Cape Range National Park

Day 160

The alarm goes off at 5.45AM this morning and we are up and straight in to the shower so that we can get to the park and (hopefully) get a spot in a campsite.

As we are finishing the packing up we see another campervan drive past our site and think that they must be heading for the same place (Bugger). We quickly finish the packing up and head off and then as we leave the campsite we see that the other van is still parked outside the showers and they haven’t beaten us at all (Yes)! A short drive to the entry gate and find that at 6.30 we are first in line and as the rangers don’t arrive till 8.30 we have time for coffee and breakfast in the Pollly. Shortly after the other campervan we saw in the campsite pulls up behind us and the look of disappointment on their faces is priceless (I wish we had a picture). Clearly annoyed that they aren’t first in line they must think ‘bugger it’ and they pull away and head into the park. 5 minutes later they are back, realising that the ranger needs to allocate them a campsite but whilst they were away another car has arrives so now they are third! We were both in stitches.

The rangers arrive and there are two spots available this morning at our campsite of choice so we head into the park to Neds’ campground.

Set up in an excellent bush camp spot, on the edge of the sand dunes with no one around us and think that it was probably worth getting up early for.

The snorkelling gear is out and we are off for our fist swim at a place called ‘Lakeside’ (Don’t be fooled though it was on the ocean), amazing it is too.

The coral is just offshore and there must be thousands of fish swimming about (I’d forgotten just how much I liked snorkelling). Floating over a garden of colourful coral and watching the even more colourful fish go about their business is truly amazing and the day is over before you know it (the flippers are really good, thanks Davey).

Back to the campsite and we’ve strung up the solar shower in a tree next to our camp (there is no running water) and take turns under it. Surprisingly hot as well (thanks again Davey).

It’s time for Happy hour at the campsite where everyone gets together around the tables and has a chat about the day’s events. I hate this type of thing but begrudgingly go along and the campsite hosts, Graham and Lynne make us feel more than welcome and introduce us to the rest of the campers. We drink a cold one as the sun goes down and regale everyone with stories of the fish we saw.

Day 161

A morning stroll along the beach today up to a rocky outcrop (which looks like a good fishing spot) where we both have a dip and see more turtles frolicking about in the water.

Return to Polly and head off for ‘Turquiose bay’ where we have a choice of two snorkelling areas, we opt for the drift snorkel. Basically you walk down the beach, get in and let the current slowly drift you along over the coral then get out and walk back up the beach to start again.

See loads more fish and more of the amazing colourful coral and before we know it the day is gone and it’s time to pack up and head back to the campsite.

Stop at the only water tap in the park to fill up the solar shower again and see Emu’s hiding in the scrub, waiting for us to go so they can have a drink. Big buggers they are too and as they start coming towards us we are straight in the van and have the engine started for a quick getaway!

Back to the camp for our shower and over for happy hour again

Day 162

I am up at the crack of dawn (before the crack actually) and am off down to those rocks again with the fishing rod (Carmen stirs but simply snorts and rolls over when I suggest she come too). An hour or so later and not one bite I return for a coffee and some breakfast.

Our plan is to have a few days at one campsite and then move on, working our way through the park. So we drive right to the other end to a place called ‘Yardie creek’  and work our way back, stopping at all of the campsites along the way. Some of them are nice but there is not much shade about and we end up thinking we are better off where we are.

As we are leaving one of the sites we notice a cap to someone’s water tank in road but think nothing of it and carry on to our next snorkelling location.

‘Oyster stacks’ this one is called as there are what at first appear to be large rocks in the water but when you get up close they are thousands of oysters all stuck together. It’s a bit rocky getting in and you can only go at high tide because it is very shallow but once you are in it is well worth it.

The shallow water is perfect for swimming about in (almost too shallow in places) and once again the range of fish and coral is amazing (this is my favourite place). Once again time seems to pass very quickly and before you know it we are heading back to the campsite for our solar showers in the early evening.

Strolling along the beach (on our way to happy hour) we stop to watch turtles mating in the water again and this time it looks more like an orgy in there with probably half a dozen of them having a go! We should have made a video, this sort of thing goes for a lot of money on the internet!!

Day 163

Time to head into town to pick up some supplies and fill up our drinking water (the tap in the park is bore water). As we are packing up we notice that the cap for our water tank is missing and immediately I have flashbacks of the cap we saw the other day on the side of the road.

Do our shopping and buy an emergency cap for the water tank, all the while racking our brains as to where we saw that cap in the road. Head back into the park and thinking there is nothing to lose we retrace our steps from the other day. After half a dozen campsites we are about to give up and decide to try one more….

