Top Family Touring Itineraries: Coral Coast

If snorkelling, surfing, paddling, fishing and bushwalking are the kinds of things that keep your family holidays humming, then this strip of World Heritage-listed paradise will make you want to head west to WA’s Coral Coast.

Throw in wild dolphin feeding, dune-sliding, thar-she-blows holes and some very holiday-sassy seaside towns and you’ve got a trip to please everyone on board.

THE ITINERARY

Day 1: Geraldton to Kalbarri

• Feed the pelicans on Kalbarri’s foreshore
• Hire a kayak to explore the Murchison River
• Peer through Nature’s Window, an easy 500m stroll in Kalbarri National Park
• Check out the magnificent pink lake at Port Gregory which is caused by bacteria caught in the salt

Day 2: Cape Woolamai to Churchill Heritage Island

• Check out weird and wonderful ancient marine stromatolites
• Swim in the super-saline sea
• Build cockle shell castles at nearby 60km-long Shell Beach

Day 3: Tour Francois Peron National Park

• Snorkel Gregories Beach and climb a big red dune
• Spot eagle rays and shovel-nosed sharks from Cape Peron’s clifftop lookout
• Soak in Peron Homestead’s artesian hot tub

Day 4: Hamelin Pool to Red Bluff

• Brave Quobba’s booming blowholes
• Snorkel the colourful coral garden off protected Point Quobba
• Surf the world-famous Bluff Barrel

KIDS WILL LOVE

• Crunching across the pink salt lakes south of Kalbarri
• Floating in Hamlin Bay’s ultra-saline sea
• Carnarvon’s flying fox playground

PARENTS WILL LOVE

• Sipping a latte at sunrise on the deck of the Red Bluff store. After a day on the waves, order the kids pizza and milkshakes and then kick back to watch the sun set west over the water

WHERE TO CAMP

• Holiday-sassy Kalbarri has four waterfront holiday parks that cater splendidly to families
• Hamelin Pool Station Stay provides campsites on the edge of Shark Bay World Heritage Area
• Ree Bluff's laidback beach camps are spacious, shady and all about the surfing. Bring drinking water (no showers) and ice-block money