Entry 15 – 2026 – August – Ningaloo Marine Park – Western Australia
Leaving Cape Range N.P. we headed to our next destination down the road a bit. Google Maps indicated our next booked camp ground was about 85 kilometres down the coast. Though the drive via road was about 250 kilometres.
Enroute, we stopped at Exmouth for the usual requirements. Food, water, fuel and laundromat time.
It was a busy, long day. We arrived at around 4 pm at our next campground on Warroona Station, located just south of the town of Coral Bay.
The land south of Cape Range NP was controlled by station properties, where most of the land was utilized for farming purposes. Some of the stations had allowed people to camp alongside the Ningaloo Marine Park, at a cost, subsidizing their income.
In recent times, these coastal fringed campgrounds had been placed under the control of Western Australia National Parks, to enhance the protection of the ecology for the Ningaloo Marine Park.
We had obtained a camp site at The Ridge campground, one of many available campground locations, scattered along the coast line.
Turning off the highway, we stopped and aired down our tyre pressures. It was a drive of about 14 kilometres along a dirt/sandy track through Warroona Station to the campground.
Of interest whilst airing down, four other caravans entered off the highway. None stopped and continued onwards. The initial 50 metres of dirt track was in reasonable condition.
Once our tow tug and caravan tyre pressures had been reduced, we continued onwards. Within a hundred metres the condition of the track had deteriorated to horrendous corrugations. We travelled past all four caravans whom had then stopped to air down. It reiterated the importance of reducing tyre pressures when travelling along bush tracks. It provides another protective level, helping to soften the impact incurred from vehicle destroying roads.
There were no facilities provided at these campgrounds, other than an available dump point and rubbish bin located about 3 kilometres down the road. It was a rocky shore line with some sandy beach access locations. At our location there was a nice beach about a kilometre down the road. Our camp ground location was nice, though under whelming after just having experienced the magnificence of Cape Range NP.
Steve woke one morning and saw it was rather bright outside. The sun wasn’t due to put in an appearance quite that early. As it transpired, it was close to a full moon, on its way to the other side of the world, about to disappear under the ocean. It was one of those special photographic opportunities. Ironically when he turned around the sun was starting to announce its arrival for the day. It was another special photographic opportunity. Of note in the foreground, you can see Steve’s shadow illuminated by the moon’s light.
We were at The Ridge campground as it was nearby the much publicized Five Fingers Reef. It was a location promoted with excellent coral and fish viewing.
As it transpired, Five Fingers Reef was a drive of around 20-kilometres along a mostly single laned, corrugated track. There was a lack of signage with several well used side roads venturing into large sand dune areas on the ocean side.
With little information available about these tracks, we decided to follow some of the well-formed side tracks. There was turtle rock and turtle cliffs lookouts. The scenery was special, with vast large sand hills and beautiful turquoise coloured ocean waters.
There were many rough sections of soft, sandy tracks, dug up from previously bogged vehicles. There was a need to increase our normal sedate speed, often becoming airborne, where we tried to minimise the risk of getting bogged ourselves.
We were both experiencing an elevated level of anxiety, dreading getting bogged ourselves. We stopped to release the pressure from our morning cuppa, helping to reduce the intensity for some of the anxiety.
Our tow tug was a capable 4wd. Its primary purpose for us, to tow our caravan around Australia. We didn’t like the thought of placing our tow tug in an environment where there was an elevated level where it could possibly sustain damage.
There were no photographs obtained for most of the horrendous track sections as Steve was hanging onto the steering wheel while Mary was being flung all over the place. The below photo doesn’t indicate the steepness of the pictured sand hill. The arrow points out where our tow tug came to a stop, sunk into the sand. We reversed back down the hill, put the gear stick into drive and gunned it. We cleared the crest just as our momentum was nearly gone.
Five Fingers Reef looked like another fabulous setting and was popular. Within a few metres of entering the beautiful clear ocean waters you were viewing fish and coral. From our perspective of entering the water from the shore line with goggles and snorkel, we thought the coral to be the most comprehensive we had seen during our time in the Ningaloo Marine Park waters. We thought the viewing would be greatly improved with access to a boat where you could get closer to the outer reef regions.
Leaving Five Fingers Reef we drove to the popular tourist town of Coral Bay. But first we had to prop for two bogged vehicles to clear the track. When the track was clear, we did induce a bit of speed to gain momentum, most likely getting airborne on each hump. The picture below shows the actual section of track and you can use your imagination for the number of times our bottoms left the seats. We did get through that section without getting bogged.
Coral Bay had a smallish beach with two caravan parks and a large resort with a mix of other accommodation options. It was packed to the brim and looked uninviting to us, with our preferred nature-based bush style of camping. We did obtain some fresh fruit and had a bakery fix.
Another day we took a drive in the opposite direction along the coastal track for some further exploration of the area. Initially the track looked to be ok. Unfortunately, the position of the sun camouflaged the lay of the corrugations. It was amazing with no shadows, how the large corrugations blended into the road surface, providing an illusion of a normal flat surface. We couldn’t see any of them, but we felt every single one as our tow tug crashed into them.
