Western Australia Wrap-up

The Great : Coral Bay
What can we say: Coral Bay rocks! Coral Bay offers the best snorkeling we’ve done in our lives, even trumping our Fiji experience. I finally understood what the notion “coral garden” means. And best of all, no need to book a tour to see beautiful garden. At 0,0$ Coral Bay offers an unbeatable experience for the price.

The Hidden : Karijini National Park
Well Karijini really belongs to two categories: Great and Hidden. It is an fabulous park that will marvel hikers and swimmers alike. It is Hidden because, strangely, no Australian we met had ever heard about this park (even in Perth!) until we reached Tom Price. There were only a handful of tourists in the park and we knew pretty much everyone the first day in the park. Karijini is a real gem that deserves so much more publicity.

The Overrated :
Most of Western Australia is underrated so this is really hard for us to dig up anything. If we really, really have to find something a tad bit overrated, it may be the Pinnacles just 200 kilometers north of Perth. After seeing the Walls of China in Mungo National Park, we felt it was a tiny little bit underwhelming. Still very glad we saw it though.

The Ugly : The relentless heat at night
Western Australia enthusiasts, be warned: it gets bloody hot by day AND night. Not only did the temperature reach 47 during one day but stays alarmingly high in the low 30’s by night as well. The constant heat made our camping journey much more difficult, as there is only one air conditioned accommodation option for ALL of Karijini (at 280$ a night, thanks but no thanks). You should visit Karijini in winter or prepare yourself to drive dozens of kilometers everyday for the trip between the gorges and your air conditioned room.


Other observations :
• We had our first attempt at drift snorkeling in Cape Range National Park. Drift snorkeling is the art of letting the current carry you over as you explore the coral. The upside is that drift snorkeling is probably the easiest snorkeling you can do. There are two important downsides: one is that the strong current makes it near impossible to take good pictures with an underwater camera. If you want to follow a nice fish as it swims against the current, you have to be a very good swimmer to keep up with it. The second drawback is that the water flows in one direction for a reason: it is trapped in the reef and wants out into the open ocean. What this means is that you’ll have to exit the current at the right time or you’ll be swiftly carried away into the open ocean. The danger is real and rescue efforts in that part of Australia are not, as you can imagine, comparable to those of very touristy Eastern Australia. Fortunately, there are good indications posted on the beach on where and when to exit the current. Ania and I never took any chance and exited the current 50 meters before the recommended exit point.
• We visited Carnarvon on our way to Coral Bay. We saw the devastation of the December flooding. Most of the banana and other fruit plantations have been devastated as a result. It’s tough to be a farmer in Australia: if you are not battling wild fires you are preparing for the next flooding. Hard life.
• There are very few budget accommodation options in Perth. Perth is horribly expensive in high season and a cheap motel costs about 200$. Budget hotels start at 200$. We had to stay in a private room in a hostel. The room was fairly disgusting and small. Ugh!
• Between Exmouth and Broome is cyclone zone. We left Exmouth and a cyclone hit the region a few days later. Although cyclones are a constant threat, they produce some amazing cloud formations. Ominous clouds always seem to fill the sky late in the afternoon. Every evening was spectacular.