Today was an easy day travelling as we covered the 180 km from Coral Bay to the Yardie Homestead camping ground via Exmouth and now being just short of the entrance to the Cape Range National Park. As we have already discovered this afternoon, this National Park is stunning, and we have yet to visit the multitude of beaches on the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area on the Indian Ocean. Again there are so many spots for boating and safe snorkelling within the reef. There will be more snorkelling in coming days although we are a little limited visiting some beaches given some have unmade roads only access best suited to 4WD vehicles.

After checking in, we ventured out mid-afternoon to check out the park. First highlight was our 3 km hike through Mandu Mandu Gorge, with most images below from there. This was a challenging, enthralling and visually captivating hike.

We had other ambitions for this afternoon but lack of day and the threat of active wildlife caused us to undertake a quick reconnaissance to Yardie Creek, the southern most point of the park still accessible on bitumen. There is one image of that below with the colourful gorge and bright blue water in the creek. We made a plan to return here tomorrow and hike above the gorge and maybe, take a boat ride through the gorge.

Meantime we were quickly running out of daylight and with 50 km to return to camp and the gate closed at 6pm (our curfew it seems to get tourists off the roads in dusk), we set off. And surely, the kangaroos were becoming active. Strangely, prior to today, we had not encountered one kangaroo in our travels since Perth, but today made up for it. Some fairly close calls on this drive home reminded us to return home well before dusk next time.

My travelling partner also commented that never in one day travelling Australia had we encountered an emu, kangaroo, echidna and dingo all on the same day. But today we did. We sighted a few emus on the way up and also in Exmouth township as we had been  warned. Also sighted in Exmouth township was a dingo roaming the streets, as well as this other dingo we met just inside the national park. I would describe this dingo as nonchalant, arrogant and confident. He was just standing quite assuredly, acting as if were were invisible and no eye contact, indeed quite the opposite. Many people will know that is a feature of wild dogs, as opposed to domestic ones. He only moved when we nudged our vehicle forward else I sensed he would have kept us waiting. We will also treat these dingoes with caution as their fear of people seems diminished, making them somewhat threatening.

It is interesting to contrast the dingo’s behaviour with that of the echidna who stood stock still, buried its head and hoped we would leave it alone. Clearly these animals are wide spread across Australia, given we have seen many in Victoria too. As for kangaroos, we have not seen any big reds yet and when and if we do, hopefully they are not in the vicinity of our vehicle driving.

Finally, there are a couple of images below of the range bisecting this National Park and my travelling companion and I agreed it reminded us of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, from the vantage point of Parachilna, to the north west of Wilpena Pound. Many folds of landscape emerging from the flat lands of desert in both cases. But here there is the adjacent reef and the gorgeous ocean and colours. Another very special place.

For now though, sleep beckons, as the night air cools, and I do wonder if I shall be awoken overnight by dingoes howling. That would be cool, from the safety of my campervan. Best wishes one and all!