Coral Bay … paradise found
Flying in to Aus, I could see nothing on the ground where Coral Bay should be. I mean, I could see the bay itself but from up here there was nothing to suggest we could even drive to Coral bay let alone enjoy a relaxed family holiday. The fees have been paid, the hire car is booked and we'll be making the long drive up in 3 days time. For now I settled back knowing that Perth is approaching.
Cobolt blue, aquamarine and white, the colours of paradise beaches, these are the colours of Coral Bay, with it's calm shallow waters protected by Ningaloo Reef, home to many Stingray, Sharks and more fish than you can shake a stick at. The wide crescent bay backed by sand dunes has the softest coral sand and remnants of ancient coral on the beach, casting back to a time when sea levels were higher.
Walking along the beach at last light, I can hear waves breaking over the reef and even though the Indian Ocean is tremendously powerful, somehow it has a calmness, it's just out of reach, like a distant memory. The sun has gone for the day leaving a vivid golden glow across the sky, a sheen of ruffled silk across the water, vivid with orange and purple and beyond I can see the silhouettes of palm trees and Eucalypts. So far from my home but I have many of the same emotions here at sunset as I do looking out across the Blackwater at Tollesbury or Goldhanger, especially in winter when our coast is at its loneliest. This place almost feels as though it's out of time, a bubble, apart from the rest of the world, casting it's spell, a feeling I know so well.
Early morning, the breeze of the past days has died away, the water so still with sky above and below, only a thin band of beach between. The gulls are out this morning and a Pelican is strolling along the beach, the first wild Pelican I've seen. I spend half an hour, sitting and walking with it and it finally lets me close, still wary but as I lie on the sand only 3 feet away I'm close enough to hear the smallest ruffle of feathers, the rustle of it's webbed feet on the sand. Then it's gone, not because of me but with total indifference; a fish caught it's eye and breakfast was served!
It's sad to leave such a beautiful place but joyous to have experienced it, so far from home, so remote. May be we'll be back one day, who knows.
