Exmouth and Cape Range National Park

We arrived in Exmouth to pouring rain and lots of wind. What the??? Apparently Exmouth only gets 20 odd days of rain a year but this year it has received a lot when it shouldn’t. Hmmm…global warming? Who knows?

With 2 days at Yardie Homestead we decided to do a whale shark swim on our second day. Whilst we were in Perth, our friend Dan mentioned he had a mate who owns the Ningaloo Whale Shark Swim Company (go figure). Dan contacted him and arranged for a 20% discount, which amounted to several hundred dollars, which was fabulous. After going to the visitor centre we went to the swim tour office to arrange it. Fortunately there were spots on the boat.  We then moved onto the IGA for supplies for the next 5 days. We then travelled about 26km out of town to Yardie Homestead and who should walk in behind us, Paul, who had been moved out of their camp in the national park for a couple of nights before they could get back in! It’s that in demand!

This place is a launching pad for some serious fishing. We were just about the only people in the park without a boat of some sort. Each night the parks’ fish-cleaning table was full of all sorts of big emperors, tuna, Spanish mackerel and trevally. It was sickening really as Paul and I went out for a fish one afternoon and couldn’t even catch a cold! Note to self, when Maria and I hit the road again, must have a boat! We had a wonderful day swimming with Whale Sharks but I won’t steal Lachie’s thunder. I read his diary and couldn’t have said it better myself.

Yardie Camp Cape Range NP

The next day was hot and clear as we drove the 50km down to the southern most camp in Cape Range National Park. The park fringes Ningaloo Reef. It’s quite dramatic with the ranges in the background flowing onto a dune system then white sandy beaches into incredibly turquoise water fringing a massive reef system with huge waves breaking on the outer reef. Just magnificent. We met our delightful hosts John and Maureen who showed us to our campsite. Yardie Creek campground has 11 well spaced campsites and is right beside Yardie Gorge. All the campgrounds in the park have camp hosts during the peak season from April to September, who stay for 3 months at a time. Tough gig but someone has to do it as John told me with a Cheshire Cat like grin.

The ranges behind camp

That afternoon we went snorkeling to Turquoise Bay, which you’d think would have to be extra extra turquoisey and it was! It is a gentle drift snorkel where you walk several hundred metres up the beach, swim out 30-50m or so then gently drift back over beautiful corals and fish. The water is so warm and we loved it. Lachlan, who is becoming our resident underwater photographer, took some great shots. We also snorkeled at Lakeside where the kids saw a massive stingray about a metre across.

Under Turquoise Bay

Above it!

As we were packing up back at the car a white Pajero came flying up the beach coming to an abrupt stop right beside the car blocking our exit. A man in a French accent started asking me if he could take photos of the ‘stickers’ on the Prado. I wasn’t quite sure what he wanted but said yes so the whole family wife and 3 older kids piled out of the car and started snapping shots of all of the vehicles accessories. Awning, fridge, bull-bar roof racks, you name it. It turned out he is a French national but owns hotels in Argentina and was fascinated by the gear on our car. It seems Prados are the car of choice in Argentina but they have no after market accessories it seems. (Apparently Patrols were rejected as inferior product and are now not allowed in) Anyhow they were a very lovely family and we’ll send them details of our trip as Raul and Stephanie plan to do a serious 12 month trip in the future. These sorts of experiences are really precious, and make you feel really special. It was just a delightful encounter.

Battening down the hatches!

We headed back to camp and arrived just as the rain and wind started. The prediction for the next day was awful. Thirty-five kilometre an hour winds, storms and 30-50mm of rain. Beaut! Looks like a great day for everyone to catch up on schoolwork, blogs, photos and diaries. We pretty much spent the day in the camper aside from helping the couple next door with their tent, which was threatening to fly away with their toddler in it. The storms arrived on queue in the evening. At one stage it looked as though we were camping in a lake as there was a couple of inches of water surrounding us and all of our thongs started floating away! I must admit we had a pretty sleepless night listening to the wind and rain, waiting for something to go wrong. Aside from a little bit of dampness we survived pretty well. The day dawned clearer and sunny which was a relief. It took a while to dry towels, chairs and other bits and pieces out. It also took a little while to find all of the thongs!

Unfortunately Lachie had been bitten by something about a week ago and a very sore boil was forming on his arm. We were getting a little concerned so we decided to drive the hour back up to Exmouth to see a doctor. The local hospital saw him promptly and with anti-biotics prescription in hand, we picked up a few things, had lunch and drove back. We popped into Tulki camp on the way to say hi to Paul and Sue. The girls went snorkeling while the boys went fishing. Everybody kicked a goal! Some great tales of the deep from both sides were shared over a drink back at their campsite.

That night after ‘Happy Hour’ drinks with everyone staying in the camp, we tried out the generator where Maria used the thermomix under generator power to make butter chicken. Major success. Nothing stops Thermomick! We only had 3 nights in Cape Range unfortunately, as we have to move on to Broome. I think I’m going to sign-up to be a camp host in a few years time. Even though we saw it at its best and worst, this place has a magical quality about it.

Yardie Creek Gorge

A local enjoying the view

We have a long drive ahead of us over the next couple of days as it’s over 600km to Karijini National Park, which we are all extremely excited about.