The Coral Coast WA

This School holidays my partner and I decided to road trip up to Dongara which is around 350 km north or Perth and about 64 km south of Geraldton. July is almost the perfect time to head up the coast as the scenery is super green and lush and the wind is less than in the summer months.

We travelled up the Indian Ocean Road and I must say it is one of my favourite drives. The blue sparkling ocean on your left and rolling scrub with glimpses of white sand dunes all around. We stopped for coffee in Cervantes, a one crayfish town, around half way there.

We arrived in Dongara early evening and checked into the Dongara Tourist Park, which is a caravan park that has self-contained cabins with or without an ocean view. Our cabin was overlooking the trampoline and about 10 metres from the beach entry. Perfect! I will mention at this point that we were also travelling with our pet Eclectus parrot, Beanie so “pet-friendly” means you get a view of the trampolines.

The Tourist Park is located minutes from the Indian Ocean Drive and 3 km from the town of Dongara, Port Denison. There are a couple of small shops around for purchasing the basics such as milk and bread and a pub called Southerly’s that serves (surprisingly enough!) pub meals.

The first night we went in the town and had a delicious pub meal at the Dongara Hotel. Fresh snapper and scallops served with chips and salad, surprisingly good!

The following morning found us on the hunt for a decent coffee and we discovered “Poppies” a quaint little cafe in one of many historic buildings in the area. Great coffee and a relaxed vibe.

We decided to walk from our accomodation to the Irwin River, which runs through Dongara, Port Denison because I had my SUP with me and wanted to check it out. The walk along the coast was beautiful and we came across this amazing bird sanctuary with wooden walkways. The colours from the scrub and the ocean made for a stunning view.

The “mighty” Irwin River didn’t really impress or make me want to race home to grab my board. Obviously the recent rains have turned this river the colour of yellow clay and seeing as my prime objective when SUPing in winter is to stay dry at all costs, the thought of coming into contact with water that colour was not on the top of my list of priorities.

On the way back to the Park we passed a fresh seafood vendor so we stopped and bought some fresh (frozen) cray tails and some scallops to cook up for dinner. While we were there a bus load of Chinese tourists were buying up every live crayfish in the shop and then spent the next 10 minutes taking it in turns to hold the poor things up while they all posed for pictures. I only hope they allowed the poor creatures to die a quick and painless death!

Our fresh seafood was delicious for dinner and we ended up just battening down the hatches because a huge storm passed through, happy that we were in our cabin and not outside in a tent!

The following morning we decided to go exploring up Greenough way and we stopped in at the Irwin Museum where we were shown around by Bob who looked like he was as old as some of the artefacts in the museum. He was very informative and very happy to share some of his own inventions with us!

We then headed out to the country side where the trees grow sideways. My view of Greenough has forever been tainted by the horrific mass-murder that took place there in the 90s and I have never been able to drive through there without inwardly shuddering. So I had actually never been into the historic centre or checked out any of the abandoned sandstone buildings before. The buildings , both the restored and the decaying did nothing to make me feel anything different about Greenough. A tough and probably cruel life for those who settled, those who came from there and those who were sent there. Made for some awesome photos but I felt jumpy walking through the dark and cramped prison cells and the old school rooms. The coolest part was the herd of alpacas and one lone llama wondering the property.

The hotel we stopped at on our way back to Dongara was the quirkiest and most run down place of all! The Hampton Arms is a tumble down old bar/bookshop that looks like it has seen better days. From the cobwebs holding books on shelves to the dismembered dove feathers in one of the bookshop rooms and the cats slinking through the dining area. We had a hearty lunch and a drink to the dulcet tones of Bob Dylan and conversation with the elderly couple who live there and run the hotel.

The final day I made a decision that I could not return to Perth without getting out on my SUP so I woke up early and headed to the marina. Was worth getting my toes wet! I saw an osprey sitting on a boat mast and had a great downwinder across the marina.

A great mini-break and even had a go on the trampoline! Thanks to the Dongara Tourist Park for letting us bring our parrot, a super holiday was had by all!