Coral Bay

Western Australia

THERE IS SOMETHING wonderful about winter in Australia, where you can enjoy a holiday at a location with average temperatures in the low 30s under clear blue skies. There are few better places to experience this than Western Australia’s Coral Coast – particularly Coral Bay, and, just a bit further north, Turquoise Bay. These beautiful white sandy beaches with spectacular blue-green water are protected by the Ningaloo Reef. The area forms part of the Ningaloo Marine Park, with Turquoise Bay located within the Cape Range National Park. The protections associated with this conservation area allow us to enjoy both marine and landbased nature at its best.

The region is easily accessible on sealed roads and is perfect for all age groups. Accommodation varies from isolated beachside campsites to a four-star hotel. Exmouth has all the facilities and services you could need, including the excellent Ningaloo Visitor Centre that boasts a list of 54 things to do in Exmouth. These include fishing, snorkelling, scuba diving, swimming with whale sharks, kayaking, whale-watching tours (though you needn’t go further than the beach to spot a whale), hiking and checking out all the local f lora and fauna. Excellent guided tours are also available.

One of our favourite things to do at Coral Bay is to sit in a metre of water with mask and snorkel on and watch the huge variety of fish there, including snapper and parrot fish. Then we love to walk along the northern shallows in the shark nursery. There are amazing varieties of beautifully coloured f ish and corals to be seen as close as 15m from the shore. For the less energetic, a glass-bottomed boat tour is available.

Our most enjoyable days, however, are spent at Turquoise Bay where, apart from simply lazing on the sand, you can swim with large sea turtles in crystalclear, warm water just off the beach. Best of all is what locals call “drift snorkelling”. This involves walking south along the beach (we go about 250m), then, with snorkel and mask on, wading out to chest deep at most and simply f loating facedown, letting nature do the rest. The gently f lowing current takes you over reefs exploding with bright corals and a huge variety of spectacularly coloured fish. A simply wonderful, safe experience – and once the current drops us a few blissful minutes later back at the start point, we just have to do it all over again. What a shame…