Pure flying time to Perth would be about 4½ hours. To that we would have to add time for two fuel stops and at least an hour and a half for detours and circling of several places like Shark Bay, Kalbarri, Pinnacles, Perth City, Cottesloe and the like. In total it would probably mean something like almost 7 hours in the plane. We weren't in a real rush and hence decided to take it easy and spend two days for the trip back to Perth. That way we also had time to do a Quad-Bike tour before leaving Coral Bay.

Imagine a motorcycle with four wheels and you got a Quad-Bike. They are great fun to ride. Especially because we were the only ones on the tour and the tour guide wasn't one of those "Be careful and drive slowly or you could hurt yourself" guys. He just took of at high speed and we tried to keep up with him (which of course isn't a problem for a holder of a Formula 3 license ;-) going at about 80 km/h along the beach and over sand dunes. Two stops were made where we went snorkeling while the tour guide was fishing for squids. The snorkeling was definitely better than the previous day. The second time we went into the ice cold water we even spotted a big turtle - the first we've seen under water. What a shame the camera is broken.

The Quad-Trek lasted for three hours (would have loved to do it all day) and was followed by a relaxing lunch and a bit of souvenir shopping, which is surprisingly cheap in Coral Bay. By about 2.30 pm we were up in the air again and headed south for Carnarvon where we had to refuel - we could have had fuel in Coral Bay, but it would have been very expensive.

We had thought of going to Kalbarri for the night, but that would have been pushing it. The official last light would be around 6.30 pm, but it actually gets quite dark already by 6 o'clock, so we decided to go to Monkey Mia instead.

I wouldn't necessary recommend Monkey Mia if you travel by car as it is a detour of almost 400 km from the main north-south going road along the west-coast. But if you fly it is no problem - it's more or less on the track from Carnarvon to Geraldton anyway. The airstrip is about 18 kilometers away from Monkey Mia, but you can either order a bus to pick you up or hitchhike to the resort. We didn't have a choice - the bus doesn't go after 4.30 pm.