16 October - Shothole Canyon, Cape Range National Park and Coral Bay

16 October 2016 – 191 814

Shothole Canyon, Cape Range National Park and Coral Bay

This morning we packed up in high winds – packing down a camper trailer in 20+ knot winds is interesting.  We then headed into Exmouth to refuel and buy groceries before continuing south.  We stopped at Shothole Canyon Road and dropped off the van before continuing.  This is an amazing gorge that you drive the 12km down the floor of.  It is created by erosion of an old coral reef and has interesting formations and a mix of colours from white, through creams and pinks to red.  Quite spectacular.  At the end we climbed to a lookout, then we climbed down and had a picnic in the base of the gorge. 
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/cape-range 
https://www.australiascoralcoast.com/destination/exmouth/cape-range-national-park/shothole-canyon 
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/shothole-canyon

After collecting the van, we continued south to Coral Bay.  We are staying at People’s Park Caravan Park for the night.  After setting up the van, we put our togs on and headed to the beach for a snorkel.
 https://peoplesparkcoralbay.com.au/
The water here was much, much colder; even though we are only about 120km south of where we were yesterday. The coral here starts within two to three metres of the water line, and are much more diverse and colourful than further north.  While we did not see as many large fish as previously, we still saw quite a variety of fish, and even saw a small manta ray!
https://www.australiascoralcoast.com/destination/coral-bay
https://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Destination/Coral_Bay/56b266b92cbcbe7073ae0693#/
https://www.coralbay.org/