Coral Bay Ningaloo Reef
By Lothar. Filed in Australia |
It took us three days of air travel to get here. On Wednesday, March 23rd we flew from Perth to Carnarvon and drove north on Highway 1 to Coral Bay. Western Australia is huge and the stations ( cattle ranches ) may have one million acres. The highway is in very good condition and the 105 degree F temperature did not warp the bitumen.
This town consists of 2 caravan parks, 2 basic motels and our ” Ningoloo Club Backpackers” prison ! We have a bare cinderblock cell with 2 army cots, no chair, table or hook to hang clothes. We share the showers and toilets.
The last 2 days we spent with snorkeling off the beach ( in the Indian Ocean again) and relaxing in the shade ( too hot in the sun!) Our prison does not allow us to bring in alcohol from the outside (they want to sell their own, at exhorbitant prices), but we have our ways around this. Our little esky ( cooler) and a bag of ice from the supermarket help us to cool the beer and wine that we had bought, together with groceries in the last bigger town, before getting here. The other backpackers are very nice, young and seem a little jealous, when they see us have our well balanced meals which Gabi creates in the communal kitchen.
We had some good conversations with travelers from Australia, England and Germany. They all seem to travel for a minimum of 2 months up to a year, often after having finished their education and before starting their first job.
Some never seem to make it back, we have met a few that have been traveling for more than the elotted 1yr. working visa time.
Today Gabi dropped a scuba weight on her right forefoot, which developed a hematoma almost immediately. They have a clinic, staffed by a nurse in
” town “, but according to the note on the front door, the doctor only comes on Fridays. Today is Saturday ! So far Gabi is doing better with ice and ace bandage from my supplies. Fortunately we have no hiking scheduled in the near future.
Sunday, March 27th 2005 at 11:33 pm |
Wow, you really are travelling budget… And I thought Papa had standards
Hope Mom’s foot gets better!
Thursday, March 31st 2005 at 5:25 am |
This was the only accommodation we could get here over the Easter Holiday