Off to See the Wizard - Beasley River to Coral Bay

It was actually cloudy when we left our camp site and headed towards Coral Bay.  We continued to see the craggy hills of the Hammersly Range as we drove along.

Then the landscape started to flatten out and we saw an increasing number of wildflowers beside the road.

It wasn’t a big day of driving and we arrived at Coral Bay in the early afternoon. It is a gateway to the Ningaloo Coral Reef.

 As usual, we didn’t know what to expect.  I think I thought it would be a small town with houses and some businesses, but it is just two caravan parks, a hotel, a couple of cafés, tour operator offices and very small shopping village to support them.  

The story goes that in 1884 the ship “Maud” was the first to land in the area, just a couple of kilometres up the coast, and a very small settlement called “Maud’s Landing” was established.  It consisted of a jetty, wool store, small tram line for loading and unloading the boats and a pub.  It was mainly to support the pastoralists.  It operated until 1947, when it was closed, the jetty dismantled and the materials used for other things.  A fellow by the name of Jack McKenna, the manager of a nearby pastoral station, built a holiday shack at the site of Coral Bay in 1933.

It wasn’t until 1968 that part of the station next to the current settlement was sold to a Mr Ryan, who built a caravan park, hotel and service station.  The name of the town comes from the name of his hotel “Coral Bay Hotel”.  In 1973 another couple recognised the potential as a tourist destination and started tours.  It has grown from that and is really still just a stepping off point for the Ningaloo Reef.

We had a nice walk around and then a lazy afternoon.  It is a very pretty little bay with that gorgeous blue water.