Exmouth - Beachcamp in Cape Range National Park

Exmouth is tucked away in a remote north western peninsula of Western Australia. Further round the cape is  beautiful Cape Range National Park which stretches beside the Ningaloo reef system, 300km in length and a rival for the Great Barrier Reef.

We stayed at Osprey campsite, a lovely open beach landscape with turquoise sea and scrubland. Our first evening, we had a wallaby with joey in pouch come to us to slurp a bowl of water. 

 

 

Next day we donned snorkelling gear and swam in the warm waters of the reef where we saw lots of sea slugs, like giant dog turds, munching on the seafloor. Electric blue fishes, stripey zebra fishes, and a large fish standing sentinel outside a hole in the coral, caught my eye as we snorkelled. 

Above the surface a raging offshore wind was chasing choppy waves and forcing campers to take in their awnings. Mid-afternoon, the wind changed direction and abated in time for drinks and the arrival of a sand lizard, beautifully mottled, outside the campervan.

 

 

The sunset seen from the beach was glorious, and to cap it all, we saw humpback whales breaching in the last rays of the sun.

 

 

Our neighbours were sporty grey nomads with a boatski to reach the reef. They mentioned an acquaintance who had spent much planning and money on a roo bar for their big trip in a 4wd, only for a kangaroo to run, not into the front, but the side door!

As we left Exmouth, about 50km away, we came across a spectacular road train rollover with a smashed cab and trailer blocking the road for three hours whilst a giant crane and frontloader pushed and heaved it aside.