EXMOUTH

Our car is a Nissan Terrano 4WD.  There's not too many of them in Australia, so when we spot one, we usually make a comment. When Geoff saw a grey one pull up at Exmouth shops, he struck up a conversation with the owners as they walked past us.  Fitting into that "isn't it a small world" category again, it turns out they live in North Ringwood.  We caught up with them a few times over the next couple of days, as they were staying close by us at the caravan park, and we shared car and travel stories.

Beautiful aqua water surrounds the entire peninsula which forms the Exmouth Gulf. There are beaches which consist of lovely white sand, some are deep with pebbles, and others have rocky outcrops.  And of course the Ningaloo Reef stretches down the west coast to Coral Bay. 

Had to throw the fish back - too small!

We drove down the west coast as far as possible through national park, until we reached Yardie Creek.  Most of the countryside is very flat and windswept, with little to no trees.  Driving back in the late afternoon we had to avoid lots of wallabies and kangaroos that were jumping across the road.  We spotted a couple of emus as well.  Earlier in the day a couple of turtles kept popping their heads up while Geoff was busy fishing.  Very cute!


Spectacular views were our reward for another bumpy drive along the escarpment of the Cape Range National Park.  This runs along the peninsula at the top of which sits the town of Exmouth.  To the east is the gulf, and to the west is the open ocean where Ningaloo Reef is situated.  We took another road into the base of the gorges later that day, and got a completely different view of the countryside.



Another feature of the area is the Harold Holt Naval Communication Centre, with its enormous aerials that dominate the most northerly point.  We couldn't go in this time, but on our last visit we had attended an Anglican service run on the base.