Adventure in a van.: Week 29: Monday 3rd

Coral Bay, WA

Star Rating:★★★★☆

★=Full Star ☆=Half a Star

At Coral Bay we had heaps of fun:

Walking along the beach on the day we arrived, there were some cool, small cliffs that were all crumbling down.

Pushing in to try and get a spot to park the car at Oyster Bridge, there were about fifty cars all in a row! When we finally did get a spot we enjoyed a long snorkel and I found some massive shells. On the way back we stopped at a small bay called The Lagoon, we went for a snorkel there as well and I found heaps of sinkers in the water!

Snorkelling up at Five Fingers beach, there was some amazing coral and fish! To warm up when we got out of the freezing water Jackson and I went sand boarding on a high sand dune, it was super fun.

Exploring some small bays and beaches down past Five Fingers beach in the car with Dad, at one of there the small beaches we saw heaps of turtles poke their heads up. We also saw lots of goats up on some high sand dunes. When we got back we all went down and had a snorkel in the bay at Coral Bay. Sadly the coral was not as magical as we all remembered as about 6 months before we arrived there was a tropical offshore storm which messed up the winds, so the wind was blowing straight into the bay. It happened whilst the coral was spawning so all the spawn got trapped in the bay, covering the inner bay like a huge heavy blanket. It blocked out all the sun and the oxygen, so many fish (about 20-50 THOUSAND) died over the course of five days and most of the coral died. It was very sad to hear especially as the coral won't be back to its former glory for another thirty years or so (hopefully).

Whizzing down the sand dunes at Oyster Bridge. Different to last time we were the only people there (last time there were about 50 cars)! Whilst there we also explored the rock pools (we saw about fifty clams) and went snorkelling, but mine and Jackson's favourite thing to do was going down the sand dunes on our boogie boards, it was super fun and sometimes we were going so fast that we made it into the water!

Driving out to a bay past Five Fingers beach and looking for turtles, there were heaps of them and they were everywhere! That day we also revisited Five Fingers beach and helped some people who got bogged in soft sand.

Walking down to the beach and feeding some Spangled Emperors (they're a sort of fish and they're also known as Norwest Snappers) that came right up to our feet and some of them even went through our legs! That night we went up to the pub and played on the big grassy lawn with Willow, Harper, Lexi and Eadi (we dug a massive hole with them at North Lefroy) whilst Mum and Dad went blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah with all of their parents.