Would you Adam and Eve it, there in the road is the cap, it looks like it’s been run over a few times but apart from that it is fine!

Happy with our stroke of good luck we stop in at Turquoise bay again to spend the rest of the afternoon with the fishes and corals and return, triumphant to the campsite for our now routine solar shower and happy hour.

Day 164

Wake up this morning and the sky is a dark grey with not even enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers. Just as we are contemplating breakfast the heavens open and we have our first proper rain in months! Buckets down for half an hour and Just as we are preparing ourselves for a day in the van watching films and reading the rain blows over and the sun comes out like nothing ever happened.

Head off to ‘Lakeside’ again for more snorkelling and a short way out I notice a turtle swimming along! He’s not as big as some of the huge ones we have been seeing but a turtle none the less. I Paddle alongside, not getting too close and follow him along for a bit. He doesn’t mind and seems quite interested in this human shaped lump with webbed feet splashing about next to him.

Whilst he glides effortlessly through the water, just the occasional stroke of his front fins to keep him going I am going kicking and splashing like crazy to keep up! After a while he gets bored and switches to second gear and I see him disappear off into the distance. What a treat!!

Swim about a bit more hoping to see him again but no luck and am quite happy with the coral and fishes (I do love snorkelling).

Back to the campsite in the afternoon and as it is still hot have a quick swim before the usual round of showers and happy hours.

Day 165

Surprise surprise (but not with Cilla Black) it’s a day of snorkelling today!

Head off to Turquoise bay again where we spot a lizard sunning himself on a pole on our way to the beach. He obligingly poses for a photo (much like his cousin in Karajini) and we continue on.

We do both the drift and the bay snorkel today and they are both as impressive as before.

Stop to fill up our shower again and this time the whole Emu family is there waiting for a drink. Mum, dad and 7 little ones!

Day 166

Our final day in the park and so we decide to do one more round of snorkelling and head off to Turquoise bay again. On the way stop at a couple of the other beaches we haven’t yet visited and on route see a mother kangaroo with its little joey by the side of the road. Ahhhhh

Arrive at the bay and its straight in again. The water is beautiful and clear this morning and within minutes I have spotted a blue spotted ray sitting about on the bottom and a huge grouper hiding in the coral (I don’t think he wanted his picture taken). There are lots of colourful fish about again and we happily spend the morning in and out of the water and think this is a fitting end to our Ningaloo experience.

Stop to fill up the shower one more time and spend the afternoon packing up and preparing for our onward journey in search of manta rays further down the coast.

Point Samson to Exmouth

Day 155

Woke up and it’s another beautiful day and so decide to hit the beach and have a swim.

Off on the bikes and around the headland to Honeymoon bay with a lovely little beach.

Theres hardly anyone else around and we feel like we are on our own private beach and we set up and are both straight in for a swim. The water is lovely and we happily splash around for a while, sunning ourselves on the beach in between swims.

Head off on the bikes again and cycle around a bit, have a look at the marina and head back through the town (a shop and a pub) to the campsite for some lunch.

Hot and sticky still so head down to main beach with the intention of a swim but the tide is out quite a way and we don’t fancy traipsing across the rocks to get to the water. Instead we relax in the shade for a while during which time Carmen is mauled by midges all over her arms and legs (they always seem to go for her and never touch me).

The bites start to come up as we retire to the pub for a well earned drink and by the evening they have gone all red and swollen like she’s got chicken pox or something.

Like most of the port towns in the Pilbra region it’s a mining port and the pier (which may not be the longest in Australia as I claimed previously) is used solely for loading huge tankers with Iron Ore. You cant even get on to it which I think is a bit of a swizz, especially when they light it up like a Christmas tree at night. It even looks like it has rides at the end of it!!

Day 156

After a bad nights sleep with the itchy bites (I slept fine BTW) we are up and off for pastures new.

Call in at Cossack, which is just outside Point Samson and is now a ghost town after being dissolved as a municipality in 1910 and abandoned by the 50’s. Some of the buildings remain and have been restored as a museum and a B+B and quite nice they are too. In its heyday it would have been a nice little town full of pearlers and gold prospectors but now it’s all a bit eerie and we were glad that we hadn’t been staying here.

A short drive and we in Karratha, a town billed as ‘Having almost all of the conveniences of a modern city’!! We could hardly wait.

To be fair there were a good range of shops and we spent our money in a sterile, air conditioned shopping mall that could have been anywhere.

Just up the road to Dampier and yet another port used for exporting Iron Ore. It seems that large chunks of Western Australia are being dug up and shipped over to China!

