Western Australia abounds in superb caravan and camping destinations, but one that really shines is Exmouth and the Cape Range National Park, right on Ningaloo Reef
Ningaloo Marine Park stretches 260km along the coast, from Amherst Point, to past Exmouth, a section of coastline coined The Coral Coast. The Coral Coast is made up of two national parks, the Ningaloo Marine Park, established in 1987, and the Cape Range National Park, declared in 1964. The latter covers 50,581 hectares, with coral-sand beaches, limestone canyons and wildlife aplenty.
Fishing charters, scuba diving and whale shark snorkelling are based in Exmouth and run shuttle buses to Bundegi Beach – 12km from Exmouth, or Tantabiddi.
Scuba divers can explore the reef or wait until a spotter plane, which takes off at 10am, finds some whale sharks to swim with. Humpback whales also frequent the area in winter and spring.
The Muiron Islands is a splendid day trip. Green turtles, six-banded angelfish, blue-lined sea bream and blue angelfish, make for fantastic diving.
At East Side Bommy, coral bommies reach skyward, with snappers, coral cod, yellow emperor, soft corals and giant painted crayfish.
Blizzard Ridge, turns on the action with white-tip reef sharks, striped catfish, yellow-stripe snapper, gold-banded fusiliers, six-banded angelfish and bizarre mantis shrimps.
The Exmouth Navy Pier, is rated as one of the world’s best shore dives, with Queenfish, barracuda, trevally and groper abounding. There are even underwater video cameras mounted under the pier.
Reef and game fishing are popular off Exmouth, as the continental shelf is only 7km offshore. There are six species of billfish, over 30 species of game fish and 500 other fish species in Ningaloo waters.
Black marlin are the most prolific billfish species, along with sailfish – both can be caught all year round. There are also blue marlin and occasional broadbill and striped marlin. Late spring is best for the sailfish.
Giant trevally can be caught from the shore at night, during winter, and from the back of the reef during summer. Fishing along the beaches on the western side, you can hook up with threadfin salmon. Fly fishers can try for bonefish, golden trevally, milkfish and giant herring.
There are plenty of whiting, flathead and bream to catch. Learmonth Jetty is good for queenfish, golden trevally and mackerel. Ningaloo Reef has strict bag limits and many marine sanctuary zones, so check with the fisheries office.
Kieron O’Brien, who skippers the 42ft Mary Eileen, explains, “We normally catch two or three good sized fish towing lures on our way out – often Spanish mackerel, narrow-barred mackerel and shark mackerel. On the reef, we catch cobia, radiant cod, spangled emperor, saddle-back sea perch and red emperor. Sometimes, we catch long-tailed bluefin tuna, sailfish, marlin, and mahi mahi.”
Bluewater Boat Hire offers 4.2m Stessl and Quintrex dinghys with 25hp Mercurys, and 6.5m Mainlines fitted with 140hp Mercurys.
Launching ramps are located at Tantabiddi, Exmouth Marina and Bundegi. Four-wheel drives can beach launch also.
There are exciting four-wheel routes in the hinterland. A good option is to spend a day with Ningaloo Safari Tours, which will take you to Shothole Canyon and the Charles Knife Gorge in a four-wheel drive OKA. Giant shark teeth have been found at ‘Shark Tooth Ridge’. Over 650 plant species thrive in the Cape Range National Park, including Sturt’s desert pea, hairy pepper-flowers and native tomatoes.
Visitors at Turquoise Bay will enjoy the warm water, green turtles, leopard sharks and tropical fish. The trick is to walk about 300m along the beach, left from the car park, before entering the water and drifting with the current back to the sand bar.
The Ningaloo Reef Bus drops you off at Turquoise Bay, where you can go snorkelling, swim with the turtles at the Ningaloo Reef Retreat, or learn more at the Milyering Visitors Centre. (The cyclone season is from November to April.)
Ningaloo Safari Tours operates tours of the turtle nesting beaches from November to March, when you can see the females dig their nests, and lay their eggs.
Exmouth has a fascinating history. The first recorded sightings of North West Cape, once home to Aborigines, were by the Dutch vessel Zeewolf in 1618, and by the Mauritians, the same year. The first recorded European landing on the cape was in 1618, by Dutch captain Jacobsz of Mauritius.
A French expedition, led by Nicolas Baudin in 1801, named Point Murat and the Muiron Islands. In 1811, The Rapid, an American three-masted wooden ship, was wrecked near Point Cloates. In 1818, Australian captain Philip Parker King completed a survey of Exmouth Gulf. After 1818, pearling luggers from Port Headland, near Broome, visited the gulf.
The US Navy established a submarine base under the code name Operation Potshot between 1942 and 1945, and also established a flying boat base. The Japanese bombed Exmouth in 1943. In 1962, Australia and the US agreed to establish a VLF communications station.
The Vlamingh Head Lighthouse, built in 1912, provides views of Ningaloo Reef, and radio towers, at Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt. The facility’s ‘Tower Zero’ is 388m high.
Should you wish to take a break from your caravan, the new four-star ‘low rise’ Novotel Ningaloo Resort on Sunrise Beach, fronting Exmouth Gulf, has one, two and three-bedroom apartments.
Excellent caravan parks are the Yardie Creek Homestead caravan park, near Tantabiddi, Lighthouse Caravan Park near Bundegi, and the Ningaloo Caravan Holiday Resort in Exmouth. Any of these places will help you to make the most of your time in Ningaloo Reef.
The Potshot Hotel is the place to have a few beers and dinner. And there are several supermarkets, eateries and restaurants in town.
Ningaloo Reef Retreat is a luxury tented camp where you can snorkel, sea kayak or hike. But if you are towing a caravan, you will probably want to take advantage of the other beachside caravan and camping sites inside the Cape Range National Park.
With great four-wheel driving, fishing, diving, sea kayaking and swimming with whale sharks, Ningaloo Reef, is hard to beat as an Aussie caravan destination.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2008 issue of Australian Caravan + RV magazine.
Open Road e-zine October 2008
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