Exmouth

You have to watch for the road trains in this part of the state.

Four trailers

We arrived in Exmouth mid morning and promptly searched for a service station to top up the 4WD and jerrycans.  Not cheap diesel but cheaper than the road houses between Exmouth and Broome.

The next task was lunch and we headed down to the beach.   Carlin wanted a swim.  I was still thinking sharks and crocs.  Well probably not crocs this far south!

He informed me the water was warm and very clear.  At least he might have a chance of seeing the shark approaching

Exmouth is a small resort town mostly known for Ningaloo Reef and Whale Sharks.  These sharks are slow moving, passive and eat by filtering plankton.  They are the largest living fish in the world.  There are several tour companies in Exmouth that specialise in conducting tours where clients get to snorkel with a Whale Shark. 

At the northern end of the peninsula is North West Cape.  This part of the coast has a reputation for being dangerous and there have been several ship wrecks.   In 1907 SS Mildura, a cattle steamer, was wrecked off the cape during a cyclone.  This accelerated the demand for something to be done and in 1911 it was decided to build a lighthouse at the end of North West Cape.   Vlamingh Head Lighthouse was commissioned in 1912

  

During the Second World War the North West Cape was an important refuelling depot for US Navy ships and an airbase was developed at Learmonth, south of Exmouth which led to a radar station being built near the lighthouse.

Radar Tower

During WW2 Japanese aircraft made a number of bombing attacks <link here> which were detected by personnel manning the radar.  Subsequently the US Navy decided to relocate their submarine base from Exmouth further south to Fremantle.

The two military installations in this are are the RAAF airfield at Learmonth and the Harold E Holt Radio Station.  The radio station  is named after Harold Holt. a former Australian Prime Minister who drowned of Portsea, Victoria.  The radio station is a joint US and Australian military communications facility.  Wikipedia states "it provides very low frequency (VLF) radio transmission to United States Navy, Royal Australian Navy and allied ships and submarines in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean.^[1] The frequency is 19.8 kHz. With a transmission power of 1 megawatt, it is the most powerful transmission station in the Southern Hemisphere."

You may be able to see some of the radio station antenna and buildings where the land meets the sea in the above photo.

The other notable things you can see from the lighthouse are the offshore oil and gas platforms.

There are five visible on a good day

Then there are the tourists all parked up and waiting to board a boat to go swimming with the sharks!

Travelling down the western side of the peninsula we started looking for a campsite.  It quickly became apparent there would be no free camping.  Eventually we reached the entrance to the Cape Range National Park and the 'pay station'.  After purchasing a day pass we headed to the National Park Office in the hope of obtaining a campsite.  This proved to be a fruitless trip as not only were there no vacancies the ranger informed us all the campsites were usually booked six months in advance.   She suggested we retrace our journey to Exmouth where the town had an "overflow" camping area behind the agricultural showgrounds.

With no other option we went back to Exmouth and enquired about a campsite at the town visitor centre.  Fortunately we managed to obtain one of the last vacant unpowered campsites.  This is a temporary camping ground with a maximum stay of two nights.  The facilities (showers & toilets) and mounted on trailers which I assume get moved when the showgrounds are required.  Despite the "primitive" nature of the site and facilities it was the most expensive campsite ($50) during our trip.  Exmouth Town must be making a fortune!

Carlin cooked another amazing meal before we retired for the night knowing tomorrow we would be retracing our route back to the Cape Range National Park.