Day 68
Sunday
9 September
Began reading book 12 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
Onslow – Coral Bay
I woke in the night to the sound of dripping on the roof and promptly got up to close down the vents. Turns out it wasn’t rain, but a heavy fog, water droplets condensing on the leaves of the tree above and sliding off and pinging on the roof. By the time we got up, the fog had lifted.
We lazed about until 8am before getting into gear. Breakfast, shower and packed up, we were on the road at 9.15am, though not out of Onslow, a quick fuel stop needed. In town, we could see the fog was still hanging around the bay. Once the van was full, we began the trek back to the North West Coastal Highway.
With an easy and fairly quiet run, we passed the Nanutarra Roadhouse at 10.30, leaving only 270km until we reached Coral Bay. It didn’t stay that way though, as the wind picked up and we were thrown about like a ship of the high seas.
We turned onto the Burkett Road at 11.40am, 144km to Coral Bay, now the wind was driving directly at us. We counted the k’s and the time away. We passed two station stays I have often seen mentioned on FB, as great places to camp.
By 1pm, we had reached the Coral Bay Road and it was only a short 10min, before we arrived in the heart of the small coast tourist village. We drove direct to the People’s Park, passing the Bayview Caravan Park, which looked packed. We ventured into reception to ask for a site, only to be told they had nothing for us. Bugger.
We left the van parked in the carpark and walked back to the Bayview, asking the same question. Thankfully, this time we were able to pick up a spot. Yay. We returned to the van and brought it down to the site. It took a few goes to get it into the by the way we wanted, but once it was done, we began the set up and then I organised lunch.
Keen to get out and have a look around, we left the van and walked across the street and through the small shopping complex. Paul was keen to do a fishing charter, so we took note of what was on offer.
Once out of the shops, we made our way down the main road. We found a large group gathered around the fish cleaning station, as the Mahi Mahi charter had just returned with crates of fish. Paul checked out what was caught and the number, only whetting the appetite to get out there.
We then wandered up the lookout sand dune. From the top, we had a good view over the bay and the coral reef that comes to the shore. We walked down to the beach and wandered along the sand, watching others who were snorkelling. We could even see fish swimming about from the beach.
We left the beach and wandered through our campground, checking out the facilities. There are kids galore here, which is surprising, as school holidays haven’t started yet. The pool was riddled with them. So much for a quiet holiday spot!
Once back at the van, I sat on the bed and read my book, happy to have some relax time. I did eventually get up and start on the salad for dinner. By now the sun was on its way and I caught a glimpse of the colours emerging from the back window. I left Paul to it and made my way to the beach to take photos. Unfortunately, I was a little late and really missed the best of it.
When I returned, I rang my brother for a chat, catching up on their news, which wasn’t much. I then cooked up our salmon and we ate our dinner. Afterwards, we crossed the road to Bills Bar to have a drink and listen to the live music. The venue is quite funky and seems rather new.
After our drink, we moved to the sports bar to watch the end of the MotoGP race from San Marino. We watched Dovizioso cross the line in first and then it was back to the van to read before heading to bed.
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