Our Road Trip, 2nd stop Coral Bay.

Now, because We had a long drive ahead of us We packed everything except the essentials the night before and so managed to leave just after 8am. Which, for us, is really good going:)
We had been warned by a few people that the further north you travel, the more kangaroos there are, and the bigger they get. So, to be prepared for this we had a bull bar fitted to the car, as we didn't want the hassle of trying to get the car fixed if we did hit one. So as we're driving along we're both keeping our eyes peeled just in case. We turn off the road that leads to Monkey Mia and back on to the road that heads north. Straight away we see dead kangaroos along the side of the road. So, instead of playing 'I spy' or something like that, We decided that for 50km we would count how many dead animals were along the road. A bit gross I know, however, G and I were curious. We were amazed that we saw around 123 compared to about only 50 cars that drove past! And not just kangaroos! There were plenty of goats and a few cows and emu's too! So, be warned if you drive that way! The only live animals that we saw were a huge amount of goats, a couple of brave cows and a couple of emu's. No live kangaroos! Not sure whether to be disappointed or not:) We also saw hundreds of these....I didn't get close to see what was making them, as I figured a house this size has got to have a lot of occupants, and they were probably big!

We arrived in Coral Bay late afternoon I think? It was still daylight anyway. We checked in (Bayview Resort) then We had a quick walk around to stretch our legs before putting the boys back in the car to watch a DVD while we set the tent up. This worked great! It was so quick and easy I don't know why we haven't bought portable DVD players before:)

The next morning we had a walk around the small shopping centre and saw the shop which organises boat trips to see WhaleSharks and snorkelling. It was a company that had been recommended to me by a friend, Kirsty. Unfortunately we were a couple of weeks late to see the Whalesharks however, we decided to go on a 2 hour Coral viewing and snorkel trip. The boat was a sub sea explorer, and so this means you go below deck and can then view through glass windows to see the Coral and fish galore. It was just fantastic for the boys, especially as they weren't going to get in the water to snorkel.

Once we got to the place to go snorkelling we all went up on deck to hear the safety annoucement. Gareth and I decided that G would go in the water first then we would swap so I could have a turn. The boys got a bit upset that G was in the water and not with them, especially Ollie. The 'Captain' realised and came over to talk the the boys, Gareth swam around to the side of the boat where we were and then the 'C' gave the boys some fish food to throw in. Oh, My goodness, the amount of fish that came was unbelieveable, G was surrounded! and the boys loved it:)

Then it was my turn, I didn't feel that confident swimming around in the sea, so I was given a noodle (a long floating device) to use. I felt like a right muppet, but never mind, I got to see some great fish, sea cucumbers and coral. Gareth was not allowed back below deck as he was wet, but he stood in the doorway so the boys could go back down and Jacob could take a photo of me:)

It was such a cool trip, the boys talked about it all week long:)

What I didn't mention was that to get on the boat you need to walk in less than knee deep water to get on the ramp, then you go to the back of the boat to go downstairs. But if you look over the side you could see some huge fish before the boat even starts to move!

The next day we decided to go off road and drive on a 4WD only track along the coast. Hoping that we would find a beautiful beach to stop and have lunch. Unfortunately, we didn't get on the track at the right place and so it took a really long time going to get to the right point. We decided to come off the main track and see what was off the smaller track on the left. We saw an older couple stood near thier vehicle and I joked that they may be stuck. As we got closer Gareth shouted to the guy to ask him if they were stuck but He stood on the track in our way, we had to frantically wave and shout for him to move so that we didn't get stuck too, but his wife did the same! She quickly got the idea though and so moved safely out of the way. We stopped once we thought we wouldn't get stuck as it was really soft sand where the couple's vehicle was.

We then spent the next half an hour or so digging them out, and letting their tyres down, (a must when on sand!) then Gareth got his snatch strap out and drove behind them and pulled them free.

We were a little disappointed on this trip as we couldn't get as close to the sea as we hoped and it took a lot longer than planned, however, we did see our first live kangaroos close to the track.

The next day Jacob was desperate to use his bike and for us to use ours. So We all went out together, I had seen a sign to a boat launch and so we rode there. Jacob did fantastically! We had actually forgotten to pack the 'trailgator' which is a device that attaches his bike to one of ours. So he had to ride on his own. He didn't quite make it all the way up the hill, he climbed in to the trailer with Ollie and Gareth hooked Jacob's bike on to the back of the trailer. Let me tell you, it was quite a load for me to pull!

Early afternoon we decided to go back to the beach near to where the sub sea explorer goes from to see if we could snorkel and see some more fish. It was a cloudy day so I decided to use my wetsuit. I haven't used it in ages so that was fun trying to get it on! It was brilliant, we only had to go about 12inches in to the water and we had huge, beautiful, blue fish swimming up to us. At one point we had about 20 swim past. This was especially great for Jacob as he doesn't like to go in the water that much. It's also very salty water which I hadn't realised and so it made it very easy to float around and see some amazing fish.

On our bike ride in the morning we saw a 4WD sign on a track near to the boat launch. So after our play at the beach we decided to go exploring. I'm so glad we did as it was what we were hoping to have seen the day before, and there were sand dunes for Gareth to play on too:)

I don't know why but going on bumpy tracks seems to be very relaxing for our boys, and they fell asleep.

Our last day was a bit cloudy and we had a few light showers, so we decided to walk along the beach in the opposite direction to where we had been snorkelling. We came across a few rock pools and saw a few small stripey fish close to shore. We also found a few very cool looking crabs.

They are so fast it's not funny! Especially when you're in their way.

After lunch Ollie looked very tired, so I offered to stay with Him so he could try and sleep in the tent and Gareth took Jacob to the pool in the resort. Ollie was not going to go to sleep, so I took him to the pool too. The boys all had a lot of fun!

We decided to go back to the dunes in the afternoon as the boys love going on them. We also took our swim stuff so that Gareth and I could go snorkelling. Ollie decided that He would like to go out with Daddy this time, He was very excited as he saw some blue dory fish. He did come off the body board too and just had Gareth helping him a little.I decided not to go in here as the sun had come out and I really wanted some under water photos. So we drove back and bought a disposable camera and went back to our favourite spot on the beach. I took a minute or two to get used to use the snorkel and so I didn't take the camera in straight away, but I really wish that I had as I saw a Lion Fish, for those that don't know it's very poisonous, but very beautiful to watch. I stayed well away, don't you worry:) I swam back to Gareth and the boys quickly to get the camera and found Jacob half stripped off and Ollie naked, running in and splash diving in to the water.
I got the camera and swam back to where I had been, but I couldn't find the Lion fish again. I did find a stingray though! Again I stayed away, I'm hoping the photos come out, I haven't had them developed yet. If they do I'll post them later. The sun was starting to set when I was finished, so Gareth couldn't resist a photo opportunity:)