25/09/18 Coral Bay

25/09/18 After a shower, another nice breakfast and my coffee, I was on the road by 8, because I hoped to do something useful in Coral Bay on the way to Exmouth.  (Coral Bay and all other stops anywhere near being booked out, Exmouth was my next bed.)
After the busy road on the way to Carnarvon, it was still busy, but less semi traffic.  Less litter too.  Very sad to see the litter on the main road once away from Kalbarri.  Some travellers are just pigs.  Contrast the number of drink cans & bottles with what you see in SA where we've had container deposits for years.
Some politicians (and their container company executive mates) should be sent off somewhere foreign in a barge.
Again, very pleasant riding.  22C, sunny.

This was one caravan park on riding in to Coral Bay.  Chokkas.

Info joint.  Its Tuesday, not even a public holiday!

 The beach isn't too thick with people, but there were families everywhere.

The other caravan park.  Not even a tent site free, but I don't know if I'd enjoy feeling like a sardine in a can anyway.

Cabins facing the foreshore.  One guy was lounging out front of one.  I asked him how far ahead he'd booked.  Year and a half.  I didn't ask how much.

So I went in to a shop and booked the only thing I could in the time, a glass-bottom boat cruise of 1 hour.  (The one with snorkelling had left already.
Then had a pastie and strong coffee milk and wandered around a bit for my boat to come in (so to speak).

It was actually there, (in the distance on the beach shot above).  I walked over to it.  Oh dear, looks I'm going to get my feet wet!  -I'd actually asked the girl in the shop whether I would, so I was wearing bathers and deck shoes, leaving my riding jeans and boots with the bike, and bundling keys and money into my backpack.

This nice girl gave a running commentary.  We are looking out of diagonal windows below the waterline, rather than through the bottom.  I think the windows work better.

I took lots of shots, none of which show any colour, or reflect what I actually saw.  So here is just one example.  Only a couple of coral types were coloured, so they were mostly boring, except for their intricate shapes.  Some fish were quite brightly coloured.

 These guys started trailing the boat.

 Not at all shy, and quite large.

 Again doesn't do justice to the view.

 Prettier with some sun on it, but again, phone camera doesn't do it justice.

The coral and fish looked amazingly close, and yet we were very close to shore.  The mystery of the trailing fish was answered when the boat stopped to feed them.

It probably would have been as good or better to just snorkel.  But the commentary was mildly interesting, and it was all less trouble for a guy on a motorbike.  Didn't see any turtles, sharks, whale sharks, manta rays or whales.
There are boat tours to see those things, but you have to mortgage your house to pay for them, especially if you actually get to swim with a whale shark.
On the way out I got some fuel.  Didn't fill up, just added $20 worth.  Like most other things there, very expensive fuel, and no 91RON, only 95. 

Here is a shot on the way to Exmouth, showing the ant hills, which occurred singly and in groups like this.  Funny looking squat fat things, quite unlike those in the Northern Territory.

The day started out at 22C rising to a max of 37C, before a breeze dropped it a bit 40km out of Exmouth.  But I felt fine.
The slight tail wind I had was a blessing.  Lowered the wind noise (making my music sound sweeter), and fuel economy.  5.1 L/100km from Kalbarri to Exmouth.  By contrast, usage was over 6 L/100km across the Nullarbor and up.