Dampier to Exmouth

August 28 to September 4

Sunday night we were back in Karratha Caravan Park again (next door to the Army Barracks). This caravan park used to cater for a large number of mining staff, with maybe 100 demountable accommodation units on site. One of the legacies of this is the café attached to the park. It is open 7 days a week and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner for the transient workers. Although only about 10 or 20 workers were staying in the mostly deserted accommodation area, the café continues. The chef prepares very good, well priced meals. We indulged a couple of times for dinner and were surprised by the quality.

View from the river of our Mairee Ponds camp spot

Monday we return to Dampier for a couple more days, mostly to keep slowing down our trip south, and we really enjoyed the small, personal caravan park. We visited the salt mine lookout, where you can view the vast evaporation pond system and read the extensive information boards. Although about 25% of the salt is for food, 75% is for industrial use and export for winter road de-icing in the USA.

We made the most of the caravan park and completed more washing and chores. Wednesday we restocked on fuel and food in Karratha before heading south. We had spent 11 days in the greater Karratha/Roebourne area and had really enjoyed it, a lot more relaxing than you would think, even with its industrial feel there is plenty of quiet places to visit.

We had been recommended a free camp spot at Mairee Ponds on the Maitland River. There is a signposted site to the north of the river, then a “secret” spot on the south side of the river. As you can see from the photos it was a great spot right on the river bank.

Mandu Mandu Gorge

The river is fresh water and in theory there is barramundi, mangrove jack and catfish in residence. We shared the spot with two other campers who both say they have had rods pulled into the river when using bait (they weren’t watching the rods!). I had no bait so I tried working lures with no success. On Thursday I headed out in on the kayak to troll lures and look for snags to fish. Such a nice day Leah came along for the ride but again no luck. In the afternoon the neighbour caught a couple of small fresh water perch type fish, too small but nice to see something in the river.

Ningaloo Reef

We stayed two nights before leaving Friday to head for a camp spot closer to Exmouth, our next destination. We stopped about 60km west of the highway towards Exmouth, just a pull off area in the middle of nowhere. The stars are magnificent in these isolated areas at night.

We drove into Exmouth on Saturday to get information, water and fuel before heading to Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo Reef. Exmouth was first established in 1963 as a service town for the joint Australian and US Army VLF (Very Low Frequency) Transmitter Communication Centre build here during the cold war. It is the world’s largest VLF transmitter, and the second tallest structure in the southern hemisphere, standing some 388 metres tall. When the defence forces were withdrawn in 1992 (the VLF communications centre is still manned and in use) the town’s survival was re-focused on tourism.

Ningaloo Reef looking pretty healthy

Since then (and after being devastated by a cyclone in 1999) the town has expanded dramatically, the Cape Range National Park was declared and Ningaloo Reef was World Heritage Listed in 2011. The town (to me) has no soul, very focused on the tourist dollar and little else.

Snorkel Eye View, check the motorhome near my head!

The North West Cape is spectacular. The narrow cape has the range running down the middle, the protected Exmouth Gulf on one side, and the reef on the other. Massive swells hammer the reef and make for fantastic viewing. There is a few surfing spots on the cape, but most of the renowned breaks are at the southern end of the reef towards Carnarvon. We stayed at Yardie Homestead, about 35km from Exmouth and 5km from the National Park.

The main attractions of the National Park are the gorges in the Cape Range, and the snorkelling at Ningaloo Reef. We hiked Mandu Mandu Gorge, a dry gorge with fantastic views from the top of the range.

Awesome coastline of Ningaloo Reef - click to enlarge

There is many great places to swim and snorkel, one of the best is Turquoise Bay, where you enter the water and let the current move you ever the coral, exit the water some 500 metres down the beach, walk up and do it again!