Waggin' Trail: I Wonder What the Rich People Are Doing

Coral Bay. Went out for a tourist trip snorkel tour thing, fabulous. Ningaloo Reef runs along the coastline here very close to the beach; imagine the Barrier Reef on your doorstep. Saw a rare lemon shark snoozing on the sand, followed a turtle, saw lots of amazing fish. They took us out past the reef fringe and we followed some humpback whales - yes, leaping out of the water, the full show. Then back towards shore where we snorkeled alongside a manta ray. She was doing "barrel rolls", a feeding technique where they just literally do a loop-the-loop over and over again. We were right up close; lovely. As a result of months of intensive public relations training, the local tour guides are able to communicate with us using the 2 key tour words "awesome" and "cool".

Popping our heads up out of the water, we saw a monster locust plague erupt in the hills - it was like the locust scene from the Exorcist. Freaky. I thought it was smoke, or sand blowing off the tops of the dunes. I can hear them eating everything in sight as I write. Thankfully they kind of stay at rooftop level - there are bazillions of them all over Coral Bay. There's been so much rain that everything is going nuts, even the Western Australians are stopping to exclaim about the numbers of locusts. Dire warnings of moth plagues etc on their way as well.

I have missed whale shark season due to being interrupted by diesel mechanic season, but there's so much else to see that I don't care. Coral Bay visitor tips: don't worry about going out on the boat tours, the snorkelling is just as spectacular right off the beach. There are 2 caravan parks but be prepared to be stuffed in like a family-size budget sausage pack; my neighbours are so close I am practically sleeping with them. Smokey is guarding the bus from next door's labradoodles.