DAY 82 – EXPLORING CAPE RANGE NATIONAL PARK AND MORE SNORKLING….

Another great day in paradise.  The snorkelling times were an hour later this morning, which gave us a chance to have a bit of a lazy morning. 

Steve got up around 7am and headed down to Bloodwood Creek to do a spot of fishing for a couple of hours, whilst I caught up with some letter writing and generally tidying up the van.  

Snorkeling for the second day at Turquoise Bay

Steve and I snorkeling together at Ningaloo Reef

The others took off to go snorkelling down at Turquoise around 9am, whilst I waited for Steve to come back from his fishing.   Whilst I was waiting, I packed up all our gear so that when we got back, we could also head straight down to Turquoise Bay to join the others. 

He had gone down to Bloodwood Creek to try his hand at fishing down there but came home empty handed.   I think there might be a trip back to Lakeside Beach this afternoon to see if he can repeat his performance from yesterday.

By the time we got around to Turquoise Bay, Ian, Barb and Kathy had finished snorkeling.  It was quite choppy today and they were having trouble with water in their breathing piece, so had decided to hop out.  

We had a great time snorkeling the reef together

Steve and I had a great time snorkeling over the reef together.  I think having seen the videos yesterday at the discovery centre certainly helped us identify so many more of the fish we saw today. 

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The coral wasn’t as prolific as it was yesterday, but we certainly saw more fish and more brightly coloured fish.  We probably spent about 90 minutes out there snorkeling before deciding to come in.  It really was quite magical and I could have done it all day. 

By the time we got out of the water it was going on for lunch time, so we had the dreaded trek back along the beach to the car and then headed back to our van at North Mandu for lunch.

Swimming with schools of fish

Ian and Kathy joined us.  It was quite a relaxed spot to be.  Steve was keen to head back to Lakeside Beach to fish again this afternoon, whilst the rest of us decided to go and explore Yardie Gorge and Creek.  

Yardie Creek is at the end of the bitumen road, beyond there it is 4WD country.  The gorge was really quite pretty.  The walk to it was easy and the views were worth the walk.  The creek is fresh water and runs out towards the ocean.  Most of the time there are sand bars across so that the two don’t miss, but after a particularly wet season, the sandbar can be washed out and there is a bit of mixing of the salt and fresh water.  

 The wild flowers were in bloom at Yardie Creek also, so I couldn't resist taking a few photos of these as the season is nearly over...

On the way back from Yardie Creek, we decided to check out some of the other camping areas, in particular Osprey Camping ground.  This was quite a large camping ground with about 40 sites divided into two camp grounds, one was generator free and the other side you could use a generator. 

The boat ramp

John and Barb

There was a lot of large rock headland along the beach here so not particularly good for swimming but we did see quite a few fishing from the rocks. 

They also have a small boat ramp for loading your kayaks.  We walked down onto the beach and took a few photos.  From Osprey, you could clearly see the beach at Sandy Bar.  In fact there is a 650m walk from Osprey to the swimming beach at Sandy Bar, so it is probably a good spot to camp also.  

Sandy Bay

We drove into Sandy Bar on our way home and checked out some kite surfers who were having a ball in the water here.  It really is a lovely beach with long stretches of white sand, but no camping…

More fish today.

Such a happy chappy

On our way home we came across Steve who was coming our way to find us.  We were almost home when we saw him.  He continued down to Sandy Bay so that he could check it out also, and when he got home he had a flathead to add to his fishing success at Cape Ranch.  He was happy, and so were the rest of us as it meant another fish feed…. 

Our beach is covered in these rocks

North Mandu beach

Out to enjoy the sunset

A great way to end the day

Looking back to our vans.

As has been our custom here at North Mandu, our chairs were all moved down to the first sand(rock) dune so that we could enjoy our last sunset at this beautiful location. 

 

Our last beautiful sunset in Paradise

Tomorrow we are pulling out.  We could have done with a few more days here but unfortunately it was all booked out with the start of the WA school holidays.  We were just so thankful that we managed to find sites for a few nights at least….