Coral Bay

We have been to Coral Bay several times over the last 5-6 years – it’s expensive, crowded and often windy – and we love it.

yep - coats on

Pristine white beaches, cobalt blue water, warm weather, snorkeling, lots of 4WD tracks, swimming and fishing. Add two pubs, 3-4 dining places, IGA, newsagent, bakery, IGA and a hairdresser and massage parlor and you get the picture.

sunset with friends

Highlights of our visit this time round were:

·         A full day out fishing in a friend’s 7 meter fishing boat.  Fishing 45 kilometers out in 240 meters of water with electric reels was a new experience for me. First drop - a double hook-up, second drop -  a single hook-up and downhill from there. Lots of hook-ups but losing a lot of fish half way up. Lost one two a shark just meters from the boat (bugger). A brilliant day out with some great reef fish in our freezer and memories of whales cruising/jumping everywhere.

·        

the one and only spanglie

Caught a few spangled emperor from my little tinny inside the reef – unfortunately only one was legal size.

·         We snorkeled several times in the coral filled bay which is a quick walk from the park – lots of beautiful coloured and inquisitive fish and the coral is definitely on the way back with lots of new growth and colour.

·         We caught up with old friends from previous visits and made new friends and had many memorable nights feasting on fish, roasts and meals out at the pub with a great group of people.

·        

another visit to the bakery

Went for a 4WD drive up to Nine Mile/Bruboodjoo Point Campsite about 19 kilometers north of Coral Bay.  Nice spot in a sheltered bay – at $60/week we might give it a go for a week or two when we come north again.

Down sides

·         After 3 lovely quiet days at our caravan site we had a bunch of young campers with lots of preschool kids move into the 3 camps behind us. Must be getting old and cranky but the constant sound of yelling/screaming/crying kids for 8 nights nearly drove us crazy. We must be too old to understand the “new age” parenting methods where it’s OK for your child to yell loudly all day, scream at each other, whine most of the time and throw temper tantrums whenever they like and most importantly the word “no” is to never be used.

·         The wind blew for half the time we were their – so for a lot of days there was no fishing, swimming, snorkeling.

·         Towards the end of our stay Linda got really ill with a severe chest infection – not much fun for her lucky we got to Carnarvon quickly after Coral Bay else she may have had the pleasure of a Royal Flying Doctor Flight.

Linda and the "girls" at the roast cook-up night

We will defiantly be back but might spend a week or two at Nine Mile first.

3 Mile Pool - Onslow

busy but private along the river

Three Mile Pool is a free camp area on the banks of the Ashburton River some 37 Kilometers from Onslow. The camping area is quiet extensive with 3-5 kilometers of options along the river. There is a 19ish km gravel road to get to the camping area which is a little corrugated (at least when we visited) and bloody dusty – but after dropping the tire pressure on the car and caravan to 30lb (hot) is was a reasonably comfortable drive in.

chilling out time

A really nice spot on the river with lots of bird-life, friendly cows, and white gums. Due to the many years of campers – fire wood is a little hard to find but a bit of scouting around with the trusty chainsaw in hand kept us well stocked. The camping area is on the fresh water section of the river but it’s not far down to the salt water section where folk we launching small tinnies off the bank when the tide was right. Believe it or not we did NOT go fishing whilst we were camped here for 5 nights (waiting to fish at Coral Bay which is our next extended stop-over).

couple of escapees outside the lock-up

Old Onslow Town ruins are worth a few hours of touring around(and good time to visit the dunny and dump point 😀) .

my favourite jail-bird

We spent some time at the old police quarters and jail and the historic cemetery with gravesites dating back to the late 1800’s.

you can see the massive Wheatstone Plant in the distance

Everywhere you go there is always the massive Wheatstone LNG Plant in the distance. Our Son Corey spent almost 2 years FIFO here during the construction phase.

this inscription struck a chord

A few hints/info for perspective visitors:

• Follow the Old Onslow Town signs to the camp area (not your Satnav as ours tried to direct us 30 km out of the way). Think WikiCamps gives the right directions.
• When you come in drive all the way to the causeway across the river and then head back the way you came in along the river track rather than the road to find your camp spot. Mostly easily navigable with caravan in tow just one spot where it’s a little tight.
• Check out the weather before arriving as we had 3 out of 5 days of strong (30-40 km ) SE/SW winds and as tempting as it may be to have your awning facing the river view - much better to have it facing north so it is comfortable to sit outside. You can always sit by the river anyway.
• There is a dump point and good clean drop toilet (BYO paper) at Old Onslow Town only a few kilometers from the camp area.
• Good internet and phone coverage – no TV (SAT only)