So we left Monkey Mia without Fred in tow. We both hope that he manages ok on the rest of his trip - I'm sure he will, he is 31 after all!

After Shell beach we arrived at the Overlander, where the Greyhound bus was meeting us and as the bus was three hours late we had a lot of waiting around, so we got chatting to a young Scottish couple who were running the roadhouse and believe it or not it turned out they knew Fred and travelled with him for two weeks! You couldn't make this stuff up! We spent a few hours sharing Fred stories - some of theirs much funnier and more disgusting than ours! Probably not publishable (if thats such a word?) The Scottish girl actually served Fred some chips when he was in here with us before Monkey Mia and she spoke to him, but he didn't have a clue who she was?? - No surprise there then!

James and I arrived at the Ningaloo Club hostel in Coral Bay (the gateway to the famous Ningaloo Reef) at about 5am, but as reception didn't open until 8am we hung around the common areas with another couple (Damien - Irish & Tracey - Australian) until we could check in - it was pointless paying for the night before when we were almost there. The annoying thing about the hostel is that it's half in the open, so where ever we went there was no escape from the stink bugs, plus a few pretty interesting looking spiders - luckily though Damien was a small creature enthusiast and was more than happy to remove anything that came by!

We had five full nights in Coral Bay and spent most of the time chilling out, especially to begin with as James was still getting over his bug. In this heat it really takes it out of you, so what better excuse to take it easy!! Also, what better place to do it! We had never seen such a beautiful beach - this is the Indian Ocean at its best for sure! The water was crystal clear on the shore and then reflected a mixture of the most amazing aqua blues you could ever imagine, the further out you looked. One morning we went on a glass bottom boat trip, to check out the fish and coral views - this was a great way to start the day. I was dissapointed that I couldnt take very good photos though, as the morning sun was giving off really strong reflections on the glass - I tried though, you'll see my attempts when I get the piccies on (sorry am trying I promise). The rest of the time was spent either reading by the pool, swimming or walking around the bay itself.

The evenings we either cooked, went to the local hotel or had fantastic burgers on the BBQ at the hostel - they did this twice when we were there and we had them both times - It was a nice juicy burger, with onions, egg, cheese, then as much beetroot, tomato and lettuce as you could fit on your plate! Really good! You'll be pleased to know that we are generally eating alot healthier than the pot noodle and Hungry Jack days - usually having a greek salad or fruit salad every day. Last night our dinner was a fruit salad and pint of milk, which was surprisingly filling and just what we needed in this heat!

We spent quite a bit of time with Damien and Tracey and also met quite a few other people at the hostel - some Canadians, Dutch and Danish travellers that were all really nice and we learned alot about some of the places in Asia that we'll be exploring.

The common areas in addition to the pool at the hostel, were a games room and bar, so we played lots of table tennis, pool and board games, plus James and I played lots more cards and chess, which I used to be really good at, but James managed to beat me a few times - our competitive natures make it very interesting!!

It seemed weird without Fred at the hostel, we kept expecting him to turn up . . . but this time he didn't, so we've had to move on ;-)

The last day here we had to kick around until 23.50 when the bus picked us up, so we sat chatting with the guys we'd met and swapping email addresses. It was quite a farewell when the bus arrived, which was nice and kind of a little sad at the same time.

Once again I recommend Coral Bay to anyone. The hotel looked really nice and for those on a budget the backpackers is as good as any, but don't expect too many smiles from the staff! - just be prepared for the bugs, as at this point in time we'd both just about had enough of the flies and definitely the stink bugs! Lets hope the rumours about the further North you go, the worse it gets aren't true!!