Exmouth & Coral Bay

The drive to Exmouth is very flat and uninteresting. We drove past the turnoff to Onslow, the only "major" town along the route. We had met a couple from Onslow, who told us it wasn't really worth a stop, as it was all Gas mining and salt mining. Pressed for time we decided against the extra 80km each way, and continued on to Exmouth. It was very windy, a headwind, and it is amazing how it slows us down, and increases fuel consumption. We made it into Exmouth right on empty after a long day of driving, 7 hours.

Welcome to Exmouth.

Exmouth is situated on a peninsula, with the Exmouth Gulf to the east, and the Indian Ocean to the west. It is home to the Cape Range National Park, and the Ningaloo Marine Park, a World Heritage listed area. The Ningaloo Marine Park is home to Ningaloo Reef, Australia's largest fringing coral reef. Being a fringing reef, it is close to shore, and there are numerous places where you can snorkel the reef right off the beach. The water is crystal clear, and the most amazing array of blue colours you will ever see.

At Exmouth Cape Big4.

We set up camp at the Exmouth Cape Big4 Caravan Park which is very nice, with a new pool area, and it is walking distance to town and tavern. The little town has everything we need, with a good IGA Supermarket, a few restaurant and cafe options, and some nice specialty shops. It also has Sean from Exmouth Caravan Repairs, who we have spoken to on the phone and arranged the parts we need, for him to do our repairs. He is a lovely young man and comes in on Sunday to make all the necessary repairs.

Says it all!

HMAS Harold Holt
Communications Base.

Exmouth is one of the rare "tourist towns", left on the coast. By that, I mean it is relatively untouched by mining, most likely given its proximity to such special wilderness. It is home to the military and communications. The Learmonth RAAF Base is very close, and this serves as the commercial airport as well. The naval base, HMAS Harold Holt,is also here, and it is a communications base. The huge number of masts and intricate systems of cables is mind boggling. How on earth does all that talk!! If you are into scuba diving, apparently the old navy pier is among the world's great dive spots. Boeing also has a High Frequency Communication Centre here. The tourism industry is driven by the sea and its

The land is arid and ugly!

local inhabitants. Alas, the time of the year and the weather means we won't be sampling. Exmouth and Coral Bay are two of the only places on earth, where you can swim with those majestic Whale Sharks, that swim across the Indian Ocean to feed on the plankton of Ningaloo Reef between April & early July each year. Humpback whales swim by on their way up and back to their calving grounds in the warm waters of the Kimberley Coast. They linger in the protected bays around the reef. Huge Manta Rays are here all year round. These giants have wing spans of up to 4 metres and are harmless ( no nasty barb!). You can actually see them from shore, swimming in the clear waters, flapping their wings on the surface. This all awaits us on our next visit to the area, when we've been warned to book early, for accommodation and tours.

Cape Vlamingh Lighthouse.

The country around here is all about amazing contrasts. The land is arid and windswept, yet the ocean sparkles in an unbelievable kaleidoscope of blue and turquoise. The land is dotted in termite mounds, the water is full of amazing creatures. The good thing, is that the eastern side of the cape escapes most of the heavy winds and provides for protected swimming, but the bad things is that most of the reef and snorkeling is on the western side. You just have to manage the winds as best you can, and find the protected little coves. Our timing is not good for wind (theirs not ours!). November is known locally as Blowvember, and it's living up to its name! We are not deterred and head off early each day to get the best of the conditions. A stop at Bundegi Beach on the protected East side, is a must. The water is crystal clear and warm. Not as warm as Broome though, which is an issue for Carolyn! She is a tropical girl! We followed this with a drive up to Cape Vlamingh Light House, which provides a wonderful vista of the surrounding region. Just spectacular!

Yardie creek.

Not a bad spot except for that wind.