The port is busy as well and we have some lunch whilst watching the huge ships being filled with thousands of tonnes of rock before heading onwards.

Our next real town is Exmouth but is too far to go today so we drive about 400KM and pull into our second free camp in week in the middle of nowhere at a rest stop 70KM past Nanutarra road house.

I only mention the road house because we stopped for fuel there and when I am in paying and the card machine is dialling home I get chatting to the guy and he asks how far we are going tonight.

‘Just to the rest stop’ I say and immediately I get a feeling that I am in a movie about a petrol pump attendant who prays on passing travellers. When we do arrive at the rest stop we are both relieved to see there are quite a few other people there and park well up the back just in time for our last  sunset over the Pilbra.

Day 157

Still alive in the morning we head on the further 200KM to the town of Exmouth on the Eastern side of the North West cape (If that makes sense?).  Just North of here is the start of the little known (Well I hadn’t heard of it) Ningaloo marine park which some people would argue is home to Australia’s best coral reef formation (20KM long so only a tenth of the great barrier reef) as well as Whales, turtles and (between April and July) the world’s largest species of fish the Whale shark. What makes the reef so good here is that it is very close to the shore and can be accessed straight from the beach in many places. We were both looking forward to finally doing some snorkelling after carrying the gear around for 5 months!

Pull into the visitor information and find out that it is a long weekend for the Queens’ birthday (and she is in Australia for it as well) and so it is likely to get busy so we decide not to stay in the town and head a further 20KM, around the top of the cape and down the east side to the Lighthouse campsite.

Now I like a lighthouse as much as the next man (probably more) and so was a bit disappointed to arrive and find it’s called the lighthouse campsite because you can see the lighthouse up on a hill, miles away!

Keen to get in amongst the reef we head down to the beach in our bathers but its low tide and the coral (and mainly rocks) is barely underwater so we can’t really swim over any of it.

We sunbathe for a while and notice lots of turtles in the water and upon further inspection see that they are mating (well it is mating season).  We feel very privileged (and a bit embarrassed) and sit and watch as one after another swims right past us, occasionally popping their heads up to have a look around (at us).

We return to the campsite and notice a family of birds with the young ones being fed by mum and dad right out the back of Polly. Ahhh lovely

Overloaded with nature we retire to a chilly (below 20 Deg) bed and sleep.

Day 158

Im up and have my snorkel on before breakfast this morning as we are going into Cape Range National Park to do some snorkelling on the reef. Drive into the park (good use of the annual parks pass) and stop at the visitors centre to have a look. Get chatting to the woman there and she tells us that it is a good year for turtles and we should see some (we already got an eyeful yesterday!).

Head on to Turquoise bay and it is beautiful, a bit breezy perhaps but the sun has certainly got his hat on. Just off the beach and we are into it, lots of hard and soft coral and an abundance of brightly coloured fish. We paddle about for a while and only get out when we (I) am getting cold.

Back in to Polly and a chance to window shop the campsites to see where we might like to stay. You can’t book here so its first come first served in the morning and we have heard of people camping out at the ranger station from 4AM to make sure they get a spot! Have a look at most of the campsites in the Northern end of the park and narrow it down to a shortlist, all of which we would be happy to stay at.

On the way back we call in at the Jurabi Turtle centre which confirms what we had already suspected that it is mating/nesting season and that if we are very lucky we might see them coming up onto the beach of an evening to lay their eggs in the dunes.

Day 159

Up and into Exmouth to stock up for a few days in the National Park. Call in at the marina to have a look and see some good potential fishing spots off the rock walls and make plans to come back and try our luck. Next stop is tackle world to get a few new lures and some advice on the local fishing which all sounds very promising. A quick stop at the hardware shop to get a nut for Polly. Now I literally only neede one tiny nut for the weather faring on the front windows but of course you can’t buy just one nut and so I come away with the smallest packet of nuts they have (100! The bloke wouldn’t even give me just one out of a packet)

Call in at what is described as the surf beach but there is no way I am taking the board in here, the break is over the reef and if you came off Im guessing you would have some nasty injuries to show for it. Also just off this beach is the wreck of the SS Mildura, which became beached on the rocks and never made it off and which is apparently another great fishing spot (if you have a boat to get there).

Continue along the coast to Bundegi beach and stop for a swim, with crystal clear water it is like swimming in a giant ocean swimming pool and with the beach umbrella up we happily while away the afternoon.

Back at camp we make the most of the facilities on our last night and pack Polly up for an early start in the morning to get into the park.