Cape Range on the North West Cape

Photo: Euro.

Cape Range is a national park on the North West Cape of Australia. It lies to the north and west of the small town of Exmouth. Most people come here for the beaches, be it snorkeling, swimming or fishing, and that's not surprising because the coastline is glorious with turquoise seas, white sand beaches and the Ningaloo Reef just offshore. It's a very harsh environment though....

This is where the desert meets the sea, the vegetation on land is very scrubby, there are no trees, warnings of dingos, very little freshwater and daytime temperatures can easily reach 50'C in summer. Not that you would want to be here in summer because not only is it unbearably hot, it's also cyclone season.

Euros sheltering from the sun under solar panels at Vlamingh lighthouse. Euros, also known as wallaroos, are a species of kangaroo which favours rocky, hilly places.

One of the biggest surprises to me was the scenery just a little inland. From the coast it looks flat, but it's actually cut through by gorges and canyons, such as here at Mandu Mandu Gorge....

.... and here at Yardie Creek.

Mangrove Bay home of a few good bird species particularly mangrove fantail and mangrove robin.

Spinifex grassland dominates here and it even has it's own species of pigeon, the spinifex pigeon.

Little woodswallow at Charles Knife Canyon. Of all the places we visited at Cape Range, this was the most scenic if you don't count the beautiful turquoise seas.

Little woodswallow.

Yellow-throated miner.

A packed Turquoise bay.