Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef

After leaving Point Samson we headed back to Dampier to get some more information on Red Dog. We talked to a few people at Information Centres, but the gossip was that he was not as well liked as made out in the film. He was quite aggressive, dirty and a little thief (stealing from people’s bbqs etc). But he was smart!  We then travelled south to a road side stop for the night, known as Barradale (very popular free camp).

Red Dog's favourite beach where he would steal meat

The next morning we made our way into Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef. We stayed at Exmouth for a week (the camps at Ningaloo were all booked out) and made a trip most days to the reef. We have been without phone and internet reception (don’t use Vodafone when travelling Australia). Our caravan park had an abundance of cockatoos, emus & seagulls (the kids would chase them everywhere & feed the cockies).

The cockies have no fear, just like Matt

Ningaloo Reef is just spectacular. Where else in the world can you walk/swim straight out on the beach, with coral at your door step and thousands of colourful tropical fish (of all shapes & sizes)? One of the first places we snorkelled at was Lakeside. It was ½ km walk from the car park, but worth every step. We had our spring wet suits on so lasted longer than others. The kids were determined to find Nemo.

How good is this?

The walk from Lakeside

Probably the best place to snorkel at was known as Turquoise Bay. It had an area called the drift where you would enter one end of the beach and drift to the other.  The colour of the water was as the name says. We set up here on a few occasions as we considered it the ‘perfect beach’!

Fish at your feet

It was this big!

If you were not into snorkelling, Exmouth & Cape Range NP has many other areas to explore. We visited the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse, SS Mildura Wreck (1907 Cattle ship wreck), Bundegi Beach and went fishing at the marina (no luck this time – we tried soft plastics for bait).

SS Mildura Wreck

No fish, but beats working!

I have plenty of time to catch a fish

Although we had seen many gorges on our trip, it was worth trekking to Yardie Creek Gorge, where the creek meets the reef. The track was quite rugged at the end and offered some inspiring photo opportunities.

The Gorge meets the reef