Cape Range

We drove from Quobba to Cape Range with a stop at Exmouth for supplies, mainly water, fishing gear and a few photos!  By the time we got to Cape Range it was right on sunset.  We set up at Kurrajong for ten nights and raced up to watched the sunset.  Its beautiful watching the sunset over the ocean in WA.

This area had some really bad rains and flooding a few weeks ago.  Some parts of the park have been badly damaged and will not re open.  Pretty devastating for the area, the park is a big draw card for tourists coming to this area.  In saying that, the place is still booked out!  We went and had a look at the damaged areas, the power of mother nature! The area is incredibly green, its a pretty sight the green flats and the ranges in the background.  Such a contrast to the dry dustiness and lack of green we've become accustomed to down south.



The sites at Kurrajong are really good.  Nice and spacious with a nice new loo!  We parked near the Blundell's and also found a few flying friends each day!  Then its a small walk over the sand dune to a pristine beach of Ningaloo Reef.  I know its very hard to take!

We took the kids to check out the info centre.  They have some great displays on the park and the marine life of Ningaloo reef.  Took a bit to get Jake inside as they have a stuffed eagle on display and he's scared of these things for some silly reason.  Once inside the kids had a good look around and a mini science lesson.  Plus they were given a free activity book, which they loved.

Here's a photo of a typical evening.  The kids running around the beach.  The Dads fishing and the Mums watching the sunset.  We had one particularly nice afternoon at the beach at Sandy Bay.  We relaxed on the beach whilst the kids played and the boys fished.   In the space of an hour or so we saw a reef shark in the shallows, a turtle and then a pod of dolphin swam by.  The marine life in this area is phenomenal.

We had heard a lot of people rave about doing a boat trip and swimming with the whale sharks, but debated about the cost.  We decided the kids were too young, Mark wanted to do a fishing charter so it ended up just being Vicky and I who went.  And what a day we had, one of my favourite on the trip so far. 
We motored out to the reef and started the day with an hour or so snorkel on Ningaloo Reef.  I was a little worried about sharks, but the nice captain assured me that when we swim with another person we cut our chances by 50% of being eaten by a shark!  Anyway the snorkeling was amazing, we watched a large turtle swim by and stingrays plus such an abundance of fish, it was amazing. 
Then we went looking for the whale sharks, which are as big as the caravan!  I thought we'd probably only get one chance to swim with one that day but we were lucky.  Our tour found 6-7 that day. 
You jump off the back of the boat and then swim like mad and follow your guide.  Then you stop and watch this giant fish swim through the water towards you and then you swim as fast as you can to keep up with it.  It is such an incredible surreal experience.  You'd think you'd be scared but your not, the adrenalin must kick in.  Sometimes they swam fast but other times they went slow and even swam in circles.  We watched one dive right down below us until we couldn't see it.  Then it swam up vertically right in front of us. Like I said pretty amazing.  Then we wait out in the ocean, just our little group in the middle of the sea, the deep deep sea where there are sharks.  I was a little worried but I stuck in the middle nice and close to our guide! Until our boat came back to collect us.
Then we set of closer into shore to have another snorkel on the reef.  On the way back we say Manta rays swimming about.  Next thing the guides decided to jump in and swim with them.  So of course we jumped in too.  Saw these fabulous creatures swimming about, like underwater butterflies, so so cool.  And they swim super fast!
After that we had a snorkel in another area of the reef.  We even got to see Nemo fish, very cute little clown fish swimming in amongst the coral and anemones.  That day we also saw a sea snake, a dugong and even a pod of dolphins.  Basically everything I'd wanted to see and did.  The staff were incredibly nice and looked after us exceptionally well.  Vik and I really did have an incredibly memorable experience.  One definitely not to be forgotten.

Vicky and I took the girls for a hike to Yardie Creek gorge.  The boys chose to go fishing, surprise surprise!  It was a nice short walk up to a pretty looking gorge.  The kids had fun shouting out to the people on the boat trip below us!  The funniest part was that the girls had to walk with their dolls, we got a few strange looks!

We took the kids snorkeling at Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay drift loop.  It was okay snorkeling at Oyster stacks but the rocks were not very good for getting in and out of the water.  We got a bit smashed onto the rocks after our snorkel.  So we spent more time at Turquoise snorkeling.  Its a beautiful white beach with clear blue water.  There is a current that runs along the beach and you hop in and float down with it.  A really beautiful spot.

We did a run back into Exmouth for supplies and shouted ourselves a pub lunch.  Very handy pub in town that also has a pool, kids had a lovely swim. 

My favourite time of the day, sunset.  Each night we would wander up to either the dunes or the picnic tables and watch the sun set.  Feeling pretty lucky to be enjoying all these photo opportunities.

We had a few overcast and coolish days.  Meant missing out on swimming but we found plenty else to do.  One night the moon had this incredible ring right around it.  Was pretty weird but cool.  I tried to take some pics of it but wasn't very successful, but you can see it a bit anyway.

I've gone on about the marine life but there's also quite a bit of interesting land based critters.  Saw lots of different birds, kangaroos and even a little echidna crossing the road.

The day we drove into Exmouth for supplies we actually set off really early to drive through Exmouth and down the other side of the range to do a bush walk.  Unfortunately when we go there the road was closed.  The rain had damaged the track and we couldn't do the walk.  Vik and I took the girls for a walk past the closed sign anyway and got too see a fabulous view down into the valley.  Was so disappointed to have missed the hiked but then we spoke to some locals who said we had still seen the best view anyway!

Mark and Craig went on  a fishing charter out of Exmouth.  Unfortunately the company wasn't very good, and they didn't catch much.   They still had an enjoyable day though.  They spent a fair bit of time trying to wind in the fish only to then have a shark bite it off the line. 

As you can see we certainly enjoyed Cape Range.  It lived up to expectations and then some.  It was just bad timing that a few of the walks we wanted to do were inaccessible due to water damage.  We'll just add that to the list for our next lap.