15 October - Hiking and Snorkelling in Cape Range National Park, Ningaloo Marine Park

15 October 2016 – 190 723

Hiking and Snorkelling in Cape Range National Park, Ningaloo Marine Park

This morning I had a sleep in.
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/cape-range
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/ningaloo https://www.australiascoralcoast.com/destination/ningaloo-reef/marine-park
We went south to the Oyster Stacks to consider snorkelling, however the oyster stacks were quite high in the water and it was very unprotected from the winds, so we decided against it.
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/oyster-stacks
Instead, we went to Mandu Mandu Gorge for a hike (2.8km, just over an hour); this was a different gorge system to others we have been in.
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/mandu-mandu-gorge https://trailswa.com.au/trails/mandu-mandu-gorge-cape-range-national-park-exmouth/print
The rock walls were red and brown and white, but the base of the gorge was a dry river bed made of white and pale pink rocks.  The views from the top of the gorge walls over Ningaloo Reef were lovely.

After this we drove to the far southern end of the park and walked at Yardie Creek Gorge (2.5km, just under an hour).
 https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/yardie-creek https://trailswa.com.au/trails/yardie-creek/print
This gorge had water in the creek that appeared to be quite deep, it has a shallow connection to the sea due to a sandbar. 

We were going to have lunch here but the flies were too bad, so we headed to Sandy Bay.
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/sandy-bay  https://www.australiascoralcoast.com/destination/exmouth/cape-range-national-park/sandy-bay
It was beautiful, white sand and perfectly clear sheltered turquoise waters.  Hayden fell over again and smashed the same knee – this time he has removed the skin.  After lunch we had a snorkel in the Bay Loop at Turquoise Bay – this was relatively protected from the wind.
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/turquoise-bay
 https://www.australiascoralcoast.com/destination/exmouth/turquoise-bay
Again we saw plenty of fish, extras that we saw today were batfish, long finned bannerfish, yellowtail angelfish, Clarks anemonefish, scribbled angelfish, lined butterflyfish and seastars.  It is not hard to believe they have more than five hundred species of fish in the marine park.  The Milyering Discover Centre was our last destination for the day, where we watched various videos and computer clips regarding the marine park – beautiful viewing!
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/milyering-discovery-centre
https://www.australiascoralcoast.com/destination/exmouth/cape-range-national-park/milyering-discovery-centre
I have really enjoyed the snorkelling here, I imagine it would be even more beautiful in still conditions when the visibility was higher.  When we got back to the van, our kind neighbours had secured our annexe which had blown loose in the high winds.  We put the van partway down and packed the annexe up.  The winds this evening are pretty high!