Oz Trip - Day 131

Day 131 – 9/9/2012 – Cape Range National Park day trip

We were able to have a bit of a sleep in as we had to wait for a local dive shop to open so that we could hire some snorkelling gear. We were planning to spend the day in the Cape Range National Park. We didn't bother trying to camp in the national park as it was notorious for being full and having to line up early in the morning to wait to get in.

On the way out to Cape Range National Park we stopped off at the lighthouse.

After the lighthouse it was off to Turquoise Bay for some snorkelling. The colour of the water was unbelievable and it was so clear. There was coral in close proximity of the beach. Basically just put snorkel gear on and swim out off the beach. The amount of marine life was also unbelievable. There were so many different coloured fish of all different shapes and sizes! It was at this point that I wished I had bought my under water camera or at least hired one from the dive shop. Because I didn't have an underwater camera you will all have to make do with the land photos.

Turquoise Bay

For lunch we headed down to the southern end of the national park. There was a bit of a day use area at the Yardie creek. There was a 4wd track that looped back around to Exmouth but we didn't have enough time to do it. From what I had heard the creek crossing could be a bit difficult and you had to time your crossing with the tides. At the time we visited it looked ok and was just soft sand.

Looking up Yardie Creek

The start of the 4wd track

The creek crossing full of soft sand

After a bit of a walk around Yardie Creek we headed home with a small detour to the western end of North West Cape to see an old ship wreck. While we were there we also spotted some whales playing.

The Mildura shipwreck