The Coral Coast

Ask any big lapper and they’ll tell you, #westisbest. Broome, Cape Leveque, 80 Mile beach and Karijini, endless kilometres of beach all to your self, driving on the beach, fires on the beach….so much to offer. But if you’re looking for the single most spectacular attraction in the region, check out the Ningaloo coast. Say coral and everyone immediately jumps to the Great Barrier Reef….well it turns out we’ve all been looking in the wrong spot.

The most incredible thing is that this dazzling display exists mere meters from some of the most pristine beaches you will see anywhere.

There were plenty of critters:

But the turtles are always the highlight of the show.

We were lucky enough to get visits first from Sue Sue and Pa, and then those ever so trendy inner-Westies the Rickos.

One evening we managed to drag ourselves away from the coral for a spot of sunset whale watching. The whales themselves were superb, but certainly not photogenic.

One the way home, the stars came out.

Anytime we felt like the day was lacking in adventure, the simple remedy was to drive into the sand dunes somewhere and get ourselves bogged.

But after 11 days, our longest stay in any one region, it was time to roll on.

Monkey Mia, in contrast, easily goes down as by far and away the most overhyped location of the whole trip. Not even going to bother with photos….but the completely deserted beach an hour so off the main road in is probably one of my favourite camps so far.

Now camping on the beach is cool, but the best bit was the wild life. In the foreground of the first photo, you will note a small sprig of shrubbery. As we sat and watched the sun go down, we learnt that under this meagre cover was a nesting Red Capped Plover….who initially objected to our camp site, but soon became totally at ease with us.

Mr Plover (as he became affectionately know) kept us busy for hours, but then we were delighted to discover that the Fairy Turns, further out on the sand spit were also nesting. Now these guys are next level, their nests involve absolutely no cover at all.

We enjoyed this place so much we stayed two nights on the way in, but we were so desperate to know how our young families were fairing that we came back on the way out for another night…and were rewarded when we discovered chics running around on the beach.

Why am I handling wildlife? Yes I know you’re not supposed to…problem is I was having trouble watching a squabble between Turns and Plovers over this little chick as it attempted a dash across the sand flats.

Later that night the stars were again out.

Next day and just up the road…more chicks!

Where Monkey Mia was a fail, Cape Francois Peron National Park was a lovely day out. Red Pilbara sand meets a turquoise ocean, which is teeming with rays, turtles, sharks and giant schools of fish, all visible from the shore.