Along the western coast of Australia from Exmouth, Cape Range National Park is a great place for wildlife spotting and home to some amazing beaches.
Yardie Creek
The only inland water source in the area, though it’s just an extension of the sea, so salt rather than fresh water. Getting off the Yardie Gorge Walk path is a must to really see much wildlife as they live in the cracks of the sides of the gorge. Our morning wander treated us to a dozen Rock Wallaby, difficult to spot against the rock face, a wind swept Osprey, and flocks of Correllas.
The gorge itself was also pretty colourful.
Turquoise Bay
Another stunning beach, the water is such an incredible colour, and there are reefs just offshore to snorkel over, though you need to be careful of the strong currents.
Vlamingh Head Lighthouse
A spectacular spot with 270 degree views of water, the perfect place to watch the sunset. Also a good place to see Humpback Whales (saw a few splashes in the distance), the lighthouse and WW2 military equipment, and in the distance huge radio towers. It doesn’t look like it but the tallest one of these towers is higher than the Empire State Building!
Yardie Homestead
Our camp site for a couple of nights, and the first camping of the trip. Instantly so much enjoyable than staying in hostels, even despite the ferocious winds. There’s something quite special about being woken by the sound of birds, to find a dozen Galah outside your tent.
The sunset on the way there was also one of the more spectacular of many spectacular ones seen on this trip.
Tom Price
On the way into Karijini National Park we passed through Tom Price, a town of 3,500-5,000 people entirely owned by the mining company Rio Tinto. It was smarter than most comparable towns, with some nifty animal sculptures outside Coles, and fast, free wifi at the visitor centre. In the distance some of the many bush fires that had been burning for a couple of weeks were visible.
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