North West Cape

Two days of southwards travel from Karratha, we turned right and make our way north to Exmouth, near the northern tip of the North West Cape peninsula.  We were disappointed that we couldn't camp in the Cape Range National Park.  The campsites were all full at 10.30am, so we booked into the Exmouth Cape Holiday Park for 2 nights.

In the afternoon we set out to explore the area.  Our first stop is the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse.  The lighthouse was built after the cattle ship SS Mildura foundered on the rocks.  No human lives were lost but many cattle drowned as they tried to swim for the nearby shore.  The wreck can be clearly seen from the beach.




Near the lighthouse is an old radar tower surrounded by World War II sandbags.  On our way to the lighthouse we passed the ultra low frequency radio transmitters at the Harold E Holt Naval Communications Centre.  The many tall towers look like they could be communicating with another universe.

We drove back through the town and headed south towards the Charles Knife Gorge.  The road took us along the ridgeline with several places to pull over to admire the view and take some photos.  The scenery was spectacular and we looked out over the land where North West Cape oil was first discovered in the 1950s.

The next day we load up a picnic lunch and venture into the Cape Range National Park.  After checking out some of the campgrounds, we're not so disappointed that we aren't camping here.  (Today the campsites were filled before 9.30am!)  The campgrounds are pretty spartan and are cramped.  There are quite a few campgrounds, but they don't have space for many campers.  The main activity is snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef which is a World Heritage Site.  The rocks at one of the beaches we stopped at were embedded with many fossilised shells.

The waters offshore are home to whales, manta rays, dugongs and whale sharks.  The reef has a huge diversity of corals and fish.  Snorkelling gear can be hired at the visitor centre.  Unfortunately we haven't come equipped for swimming so we have to be content with the static exhibits and video at the visitor centre.  The radio tower near the entrance has an osprey nest on its tip.

We didn't see any picnic tables (or even any shade) on our drive south along the coastline and after travelling about 35kms, we turned around after morning tea at Mandu-Mandu Gorge and a stop at Bloodwood Creek.





Just outside the park we stopped at the Jurabi Turtle Centre, an interpretative centre on a turtle nesting beach.  We had lunch under the shade sails.

We're starting to see some wildflowers and we've seen plenty of Sturt's Desert Peas and native hibiscus along the way.