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Published: June 13th 2011
Tuesday 7th – it was a beautiful morning with not a cloud in the sky but today we were leaving this tiny piece of paradise that is Coral Bay. We were packed up and ready to go by 8.30 and so had time for a last wander along by the beach and up to the lookout. There were already plenty of people about and a few who had also strolled to the lookout. It was very easy to see why retired folk from Perth came up here for the winter – why wouldn’t you? – it’s beautiful.
Eventually we managed to tear ourselves away and we were on the road by about 9.30. Besides us having a rest from travelling, PIE had also had a good rest as she hadn’t moved an inch for seven days – remarkable! The distance to our next destination, Exmouth, was only 151 kms and we were able to go at a very sedate pace as there was not much other traffic around apart from a few cars and caravans. As with the Forest of Dean back home, there is much “free grazing” in this area and we had to be constantly on the alert
for roaming sheep and cattle. Exmouth is at the far end of Cape Range – a National Park which, like Coral Bay, is opposite Ningaloo Reef - an area we hope to explore fully. It’s necessary to travel up the east coast of the cape to go through Exmouth if you want to get to the National Park on a sealed road which stretches down the west coast of the cape. Consequently, Exmouth is a very popular place to be. We didn’t stop until we reached Exmouth where we called in at the visitor’s centre. We picked up a few leaflets and then drove into town to have some lunch and to stock up with groceries. It was our intention to stay on the very edge of the National Park near the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse which is some 17 kilometers beyond Exmouth and just at the start of the west coast road. At the time we didn’t fully realise what an excellent decision that would be but, as we had stayed right in the heart of Exmouth last time we were here, we just wanted to stay somewhere different. We found The Lighthouse Caravan Park easily enough and, after a
bit of discussion with the lady in reception, persuaded her to put us on a site with a concrete block. Coral Bay had been fantastic but the site we were on there was almost all sand so, after spending a week there, we had sand everywhere! We just wanted a nice, dry, tidy site so that we could clean ourselves up a bit. The one we were given was perfect.
Soon we were all sorted out and tidied up and everything was given a bit of a clean. We had time to walk to the beach which was about 300meters away. It was another delightful location and although it wasn’t a snorkelling beach it would have been possible to swim there if we’d wanted to. But we knew that Cape Range, just down the road, had exceptional swimming and snorkelling beaches and we would be exploring them over the next two days. This evening, though, we drove up to the lighthouse (it’s possible to walk up from the park but we were tired and it’s a very steep climb!) in time to watch the sunset. It’s a fabulous outlook from there and also, we realised, the only spot in
the area where we could pick up a phone and computer signal. The only problem was that, once the sun had set, darkness soon fell and it became impossible to see to type anything on the computer!
But it all augured well for an exciting couple of days in the area and the weather forecast was promising so we slept well in anticipation of an exciting day ahead.
Wednesday arrived bright and sunny and we had already decided that a day in the National Park was in order. We drove off quite early, prepared for virtually anything. We had all of our snorkelling gear and were wearing our bathers and had our cameras and binoculars with us, together with a picnic lunch. Our WA parks pass got us through the ranger check point (passing the Tantabiddi Boat Ramp on the way) and we were soon looking for places to explore. We passed several places that caught our eye but we wanted our first stop to be at the Milyering Visitor Centre, an excellent information centre which includes films of wildlife activity continuously on display. As usual, I visited the shop and couldn’t resist buying a lovely tee-shirt with
small Manta Rays on the front. After leaving the visitor centre we looked for a location to have our mid-morning break and found the perfect spot – Veranus Beach. There were only two other cars there and the only people we saw were fishermen some way away. We found some nice, smooth, seat shaped rocks to sit on and just enjoyed the beauty of the place while we had our tea and cake. An Osprey cruised around the bay intent on finding a fishy meal but we didn’t see it swoop for anything.
One of the next places was Turquoise Bay, a place we remember fondly from our last visit as it involved some risky snorkelling and some wonderful wildlife observations which had been part of an all day tour. This time we found the less risky area for snorkelling and couldn’t resist the lure of the beautiful sand and sea. We saw lots of beautiful fish and a shovel-nose ray. There seemed to be an extraordinary amount of fish there. Later we strolled along to the Drift Loop (the risky area) to see what the conditions were like but it was busy with loads of young snorkellers and
divers doing their stuff and we knew we had made the right choice sticking with the easier Bay Loop. We drove off to Bloodwood Creek which we chose as a place to have our lunch while we dried out. It was virtually deserted with a lovely view across the ocean and a nice lookout down onto the creek where there was a family of black winged stilts and other birds which we couldn’t identify. Later we travelled on to Osprey Bay - a magical camp site right on the beach which we had visited on the aforementioned all day tour and had fallen in love with it. So much so, we had arranged to spend a night there. Alas, between the time of the tour and the time of our arrival to camp there, the weather changed dramatically and we were almost blown away!! Today, though, it was beautifully calm and we envied the dozen or so campers who were lucky enough to have secured the few and much sought after sites. Camping places are limited and strictly controlled throughout the National Park and have to be paid for in advance. Only those that have paid are allowed past the
ranger’s station. Sarah and Darryl were lucky enough to have secured a spot for a few days at the Mesa camp which is also right on the beach. We sat and admired the view once again and wondered why we hadn’t chosen to eat our lunch here, but we were spoilt for choice.
On we drove to Yardie Creek – the furthest point you can reach on a sealed road. Boat trips go up the creek from here (we did it last time) and there is a brilliant walk into the gorge with some excellent wildlife viewing points. Today we saw black-footed rock wallabies and a variety of larger birds from a splendid vantage point overlooking the creek. By accident, we met up with a family from Melbourne who we have been “shadowing” for about a month. We first met them in Geraldton, then again in Denham, then in Carnarvon and now, here in Exmouth, they are on the same park as us. They told us they were going snorkelling at another great spot, ‘Oyster Stacks’, on their way back but, as it was already past 4 o’clock by the time we left, we thought they would be snorkelling
in the dark!
It took us some time to get back to the caravan park and on the way were ‘confronted’ by lots of smallish kangaroos which we think are ‘Euros’. At late afternoon they seemed to enjoy sitting on the side of the road or even in the middle and at the last minute racing across in front of us – what bazaar behaviour! If they carry on like that at dusk or when it’s dark then a lot of them won’t make it through the night! Luckily we managed to get back without hitting any of them! We grabbed the computer and rushed up to the top of the hill and I phoned a glass bottom boat tour company to see if they had room on their first trip in the morning and they did, so we booked it. I tried to ring the caravan park at Tom Price near the Karijini National Park but couldn’t get through so sent an email instead. By that time it was almost dark so, having admired the sunset, we drove back to the caravan and prepared for an early start in the morning.
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