Okay , here we are at Coral Bay , and as you can see it's busy - not Bondi standards busy , but you can't get a spot in either of the 2 caravan parks ! Around the point to the left is where I headed into the water to check out the coral gardens .
The water was rather cool , but I soon forgot about that when you see all the coral . It's been 5 years since we were here last and I was surprised by the amount of stag horn coral - it's taking over from the big leafy type which was dominant .
Up close shows the colours .
You can't see the sand under the coral , it's that thick!
There are other types of coral , you just have to swim around to find them . There's coral everywhere and that probably makes this a more unique place , in that you just walk in off the beach and 10m later you're in amongst it all !!
The cooler water was starting to tell me it was time to get out , so I did , standing in the sun and warming up just like a lizard on a rock .
Heading down the beach for a walk , we found this school of small fish - there were thousands , and they were all swimming in about 100mm of water .
After some lunch , we fuelled up the ute and went around to the boat ramp . The colour of the water here is stunning !!
Time for an aerial view of this - here's the boat ramp , all the dark areas are coral , you can see the darker water beyond the reef edge , with the waves breaking on the edge of the reef .
This view is looking back to the village of Coral Bay , the darker green trees are the back of the caravan parks and you can see all of the village - it's not that big !!
Check out the colours .
After we couldn't take any more of the views , we headed off toward Brooboodjoo , but went via the main rd this time . It gave me the opportunity to stop and get some photos of the mulla mulla again .
Next day we headed north on the track that leads all the way to Yardie Creek in Cape Range NP . More great scenery .
Further up we found a large limestone shelf , some of which had cracked and fallen onto the sand . It gets eroded away by wind and waves and gradually breaks off .
Some more flowers around the place .
We only went up about 12klms , then came back for lunch . After lunch we went for a walk around the point , this was looking back to the beach we're parked behind .
After walking around the point , we found a spot where we could have a swim - it was very windy , so we were ducking wind swell , but the water was beautiful . On a walk along the beach before the swim , I managed to see a small Leopard Ray , and a large Sting Ray , Oh yeah , then there was the reef shark that was about 1.5m long !!
We headed back to the van for a quiet beer and a relax , then I looked out the window and saw this - I've always wanted to get a photo of the suns rays shooting out , and there it was - I raced out of the van and up the sand dune to get this photo .
An Osprey flew past , being escorted off the site by a couple of Silver Terns that weren't real happy to see it .
The sun disappeared behind the cloud , then gradually reappeared as it set over the horizon .
Well , what a cracker of a stop this place has been , unfortunately we leave tomorrow , but it's another day and another adventure .
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