 days and 5 nights, we reluctantly pulled up stakes, said adios to our friends (who were all continuing north) and started the long, gruelling drive back to Perth. Despite the jelly stings, we’d had an incredible time in this cool little corner of the world. We said goodbye to site no. 12 at People’s Park and got on the road. We’d stayed longer than planner, so really had to boot it. It took us 5 days to get up to the Ningaloo and 2 days to get back. And 1 speeding ticket.
We stopped in a little ‘city’ called Geraldton (or “Gero”, if you’re local). It was a hip little arty spot with the world’s best playground. We drank copious amounts of coffee and kept going. One of the limitations about driving in these remote parts of Australia is that you can’t drive once it gets dark at about 6pm. There are too many kangaroos, emus, wombats and dingos wandering/hopping around. Collisions between sunset and sunrise occur frequently and our rental agreement stipulated that we couldn’t drive after dark.
The next day, we pushed hard and made it to Jurien Bay. Poor Mike -not only did he get drenched in about 20 gallons of urine, he also had one of his sandals nicked in the night by a wild dog. Yes, a dingo stole his shoe. This happened to a handful of campers – so unless there’s a well-shod one-legged man hobbling around Jurien Bay, we’ll go with the dingo story. After wearing his beloved Chaccos every single day of the trip (and in fact, the day of our wedding), this was quite a devastating blow for Mikey. Luckily, he took it in stride (because really, after being half-drowned by pee, it’s all about perspective). He said a solemn goodbye to his other sandal and has been wearing his one remaining pair of shoes ever since.
We made it back to Perth after a very quick stop at a desert area called the Pinnacles. Just another example of the crazy diversity that is Western Australia – from desert to coral reef in 10 minutes.
We handed in the Beast – burst pipe, broken fridge, broken awning and all. Then it was off to the airport to wait for our flight to New Zealand. It’s possible that we smelled a bit.
Australia (and more specifically, Western Australia) was never on our radar when we left for this trip. It was only through an unlikely series of events that we wound up in this crazy beautiful corner of the world – happenstance, really. But sometimes, those unexpected detours are the best moments of all. The Ningaloo Reef. Awesome.
