Cape Range National Park - Ningaloo Reef

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Camping in one place for 3nights was like a holiday.....
Yardie Creek is at the end of the sealed road from Exmouth in the Cape Range National Park, it sits at the base of the gorge where the creek meets the ocean, right on the edge of the beach.
The Cape Range National Park covers 50,581 hectares with the northern boundary 40kms from Exmouth.
The area is teaming with wildlife, such as rock wallabies, lizards and emus.
The park has numerous gorges and sanctuary areas.

During our 3 night stop over we experienced warm windy weather and the first night we thought our annex/awning would fall apart.
Because of the windy weather we decided to walk the Yardie Creek Trail on the first morning. An easy 1.2km walk.
Yardie Creek is the only gorge in the area with permanent water, this is salt water fed from the ocean.
The different ocher red coloured rocks of limestone with areas of black and white make the appearance of the rocks interesting.

Most of the days at Yardie Creek we spent snorkelling and fishing.
The 300km long Ningaloo Reef is one of the closest coral reefs to land in the world and also Australia's longest fringing coral reef. It is easily accessible. The reef is ionly footsteps from the shores in the Cape Range National Park area.
The area of ocean just off Yardie Creek Camp in the Ningaloo Reef had turquoise water and pristine white sand. The ocean floor was not as good as other areas along the coast but still was very beautiful. We saw many different colourful fish and coral, an octopus in his house (garden) of clam and other shells, we tried to coax a large rock lobster out of hiding and generally had a good time at the beach.
The 2nd morning, winds were calmer and we visited the best snorkelling area, 'Turquoise Bay'. Commonly known as the 'Drift'. The gentle current carries you north along the coast line until you meet the identified rip.
To enter the water we walked 200metres along the shore from the car park where we spotted a dolphin hearding fish into the shallow shore waters for breakfast.
Walking in off the beach you can immediately see the amazing coral garden swarming with colourful fish. We probably snorkelled 100meters off shore at times,as the further out you went the less current.
We spent 4 hours here just going in and out the water, fascinated by what we saw and touched.
The most interesting things were the sea turtles, Tom trying to get the selfie whilst Billy touching one. A fish like an eel, possibly a barrocoota, abalone, large clams and sea urchins. We even saw Nemo and Dori.

We also checked out another popular snorkelling area called the 'Oyster Stacks'. The area different as you had to enter and exit over a rocky shoreline with some sharp oyster shells.
The coral reef was prolific with fish life, most of them 40cm plus and sheltering in the live oyster stack caves.
Here Tom and Billy tossed large sea slugs at each other and myself. (Naughty). Everything here was bigger, one beautiful clam we saw was over 50cm big with a wavy blue and white pattern on the inside, it reacted of course when you touched it. An octopus that changed from red to white caught Ally's eye after she touched it. Kate opting out and staying on shore this time.

Afternoon siestas alway good before fishing in the evening
Tom the most successful of the fishing team catching a large 45cm spangled emperor, 50cm barrocoota and several types of large cod. I caught a nice perch whilst Peter struggling to catch anything.
Our Camp host going out in his boat caught a 1.2metre Wahoo Fish which he kindly gave all the campers filleted steaks from, very nice.
Sadly we needed to push on with our lap. A little bit more bronzed skinned and relaxed.

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