Driving from Monkey Mia to Nigaloo Reef is nothing that will make any headlines in traveling magazines, but it has to be done to appreciate the beauty of Coral Bay.

We started the day with a walkabout on a marked trail around the land of Monkey Mia. It was both cool and scary. This is snake season, and i think 9 out of the 10 most poisonous bugs, spiders and snakes live here in Western Australia. Yay!

The snakes come out of their lairs and warm themselves on the heated land. So it’s a matter of heavy walking when you’re out “in the bush”. We stomped our way around the trail, but saw way more flies than snakes. When we came back to the resort they were about to start the first feeding session. I believe there were at least three times as many people today as yesterday. We were really lucky with that.

Before we got far from Monkey Mia we encountered an Emu blocking the way. Walking around as a proud cock it took up most of the roads. There were cars moving, or trying to move, in both directions, but this king of the road walked his own pace. I pulled down the window to take a picture as we drove slowly past. It then stretched it’s neck and was about to charge us. I snapped this crappy photo and put the pedal to the metal. Not that i really does any good on the Micra, but thank you very much for electric windows.

 

On the way back towards the highway north we knew we would pass Shell Beach. We knew it’s a place worth visiting, but had saved it for this day. The place is almost strange. It’s a water basin there a lot of the water evaporates and the salt level is almost twice as high as in normal sea water. This means that there is little or no fish /animals that lives here and the creatures that lives within these shells have no real enemies. That means they grow in insanely large numbers. They are numbered to about 4000 per square meter. And they, the shells, live and die in colonies. This means that when the water level have dropped over the last 4000 years, the beach is now all these shells in crunched parts. It’s not a place you would go bathing for you would get coated with salt that would probably itch to insanity when you dry up. Likewise do I recommend using shoes when walking on the beach there.

 

The little blue rat has been good on this trip, but should I do it again I would rent a larger car. Maybe just one size up, but the stability on the road and the extra engine power would totally be worth it. As we drive north there are gusts of wind that sometimes hits the car. Let’s just say we notice quite well when this happens. Other than that the car has been a absolute dream to drive.

We stopped at the only place up here where they have Woolworths. That gave us the chance to buy what we need to make breakfast, lunch and dinner in the apartment we have rented in Coral Bay. The cost of renting a room up there is quite high, so making your own food is a smart thing to do.

After lunch, food shopping and fueling we got back on the highway. We listen to audio books on the tour and that works well for passing the time. And we count dead kangaroos and look at the unfamiliar road signs. Like this floodway signs. And then we find these measurement poles that goes up to 2 meters. Whatta?!? Do it ever flood up to 2 meters on this flat land? Strange.

We arrived at Coral Bay after six hours and 30 minutes. The GPS tried to fool us again. We spent the evening taking a stroll down the one street that is here and looking at the beach we’ll be snorkeling at tomorrow.

A nice dinner with steaks and salads ended the evening in our big apartment.