Lap Around Australia: North Mandu (Cape Range NP)

North Mandu, Cape Range National Park

We met up with Karen & Steve, Ian and Kath again at the Exmouth Visitor Centre before we headed out to Cape Range National Park where Steve had booked us three campsites together right on the beach in a secluded section of the park called North Mandu. With school holidays about to start we were very lucky to get a booking at this beautiful spot. We stopped in at the Milyering Visitor centre on the way there to get some information on tide times for snorkelling and where fishing was allowed.

We were thrilled with our campsite. All three of us have ocean views right from our vans yet are protected from the prevailing winds by the dune. Although our beach is pebbly (actually it's more like medium sized smooth stones) it was great to sit up on the dune to watch the sun rise and set and we could even see whales breaching not too far out from the reef. We also saw some sharks cruising past here, so weren't inclined to swim here. Instead we drove in our cars to a nearby sandy beach and reef at Turquoise Bay. Near to here was the Oyster Stacks and the Drift snorkel area, but we ended up spending most of our time at Turquoise Bay which was as pretty as it sounds.

The snorkelling here was wonderful and felt quite safe too. There was lots of coral and a fair amount of different colours and shapes. The most spectacular thing was the variety size and colour of the fish. It was a real underwater wonderland.

We also drove further down the park to Yardie Creek. The creek entrance guards a rather lovely canyon gorge. They do boat cruises down the gorge, but we arrived too late to participate in that, but there is also a walking trail beside the creek where you can view the gorge from above.
There were some very rowdy white cockatoos playing in the beach oak trees when we arrived. They moved on to feed beside the road and we disturbed their flock as we drove out.

John was very interested to see if any of the 4WDs we saw would attempt the creek mouth crossing. A few came down to look, but turned around again, put off by the soft sand and incoming tide.
We drove on to have a look at several other beachside camps. Most were a lot larger and busier than ours and we felt very thankful to be where we were. Even though it meant we had no water and no generators allowed, there was at least a very clean long drop toilet that was serviced daily.

You can see why this area is so popular. It is quite idyllic and lots to do with snorkelling, fishing kayaking, paddleboarding, kite surfing etc. Then on the other side of us was a range with gorges to explore if you wished.