Cape Range National Park and Coral Bay – NINGALOO!

The stretch of WA coastline from Cervantes (two hours drive north of Perth) to Exmouth (about 280 kms from our free camping spot at Nanutarra on the coastal highway) is known as the Coral Coast.

On our way north to Darwin in May, we stayed at Cervantes and Kalbarri on the Coral Coast (which you have hopefully read about on previous posts) however missed some of the most beautiful and significant parts of this coast – namely Shark Bay Marine Park (the first pointy bit of the coast near the words ‘Australia’s Coral Coast’) and Ningaloo Marine Park (the second pointy bit just to the north of the first). I would hazard a guess that you’ve all heard of these fabulous places – both World Heritage listed – although you may not have heard them described as ‘pointy bits’ before…..

Cape Range National Park is situated on the western side of the northern most pointy bit – which is actually called the North West Cape Peninsula, with the Indian Ocean to the west and Exmouth Gulf to the east. The national park is a place of rugged limestone ranges, deep canyons and pristine beaches. It is protected by the world’s longest ‘fringing’ reef – Ningaloo Reef – which extends 300km from Red Bluff in the south (near Carnarvon), around the Muiron Islands and the Cape to Bundegi Reef (near Exmouth) in the Exmouth Gulf.

The reef runs into shore in some places but is  mostly separated from the coast by a shallow lagoon, making it much more accessible for recreational purposes than the Great Barrier Reef for instance. The lagoon is rich in life, with tidal currents, whilst overflow from waves across the reef keeps it silt free and nutrient rich. As the area receives very little rain, the reef has been able to form very close to shore.

Ningaloo Reef, Muiron Islands and Cape Range National Park were incorporated into the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area in June 2011.

There are some areas within the national park where recreational fishing is allowed, albeit land-based. You are not even allowed to fish from your kayak (not that I would). But it’s snorkelling heaven – you get all of the beauty without the big-teethed nasties (they’re apparently on the other side of the reef, in deeper water….). If you’re into more adventurous snorkelling or diving, you can venture out further afield, especially when the whale-sharks are around (generally around May through to July each year). It’s also a wonderful place for whale-watching when they’re are on the move.

Knowing all of this made it an easy decision to travel to this area. So after breaking camp at Nanutarra, we made our way to Exmouth, booking in at the Lighthouse Caravan Park, situated about 17km out of  town on the road to the national park.

Vlamingh Head Lighthouse – built 1912, ceased functioning in the 1960s – a classic. Fully restored, it has the only functioning kerosene light and rotating glass lens system in Australia.

Lighthouse Caravan Park nestled at the base of the lighthouse and not far from the entrance to the national park

World War II sandbags at what used to be an early warning radar tower, just below the lighthouse, apparently destroyed by cyclones and Japanese bombings!

We’d heard that it was difficult to get a camping spot in the national park, as the camp areas (spread along the coast) have limited sites. Some can be pre-booked online (a hazard in itself) whilst for most, you’ve just got to arrive at the national park entrance gate at 6 o’clock in the morning and line up (hopefully somewhere near the front of the queue). The first day we were in town, we headed out to the park for a look around, to see which camp areas might suit us (avid runners, kayakers, fisher people that we are…). Drove through the entrance gate and sure enough, even at mid-morning, there were still some hopefuls waiting…

The first camp area we dropped into – Ned’s Camp – had this as their beachfront.

Ned’s Camp beachfront – there were about eighteen campsites spread out behind the dunes – looking pretty full

We thought.. “Wow, this’ll do us… ‘ but we kept travelling along the coast, stopping at all the camp areas, checking out the beaches and water as we went. It was all so beautiful….

To cut a short story long, we ended up successfully camping at Osprey Bay, about 40 kms down the coast from the lighthouse.

Osprey Bay campsite – you can see KK over to the right in the camp area

Sandy Bay – just along from our camp area – we ran this beach

And kayaked – a hard day at the office

Andrew went for a ride over the range one day

And made it – impressive

Fishing – just another string to his bow… or line to his rod… whatever

And I can run and paddle. I think this life suits us.

The people you meet… Kev and Barb and their van which runs on recycled vegie oil.

Sunset viewing at Osprey

What a finale! Last night at Osprey.

The weather became quite windy – which apparently happens a lot here at this time of year – and our time at Osprey was up. So we headed south to Coral Bay. Our original intention was to camp on the coast at Warroora Station (just south of Coral Bay) however with the strong winds coming directly on-shore at that point, outdoor activities were pretty much blown out of the water. Coral Bay it was – different aspect, much more protection from that wind.

Coral Bay has a very small resident population and exists through tourism and fishing. It’s energy needs are sourced from a wind-diesel system operating just out of town (so it’s windy a lot around these parts). There are many tours that can be taken from here – glass-bottomed boats for coral viewing, whale-watching, swimming with the whale sharks (at the right time of year), diving, quad bikes, catamaran snorkelling on the outer reef, kayaking….. you can really indulge yourself.

As we both love sailing, we decided on the catamaran snorkelling half-day trip to the edge of the lagoon, on the outer reef. On the day we went out, the wind stopped. Just for that one day. Not good for sailing of course…. but it was a day of pure magic, lolling about on deck in the sun after snorkelling over the reef in the clearest water imaginable. The ultimate paradise.

Andrew took photos (whilst snorkelling) with his Nokia mobile phone wrapped in a sealed plastic bag….

Hangin’ off the back of the boat – sunshine and turquoise water

Proof. This doesn’t show the clarity of the water – it was amazing. We were in water 6-7 metres deep in places. It felt like you could have touched the bottom, it was so clear.

Unfortunately, the underwater photos did not turn out too well – but we have some great memories!

And… that was yesterday! Yep, I’ve actually got the blog up to date. First time ever. Its only taken me four and a half months.

From here at Coral Bay, we intend to head south to the Carnarvon area (some amazing coastal stuff there), on to Shark Bay (unique world heritage environment), to Geraldton….. and then we might take a slight detour…..

Catch ya.