EXMOUTH AND CAPE RANGE NATIONAL PARK

Leaving Tom Price, we headed west towards the coast and pulled in at Nanutarra Roadhouse to get the air conditioning going to cool down the van.   After a hot, windy night, the hottest night we've experienced since leaving Melbourne, we continued west, then turned north-west towards Exmouth and North West Cape.  North West Cape is a fairly narrow peninsula with sea on both sides, so it was a great relief to feel that sea breeze.  Ningaloo Reef runs along the western side of the peninsula while Cape Range runs down the middle.  Still, it is an arid peninsula covered in low coastal grasses and shrubs, with very few trees. Near the cape, tall masts rise into the air, part of the US naval communications system.  Evidently, Exmouth was established in the 1960s to support the military bases.  There is an Airforce base south of Exmouth at Learmonth, then a little further south a US solar observatory.

Since Ningaloo Reef is so close to shore, we decided to invest in some snorkelling equipment.  Having got organised for an all day expedition to Cape Range National Park and the reef, we awoke that morning to find a thick fog rolling in from the sea.  Deciding to skip snorkelling that day, instead we embarked on a reconnaissance mission to explore the length of the National Park.

Fog at base of some masts

Ningaloo Lighthouse

View from the lighthouse.  Whales could be seen offshore.

The reef seen close to the shore

The Range that bisects the park

Sea Eagle's (Osprey) nest on tower at Visitor Centre

Daisies in the dunes

CHARLES KNIFE GORGE

The blustery, cool southerly blew for the third day in a row, so we headed down the east side then turned inland to the range.  The road followed a ridge and, lo and behold, there were spectacular gorges and chasms either side of the road.



Learmonth airport and airforce base in distance

Finally the wind dropped to a reasonable breeze, so we headed to Yardie Creek at the end of Cape Range National Park and boarded a Department of Conservation boat for a trip up the gorge.  The fairly rare black-footed rock wallabies inhabit the gorge as well as numerous species of birds.

Mouth of Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek Gorge

Black-footed rock wallaby



The snorkelling went less well.  At full tide there was a strong current, too strong for me to get out to the reef, though Eric managed to see some coral and fish.