Ningaloo Coast - Exmouth, Coral Bay and Carnarvon

Exmouth

6 – 8 October 2018

The drive from Kurrajong campsite to Exmouth would only take an hour or so, so we had a leisurely start and made a stop at the Tantabiddi Boat Ramp for a look around. On into town, and we stopped for morning tea at the bakery, then bought supplies for lunch. We weren’t able to check-in to our en-suite site at the caravan park as we were too early so we drove down to the beach for a picnic then visited the Visitor Information Centre. Returning to the beach, then the marina, we stumbled upon the coffee shop with a view to die for at Exmouth Game Fishing Club.

Back to the caravan park we set up and had a swim before getting prepared for our whale watching tour. Cameras, lenses, jackets, sunscreen – all packed ready for 4.15pm pick-up. The mini-bus arrived just after 4.15 for the short ride to the marina and our vessel. We were very surprised, and more than a little bit pleased, to find we were two of only 9 passengers for this trip. This meant plenty of room to move about the boat easily.

We spotted our first whale shortly after leaving the marina, and spent the next two hours racing from one part of the boat to another to catch a glimpse of whales, near and far. One even surfaced quite close to the boat, taking everyone by surprise. There are strict rules about how close vessels can approach a whale, but the whales have no such rules. It was a magic experience, despite the lack of great photos – we were just happy to be among these creatures. 

Heading out.

This was generally about as much as we saw of the whales.

A Humpback Whale tail.

A tail slap a long way off at last light.

Heading back.

 After the tour we were dropped back to the caravan park and we ventured across the road to the pub for dinner – a special treat to end a special day.

The next morning we spent some time doing our housekeeping (read – washing) and had another swim. The day was quite hot, without the wind we had been experiencing on the other side of the cape at the national park. In the afternoon we headed out to the Mildura Wreck, which can be seen from the beach at low tide. Of course, that’s not really what we were looking for – it’s a birding spot too.

We had made the decision some weeks previous that Exmouth would be the most northerly point we would visit on this trip as we wanted to leave plenty of time for the south-west corner too. We chose Coral Bay as the next stop on our return south.

Coral Bay

8 – 10 October 2018

Coral Bay sits right on the shores of Ningaloo Reef, so it seemed like a good destination. It’s only 115km south of Exmouth so we arrived quite early and secured a site at the caravan park. Even though the school holidays had finished, the park was still crowded.

Perentie. A visitor to the caravan park.

There’s not much to do in Coral Bay but we managed to fill in our time swimming, snorkelling and walking on the beach. The reef is very accessible being just a few metres off-shore. While very little is actually living (probably due to human contact) there were lots of fish to look at. Some swam quite close to us. The bay is also quite sheltered without the strong currents we experienced at Cape Range.

The beautiful Coral Bay. Dive tour boats are moored off the sand spit. We'll take one of those next time.

The beautiful Coral Bay.

Despite the clean look of the water from the beach, visibility wasn't that good inshore.

A pair of very large Spangled Emperor were regularly seen close to the beach.

Giant Clam

Carnarvon

10 – 12 October 2018

 On the way back to Carnarvon we stopped at a rest area near a large red dune. There were flowering grevilleas near by being visited by Crimson Chats, Pied Honeyeaters, White-winged Trillers and Black-faced Woodswallows. As I had experienced before, the male Pied Honeyeaters stayed well away. Mick.

Masked Woodswallow

Crimson Chat

This juvenile Pied Honeyeater, while still cautious, allowed me to get close enough for a shot.

We returned to Carnarvon for a couple of nights because there were still a couple of birding spots Mick wanted to visit. Back to the same caravan park, we set up close to the camp kitchen and swimming pool. We did the usual housekeeping during the afternoon and, in the morning, drove out to Bibbawarra Bore. About 25 kilometres from Carnarvon along unsealed and fairly corrugated roads, this is another spot where people camp, although we didn’t see anyone while we were there. The bore head is apparently the remains of the longest sheep trough in the Southern Hemisphere and emerges from the depths at a steaming 67°C. Signs warn visitors to stay clear, and to monitor small children and dogs.

The target species here was Star Finch. They weren't hard to find, coming in to drink regularly.

Laughing Dove

Diamond Doves were also common around the bore.

Bibbawarra Bore was such a promising spot that we decided to try to pack up and leave early in the morning and visit again before we headed south. We managed to do just that and Mick spent another hour staking out the birds. From there we visited another birdy spot – Bush Beach – although this one was a little disappointing bird-wise. It did, however, look like a nice spot to camp for those who are self-contained There are no facilities at all.

Some interesting birds came to drink as I watched, a Pied Honeyeater, a White-winged Triller and Black-faced Woodswallow joined the Star Finches and Diamond Doves waiting in surrounding trees. Thick reeds on the side of the bore drain don't allow you to see birds drinking or to get close to those about to drink. Male Pied Honeyeaters would have to be the shyest birds I have ever come across, they would land a long way off, see me and leave. So no shots of them sadly. The next morning I spent a little time in my throw-over hide near a watering point further to the left of the bore. It paid off with some Star Finches coming fairly close. Mick.

From Bush Beach we returned to the highway and made our way south to the junction with the Denham-Shark Bay Road and turned north up the peninsular towards Monkey Mia.