5ft Black tipped reef shark

Woke up bright and early at 6:15am to get away as early as possible to try and secure a place to sleep in the Cape Range National Park, but unfortunately as we lent 2 hard-core travellers our tent for the night as they only had a sheet of tarpaulin to sleep under we had to wait for them to wake up as well, plus we promised them a lift to the end of the road as they were hitchhiking their way around Australia.

Sandy Beach

At 7:30am, Chris gave up waiting and woke them up so by the time they were ready we were way beyond schedule.

Driving through a lot of nothingness

But we did feel better about ourselves for our good deed for the day! So anyway, off we headed towards Exmouth, filled up our water and then waited for the visitor information centre to open so we could book somewhere to stay. As the doors open a sign goes up saying, ‘No spaces left in The National Park’. Great. And it was only 9am!

Forest fires

But we decided to make the most of our day regardless and would just hop from place to place seeing as much as we could. Firstly though we had to go and buy some snorkels and managed to get a good deal for $50 a set. Still pricey but well worth it.

Nice views

First stop was Yardie Creek which is a huge gorge with some fantastic views. Then straight after we made our way to Sandy Beach which is a perfect swimming beach with very light blue clear water.

In the park

We had a nice refreshing swim in there before making our way to Turquoise Bay to do some snorkelling. Everyone had told us just how amazing it was for snorkelling so we were really excited.

Scenic driving views

They have quite a dangerously strong current just outside the bay, but the best way to get in the water is to walk as far up the beach as you like and just let the current take you but you have to get out before the shoreline changes or you’ll drift out to sea! Pretty scary but we listened to advice given so were fine.

Driving along a rough road

To be honest though, the snorkelling itself was pretty disappointing. There were quite a few fish in the water but most of the coral was dead, just think we have been spoilt by all the awesome snorkelling we did in Indonesia!

Walking along

The highlight of it was though; I saw a black tipped reef shark the same size as me and managed to swim alongside it for a while, completely unaware that it was in fact dangerous until I read the boards about them! But apparently if you leave them alone and don’t wind them up you’ll be fine. After snorkelling we had run out of time to do or go anywhere else so made our way to the next free campsite arriving just before dark.

5ft Black tipped reef shark

Exmouth, Australia