Coral Bay to Carnarvon

We decided to try out kayaking for our final morning in Coral Bay, in an effort to get close to the sharks again. We paddled across the bay to the reef shark area. We were treated to a view of a number of reef sharks but they were pretty shy of our kayaks and swam away much more quickly than they had when we were just standing in the water watching them. We pulled out our snorkels to try to look at them under water but the visibility wasn’t great. We were treated, however, to  close surface view of a turtle which I at first mistook for a sea snake (and am still not fully convinced was a turtle).

We were also able to tether the kayaks up to a mooring point in the middle of the bay and do some more deep water snorkelling. The coral was gorgeous, including a huge cylindrical reef with a particularly varied array of coral close to the surface that we could swim over and get a very close up view of the coral and the fish.

On the way to Carnarvon we stopped at Bumbak’s plantation to sample their famous fruit smoothie/fruit ice creams. Rio had the banana smoothie, Sol had banana and chocolate ice cream, I had frozen pure mango and Chris had mango dipped in chocolate. Super yum. We also stopped at the  OTC satellite, the first one to broadcast across continents to Australia and receiving the signals for the moon walk.

Back in Carnarvon, the kids wanted to go back to the park to play footy, while Chris and I shopped so that we could make use of the pizza oven at the holiday park by making some pizzas to throw in. We took advantage of the fresh basil and green onions growing in a pot outside reception, and made the most yummy pizza to eat in the gazebo. 

We also squeezed in a walk along the one-mile jetty, built to allow the movement of wool and produce out to the ships that couldn’t make it up the mouth of the Gascoyne River – now part of the heritage precinct and a great spot for fishing (the pylons of the jetty have grown greenery that make it imitate coral in attracting fishies).