It is around 70 kilometres each way, to drive around the cape and into the Cape Range NP. The road ends at Yardie Creek, which winds its way up into the Ranges through a pretty good gorge. There is a boat cruise up the creek, but today it seems we are up that creek without a paddle, because she ain't running! So we walk a ways along the path and get a glimpse. The waters of the creek are quite deep, and teeming with fish. There are some great campsites throughout

One of the locals takes cover.

the National Park, and you can stay in them, many big enough

Sorry, tables taken!

to take our big rig, for a modest $6.00 per person. You have to be self contained, but there are showers and toilets at most of the camp sites. We took a note of some of the better ones for future reference, but at this time of year we ain't living without the air con!! The vegetation varies from dying to dead, and is low scrub, so shade is at a premium, and that wind is just howling. Some of the camp sites are behind the sand dunes to get a little relief, but with all that red sand I'd reckon two nights here and you'd be picking sand out of every orifice for days to come! Even the local wallabies were taking cover!

Beautiful Turquoise Bay

Snorkeling at the Oyster Beds.

Back along the road a bit is Turquoise Bay. If you find a more beautiful beach let me know. White sand and crystal clear turquoise water, talk about aptly named. It is protected from the wind, and just so post card. Also nearby is an area known as the Oyster Stacks. This is a better snorkeling spot as the coral comes right to the beach, but it is a lot harder to enter the water, and less protected. For a day vegging at the beach, Turquoise Bay is the place to go. The Milyering Visitor Centre is a must. Here you learn all about the local sea life and about the national park through some great displays and some very friendly staff.

Blown back into town, we take sanctuary at Ningaloo Health, our chosen coffee spot. It really is good, both in respect of food and coffee. A drive out to the new marina precinct is most enlightening. A lot of money has gone into the construction of the marina and harbour, and there are some serious vessels, both commercial and private. There  are a number of oil rigs off the coast, in fact you can see some from the Cape Vlamingh Light House, so there is a fleet of ships to service them. There is also a big fishing fleet, and you can buy some of the local good fish, which we did. Snapper and local Dhufish as well as whiting, mulloway and emperor are available at pretty hefty prices. All in all it is a pretty interesting place.

Beachfront at the Peoples Village.

Beautiful Coral Bay.

Our next stop just 150kms down the road is Coral Bay. It sounds like something out of Home & Away or Neighbors, but as the name suggests it is a little piece of paradise, except for that bloody wind! It is much smaller than Exmouth and is on the exposed Indian Ocean. Thankfully the beautiful Coral Bay beach, is tucked in behind a small headland, and gets a bit of protection from the wind. There is no harbour as such. There is a big new boat ramp a few kilometres away, and

boat tours either leave from here or directly off the beach.  We

Boat tours right off the beach.

Coral Bay beach.

book into the Peoples Village Caravan Park, formerly owned by Josef Stalin (only kidding! where do these names come from!), and decide to go upmarket and stay on one of the beachfront sites. Good choice! Out with the reclining chairs and for the next few days it is walk to the beach, walk along the beach, come back from beach, sit in recliner, read books, drink wine, eat food, walk to the beach, sit in recliner, read books, eat food, drink wine etc. etc. I think you get my drift! Oh, and we feed Hunchy, our new head honcho sea gull who has breezed into town.

Hunchy the sea gull.

Sunday BBQ breakfast
is an institution!

Now Hunchy isn't your average sea gull. This guy had attitude. Man, he would not allow another bird within 25 metres of our caravan. Maybe Joseph placed him there on guard. All I know, is that he was there first thing when we got up and last thing when went to bed. Even at night while sitting inside watching TV, we would hear Hunchy chasing away some intruder. It was quite sad when we left poor little Hunchy. I thought I saw a tear in his eye as we drove off, but then some kid threw him a chip and we were forgotten. Fickle bird!!


At Coral Bay, it is much the same as Exmouth, with the tourism around the whale shark, manta ray and snorkeling cruises. Again, except for the inner bay itself, the wind made it impossible to do much out on the water, and at the prices of well over $120.00 per person just for snorkeling, we didn't take the risk. Again it will be on the next time list. On our last night we walked up to a nice little restaurant at the other caravan park, and shared a terrific pizza washed down with a nice NZ Sav Blanc I just happened to have on hand! And yes, we took home the crusts for Hunchy!!