Coral Coast English.

After returning from the Gibb we stayed almost a week in Broome, partly to relax and partly to let my foot recover from the gout attack which I got the last days on the Gibb. It got so bad I ended up in the hospital in Derby to get some medicines against it.

Luckily staying in Broome is not a punishment, it is quiet and laid back there, nice and warm (into the 30 degrees), and it has a very nice wide and long beach with lovely white sand and warm seawater.

I presume that everyone knows the “Great Barrier Reef”, but not many people know about the reef that starts or ends at Broome with the name “Ningaloo Reef”. It is almost 2000km long and runs up to Perth. In some areas the ranges run into the water and to the reef what gives nice snorkel spots to visit.

The complete coast we are traveling now (between Broome and towards Perth) is called the Coral Coast; especially the first 1200km are warm and tropical with temp in the 30 degrees and the seawater 21 till 23. Covered with high sandy green dunes and nice sandy beaches.

To get from Broome to these beautiful place you have to travel a lot, to Exmouth and Vlamingh Head over 600km, Coral Bay 250km further and Carnarvon (where we are at the moment, we moved on further in the meantime but had bad internet before) another 260km. most of the times you need the leave the highway and drive an extra 50 till 100 from the highway to get to the coast. And back again when you move on along the coast over the highway.

Exmouth; just a small town where we did some of our shopping before moving on to Vlamingh Head where we only stayed one night. We left because this was a little disappointed for us, compared to 4 years ago. Are we getting fussy? We did get lucky and spotted wales from the lighthouse while swimming in the bay. With low tide we walked over ancient old rock at the shore, what used to be the old reef ages ago and you can see the small and big fossils that lived then.

Coral Bay; is one of those places you would like to stay forever and the day, nice warm weather, wide tropical beaches, the reef on walking distance in the ocean, rays in the 30 cm deep water along the beach, and dolphins swimming close by. We did a tour with a glass bottom boat which took you right over the reef and that way you can see till about 8 meter. deep all the different sorts of coral and sea life. We could also snorkel from the boat and I did it both times. My reward was seeing turtles, reef sharks, and multi colored fish, pipefish, sea snakes, and seabass more than a meter big. The big difference between The Great Barrier and Ningaloo is that Ningaloo is built on sand and GBR is mostly on rocky like bottom.

Some statistic; on our way up to here we passed the 17.000 k mark with the Holden, the van did come with us for about 14.000, with the 4wdr ( for the Gibb) we did 2500 k and the rental car in and around Sydney almost 1000 k.

To do this we burned 2800 liter of petrol, lowest price $ 1,27 and highest $ 2,05 per liter. With a total of; $ 4300, 00.

The car got serviced twice and only one flat tire, the van one service and needed 3 new rubber shoes.

We got 59 bumper stickers (should be 60) on the back of the van of all the places we visited and one new extra number plate (the Gibb).

A photo from our roadmap will give you some idea but for sure not all the numbers here tell you more I think.

Together with some travel friends we celebrated the birthday of Els in a nice way. My birthday is due next Saturday and we don’t even know where we will be, along the coast or inland.

We are already a half year away from The Netherlands but it feels like we are only a couple of weeks on the road, but if I look at our travel blog and our bank account, I know better.

So this time, no exciting story’s but just a summery. It might sound boring, but for us is not a single day boring, every corner is different and has a different view, every road is new, landscape changes, desserts are in bloom, and every area has different wild life and birds, even the kangaroos have another color and size.

We are enjoying ourselves and hope you do through our blog and photos.

Till next time followers and thanks for all the remarks and comments on the blog, we do appreciate them.

The Downunders.