Of note on our return, we could clearly see the corrugated road surface.
We don’t enjoy being tossed about when there is no need and eventually executed a U turn, earlier than initially thought. Though we were impressed with the layout of Sandy Point campground, with many ocean front campsites. There were a number of empty sites. We thought the location worthy of consideration, checking the internet for any possibilities but all the sites had been booked.
The below picture shows Sandy Point and the tight S bend in the track to access Sandy Point. Our last picture of our time on the Ningaloo coast shows another beautiful bay. The Ningaloo Marine Park is one of those very special Australian locations.
The Bureau of Meteorology were forecasting the pending arrival of rain. It had been about three months since we had last experienced rain. Rain would be welcomed for the dry landscape.
Our camp site was about 14 kilometres down a dusty dirt track from the main highway.
There was a prediction of up to 60 millimetres of rain over the next two days.
The rain was predicted to arrive around 1am and we were due to vacate our site by 10am later in the morning.
Over the previous day we saw the beautiful blue sky disappear, replaced by clouds indicating rain was on its way. We decided to err on the side of caution and vacated our site at 3pm, opting to camp the night at a roadside rest stop on the highway with a weather proof surface.
We decided to stay put at this roadside rest stop for two days, sitting out the weather event.
Of interest we became aware during the morning of our required departure, National Park Rangers had visited all the occupied campsites. They advised every one of the pending closures of the entry/exit track due to the weather event and to be prepared for it to be closed for an extended period of time.
It was a polite way of saying, evacuate, evacuate, or get the heck out of here.
There were all those psychological thoughts spinning around between our ears. Initially, were we overthinking, deciding to leave early? Then oh my. Perhaps being stranded for an extended period on the Ningaloo Coast would have been a “welcomed,” scenario?
We stayed put for about 40 hours at the roadside rest area, deciding to move about 40 kilometres down the road to the next solid surfaced area, hoping for a change of the scenery from a dry, flat, treeless plain.
The weather forecast was for the rain to clear late morning. The Bureau of Meteorology got the original prediction correct, though the rain continued all day whilst we were waiting out the passing of the weather event at the second road side stop.
Our next target location down the road a bit included driving on a dirt road for about 70 kilometres. It was another one of those locations we were in need to book in advance, nearly 6 months prior.
Due to the ongoing rain, we found ourselves monitoring road closures in the area. Around mid-morning on day two the digital map showing the above dirt road suddenly became a red squiggly line notifying it had been closed. Grr. There was no information for reasons of the closure. Most likely the road may have incurred some wash aways or its surface had turned to sloshy mud, unsafe to travel along?
Most of the time we do seek out nice pleasant weather environments, avoiding wet season surroundings. We do carry some wet weather equipment, stashed in an out the way corner in the caravan. There is a tendency to forget about this “stash,” only having a need for it every few years.
Both the above roadside stops we parked away from other occupants. Over the day new arrivals seemed to gravitate close around us. The second roadside stop had a large bitumized surface with a large puddle forming over a section of it during the day.
In hind sight we should have parked in the middle of this puddle to fend off those unwelcomed people, crowding around us. And to remember we had a stash for times of this nature which we had forgotten about.
After three nights held up by wet weather the rain finally subsided.
With the road to our next planned destination remaining closed, we decided to deviate to another interesting location on the coast.
Quobba is a location featuring limestone cliffs with blowholes, shooting water high up into the sky.
When the ocean swells crash into the rock faced coast line, it forces water through sea caves and up narrow rock holes, creating jets of water. It is an awesome sight.
The main road to Quobba connects to the coastal road at a T intersection. You are greeted by a large sign warning about one of the dangers incurred at this location.
A few kilometres down the road we set camp in a council-controlled campground. The campground consisted primarily of many indents along a dirt track over a few kilometres.
We did spend time at the blow holes watching in awe, the water shooting up into the sky. The sound of the air and waves gushing through the blow holes was awesome.
On one visit we watched whales breaching in the distance. The whales virtually over powered our focus away from the blow holes. It was exciting viewing. “For our most avid reader. Steve’s mum. Mum do-click your mouse arrow on the arrow in the middle of the picture below. It will display a short video showing a special sight.”
Another feature of this location was a sheltered bay called The Aquarium. It was a calm, coral-filled lagoon, safe for snorkelling and swimming.
We happily snorkelled in the lagoon. The coral was lovely viewing with a variety of fish about. It was a most satisfying experience.
The on line, digital roads map for our next booked location was still showing a red squiggly line indicating the access road was still closed. On our second day at Quobba, late afternoon, we decided to seek more clarification. We rang the controlling council and was informed it had just been re-opened. But they were expecting the possibility to re-close the road later the following day due to a forecast of more rain.
The following morning, we left Quobba, very early. Much earlier than our normal bodily capabilities. We were both very focused on our task for the day, including the need to travel just over 300 kilometres to our next planned location. Hopeful of arriving prior the predicted rain.
Our first stop was at the town of Carnarvon to replenish our food, fuel and to source some other required items.
With all the items on our list √ we pointed our tow tug in the direction of the Kennedy Ranges.
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