Days 62 – 67 (Mon 1/11 – Sat 6/11) – Cape Range NP

Too lazy (and no connection to upload) to blog regularly so have lumped all of the Cape Range experience into one entry! Enjoyed 6 nights in Cape Range NP. Very laid back time with lots of snorkelling (Turquoise Bay drift loop, North Mandu and the Oyster Stacks), some windsurfing (at least with my board, as unfortunately Chris’s board had been damaged somewhere between here and Dampier with no clues as to how it happened and no convenient repair facilities).  Ally & Jeff (who joined us on Wednesday afternoon but stayed in Exmouth the first couple of nights) enjoyed kitesurfing at Sandy Bay. Literally a big sandy bay, flat water (inside the fringing Ningaloo Reef) and nice consistent offshore winds for a few days straight. If you like flat water, good consistent wind, the sun beating down on you and no shade for miles, this is the place to go wind and kite surfing! Evidently a lot of people do enjoy this, as the Saturday particularly was looking quite crowded out on the water.The camping is pretty basic with pit loos, no power and no showers and you can’t camp at Sandy Bay itself, but if you like getting out into the wilder places without all the crowds, then this is the place to be.  The snorkelling was quite varied with the Oyster Stacks probably the pick of the three sites (Chris missed this one as went into town to see about board repairs). Oyster Stacks had more scattered coral, larger fish and some quite large schools of fish near the stacks themselves. Turtle and octopus spotted here. The Turquoise Bay drift was a pleasant drift with the current along the inner reef and lots of smaller colourful fish. Having trouble with my snorkel though – too large for my mouth and quite uncomfortable. Found a cheap $10 jobby at the local camping store and this seemed to do the trick! Surprised a turtle at North Mandu, when trying frantically to point it out to Chris.
Signed on for a dive / snorkel cruise out to the Muiron Islands on the Thursday on the recommendation of a German girl we met in Baird Bay but were somewhat disappointed. If you know lots about soft corals you would probably have had a great time, but from the snorkelling perspective it didn’t seem as good as the shore-based snorkelling we had been doing and the fish were pretty similar. We did get bonus humpback whale viewing on the return trip though – doing all the things I’d wanted to see for ever – breaching, spy hopping, tail and pectoral slapping! Managed to get some videos of whales but developed camera confusion and managed to have the video off while apparently filming these wonderful beasties breaching and leaping just off the boat. Oh well, will just have to rely on the rapidly fading memories!
Our camp hosts at Ned’s Beach camp in Cape Range (Ann & Tony) were great. They’d been in the park for 2 months volunteering their time to help out the rangers and the park and were exceedingly helpful and tolerant with our late evening returns (fish and chips in town the day the rels arrived and Italian birthday dinner at Pinocchio’s for Jeff’s birthday the next night after the cruise). Lots of wildlife (not all flat on the side of the road – unless you count the lazing wallaroos under their roadside bushes in the heat of the day). Emus wandering majestically through the Exmouth caravan parks and around the visitor information centre (as well as in the NP), wallaroos lazing under bushes and munching grass in a vaguely suicidal way by the side of the roads in the evenings. Sudden hopping onto road behaviour keeps you on your toes! Big congregation around the only bore water tap in the NP, particularly after use when there is a surrounding puddle of water. Several echidnas spotted by the roadside, one when returning from Exmouth late one night.
Colin managed to maintain enough charge in his battery with our limited solar access (better when the wind blew the branches away from the rooftop panel) to last the time and the fridge surprisingly continued to cool in an appropriate manner. Very civilised pit loo and the solar shower and tent combination kept me sane (cleaned all four of us for two nights running with still plenty of water in the tanks and jerry cans). Occasional trips into town for grocery, water and board repair supplies and more frequent trips out into mobile range to stop Chris going into the DTs.