Page 78 - BNB Fishing mag

CARAVANNING & adventure
Worth stopping at the lighthouse on the drive from Exmouth to Cape Range National Park.
Turquoise Bay was a well-known snorkelling location close to Osprey Bay campground.
EWxmouth and Cape Range National Park have everything to offer
ELL people, with plenty of things to Another point of in- still some do and see. terest are the very low crazy times When people talk frequency towers – the
Caravanning
by TODD EVELEIGH
with COVID-19 reap- about Exmouth, you tallest tower is 387m
pearing in big numbers through Victoria, with further restrictions and border closures for that state who are having a bit of a hard time of it – our thoughts go out to Victorians.
are around, with lots of drinking and dancing – and American soldiers blowing off some steam when they were off du- ty – at the Exmouth Hotel back in the day. The information centre at Exmouth – the Nin- galoo Discovery Cen- tre – has an amazing little museum, which explains the history of the town, and a great aquarium with beauti- ful fish and live coral showcasing the colours through the reef.
Exmouth Caravan Park, which had a beautiful pool, very clean ameni- ties, super friendly staff, and you could hire snorkelling equip- ment and bikes – great for riding to different areas for a snorkel off the beach.
mostly associate it with amazing fishing.
and was for many years the tallest structure in the southern hemi- sphere.
This month we will talk about our time in Exmouth and Cape Range National Park.
Whether it be fishing flats for permit (snub- nosed dart) and bone fish, reef fishing for bottom fish such as coral trout, redthroat emperor and sweetlip or throwing stickbait along the coral fringes for giant trevally and spangled emperor – it’s all possible here.
At Cape Range Na- tional Park there is a wonderful campground called Osprey Bay, which we booked in to stay for a week.
As it will be a long time before internation- al travel is back on the cards, it’s the perfect opportunity to get out and explore Australia, and support Australian tourism the best way we can.
Exmouth has won- derful restaurants with scrumptious seafood on offer.
Exmouth is one of the most amazing billfish regions in Australia – you can get double fig- ures of billfish such as marlin and sailfish in a day trip from Exmouth.
There are only long drop toilets and no showers or water on of- fer, so you need to be very self-sufficient dur- ing your stay.
Exmouth is situated approximately halfway down the Western Aus- tralian coastline and almost lines up with Stanage Bay, north of Rockhampton on the east coast.
It is a fantastic place to take the kids and we adults really enjoyed it too and is definitely worth a visit.
We went to the beauti- ful Mantarays restau- rant for date night and had the most amazing seafood platter, which we both thoroughly en- joyed.
On the western side of the Exmouth peninsula is the remarkable Cape Range National Park.
Osprey is located al- most in the centre of Ningaloo Reef, and though we camped on the beach and could swim, fish and snorkel where we were staying, we were directed to many other well-known snorkelling locations a short drive away, such as Turquoise Bay, Drift Loop and our favourite, Oyster Stacks.
It was originally founded by the fishing and pearling industry but became a military base during World War II and numerous Amer- icans called Exmouth home.
It does have fantas- tic accommodation options ranging from waterfront apartments, cabins, houses and car- avan parks.
Amazing snorkel- ling, diving and fish- ing charters are on offer for day trips out of Ex- mouth, with one of the major attractions avail- able being swimming with whale sharks, as well as guided tours to different locations from Exmouth.
You can drive up to get an amazing view of Exmouth peninsula, numerous beaches and the coral reefs fringing offshore along Ninga- loo Reef.
So, we made daily trips on the high tide to snorkel all the amaz- ing locations straight off the beach and they were incredible.
Pretty amazing stories
We stayed at the RAC
Exmouth is well set up and caters to tourists
We absolutely loved it – to be able to snorkel www.bnb shing.com.au
Page 78 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, August 2020
Exmouth itself is quite a small town, with only a couple of service sta- tions and little IGAs, and doesn’t have ma- jor supermarket chains such as Coles and Woolworths.
There are also great pubs and places around town for a cold beer and a coffee.
On the way to Cape Range from Exmouth, it’s worthwhile check- ing out the lighthouse, which is perched on top of quite a steep ridge.