Another adventure day for us in Coral Bay. This time we’re taking the Off-Road Rush 4WD Buggy tour with Coral Bay Tours along the Southern reach of the Coral Bay Coast, specifically the Southern Outback & Snorkel Adventure.

The day started out at 9.15am for helmet fitting and an operational and safety briefing on the Can-Am 1000 Commander buggy. Engines started and we were off along the road to the Marina before taking a gravel side track into the dunes. Stuart, our guide, switched us to Sport and 4WD mode and we were off leading our group. Although restricted to 35KMH it feels plenty fast enough at first on the narrow sand and rutted 4WD track.

Move over Toyotas

We had priority over all the full-sized off-road vehicles meaning they had to give way to us wherever we went but caution was still needed when rounding tight bends with restricted visibility. Most of the tracks are one-way at least but you wouldn’t want to meet the back of a Toyota Land Cruiser in a hurry.

Catherine was holding on tightly to the grab handles as I drove as quickly as the buggy would go while still keeping a safe distance from our guide’s buggy. Zooming through twisting, banked corners was great fun with the back end sliding out and throwing sand into the air. This was just like riding a JetSki though a little slower. Not coincidentally, the JetSki shares the same hi-reving Rotax engines as our buggy and when unrestricted the Can-Am Commander is capable of 100KMH – considerably more than the 35KMH we had.

Cooling-off

Our first stop was at Five Fingers Reef – a beautiful spot with a white sandy beach and turquoise water. An opportunity for photographs, look for Humpback Whales beyond the reef and to give our engines a chance to cool. Then quickly back into our buggies and a change of order to give our tour guide a chance to photograph the next leader in the group while we dropped to the back.

The buggies handle sand ruts more smoothly than our Land Rover with their soft tyres and very flexible suspension making them almost enjoyable to drive over… or at least a bit more fun.

Mixing ruts with hill climbs, soft sand, steep descents and beaches we continued to our next stop at Oyster Bridge on a cliff overlooking the sea where we had an unexpected find – five Green Turtles feeding right along the shore as we watched from a cliff above.

It’s a privilege to see these beautiful creatures in their natural environment and so many together. Coral Bay, like the beaches at Cape Range National Park, are protected turtle nesting grounds.

Off again and this time to Turtle Cliffs, a popular viewpoint for watching turtles. Today, however, they appeared to have taken leave – probably to where we were at Oyster Bridge. But as compensation we got to see a nesting Kestrel and it’s three fluffy grey chicks right on the edge of the cliff. And, apparently a Whale Shark was recently sighted here several months beyond its normal presence in the area.

Kangaroos!

After one last additional lap around Five Fingers Reef dunes where we startled a pair of Red Kangaroos, we settled back on the beach for those that wished to have a snorkel. Catherine joined the group while I took the drier and less chilly option to take some photographs of the buggies and the incoming tide.

Heading back towards base we took every last opportunity to enjoy the twists and turns and one final obstacle – the steep downhill face of a fair-sized dune.

One-by-one we eased our buggies to the edge of the dune and on our guide’s mark, stepped on it, racing down the incline as quickly as we could go. It didn’t seem that steep in the end but then maybe we had our eyes closed for much of it.

A great morning out on the dunes with a fun group and hopefully the opportunity sometime later during our trip to repeat the experience in another location.

One thing to remember as a driver or passenger on a buggy tour, when in motion keep your mouth firmly closed unless you want to eat dust or sand.

More details of the buggy tours available from Coral Coast Tours