The entrance station to the N.P. is about 45 Km out of town and it is a good sealed road all the way and this good sealed road continues all the way to Yardie Creek at the southern end of the park. There are about a dozen camping areas scattered along the coast with some having as many as 15 sites and some as few as 3. The entire park is very popular during the main tourist season from May to October and demand for sites is very high and at the time of our visit you could not book in advance. To secure a site during this period you need to employ a certain strategy and fortunately for us we had previously been given some good advice by a couple of regular visitors. What we did was stay 1 night at Yardie Homestead caravan park which is only about 10 Km outside the park and then one of us got up real early and drove the car to the entrance station to await the arrival of the ranger. I arrived at the entrance station at 5.40 a.m. and was 8th in line. The ranger arrives at 8.00 and then contacts all the camping areas by radio to find out how many vacant sites, if any, they will have that day. As each vehicle approaches the office the ranger informs you of what is available and then you make your choice, he then gives you a booking conformation slip and you have until 10.00 a.m. to get to your site. I quickly returned to hitch up the van and then drove to our chosen camping area to be greeted by the camp host and directed to our allocated site, all of which was easily completed by 9.30. You may wonder why we did not just pack up and take the van with us to the entrance station in the first place, well, some days there are not any sites available and you would then have to return to the C.P. and set up again.
Once again we were fortunate in having a choice of camping areas and employing our previous good advice we chose Ned’s Camp, the northern most camping area and the nearest to the entrance (8 Km) and also not far from the very good visitors centre (4 Km) as well as being the closest to the one and only water tap (bore water) in the park. (1 Km) Ned’s would also seem to be the most protected camping area even though it is only metres from the beach. Most of the sites are nestled between a couple of low dunes, which do a good job of sheltering you from the fairly incessant wind, and there is a line of Tamarisk trees to provide some shade. The bush loos are amongst the best we have seen and they are kept spotlessly clean by the volunteer camp hosts, they even had a very pleasant smell. The Western Australian department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) makes good use of their excellent voluntary camp host system which sees most of the more popular N.P. camping areas having the services of camp hosts during the busiest part of the year. Here again we were very lucky being at Ned’s because we reckon that our camp hosts were the very best you would ever find. Norm & Gwen have been the voluntary camp hosts at Ned’s for six months each year for the past twenty years – how’s that! Norm & Gwen have lined up all the picnic tables close to their campsite and make it almost mandatory to attend the happy hour at 5.30 each day
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During our 2 week stay they were honoured at a camp host’s function at the ranger headquarters and the service they had provided over that period was tallied up. They have contributed more than 40,000 hours of voluntary service and have greeted and checked in over 106,000 visitors. People like Norm & Gwen are real heroes in our minds as they go about the business, without any fuss, of making sure all the visitors to ‘their’ camp are looked after and have a good time. It is no wonder that they were recently presented with a gift in recognition of their service by the Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett.
What sort of time did we have during our 2-week stay at Cape range? Well, in a word, Fantastic! We swam and snorkelled most days, had long walks along the beach, paddled our kayak amongst a pod of playful dolphins, walked Mandu gorge and cruised Yardie creek. Ningaloo Reef (one of the longest fringing reefs in the world at 260Km) is just offshore and in some places is little more than 100 metres out. This provides a wonderful sheltered lagoon full of coral and tropical fish for the entire length of the park. This is the best snorkelling we have done because it is so easy. You just swim out from the beach and within just a few metres you are above coral formations populated with a myriad of colourful fish (around 500 species recorded) and mostly in no more than 2 metres of water. The water is very clear and nice and warm.
Our tips (we could be biased) for visiting Cape range: 1. Go early in the season (late April to early June), as there is less wind. 2. Make sure you have plenty of water tanks and containers and fill them before leaving Exmouth. 3. Be prepared to be patient when waiting for a site. 4. The best camp, Ned’s. 5. The best swimming beaches, Sandy Bay & Turquoise Bay. 6. The best snorkelling, Oyster Stacks (high tide only) and Lakeside. 7. The best combo of swimming and snorkelling, Turquoise Bay. 8. The best camp hosts, Norm & Gwen, of course.
Footnote: You can stay camped in the park for a maximum of 28 days during any visit. There are the usual vehicle entry and camping fees with discounts for concession cardholders. At the time of our visit it was proposed to allow pre booking for about half of the sites. We think that the present system works extremely well and does not need changing as it rewards visitors who are diligent enough to arrive early and patient enough to wait for a site during peak times. This would have to be the best run N.P. we have come across providing a very good balance of public access and protection for the environment and the entry and camping fees are quite reasonable given its popularity and facilities. It runs like a well-oiled machine due to its management plan, its staff and in no small part the work done by all the dedicated volunteer camp hosts. Why change things? We realise that a lot of people are fixated on the need to make forward reservations, well they can satisfy this need by booking ahead at one of the caravan parks or other accommodation choices in Exmouth and make day trips into the park, it is not that far.
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