We left Cape Range National Park just before 8am & made our way back into Exmouth for a top up of fuel & to top up our water supplies. There are free water taps at the visitor centre in town & as we planned to stay at Ningaloo Station for a week, where there is no water, we wanted to be completely full. We have a 60L tank under our camper trailer & we also carry 2 x 15L & 2 x 20L drums, plus smaller drink bottles in the car, so just over 130L total.
We were soon on our way on the bitumen for a while, but then were on the dirt road on the Ningaloo road that cuts back to the west coast. As you get on the road it advises that it is only a 4WD track & expect to have to recover yourselves, as the sand dunes are encroaching on the road, more & more each year. We took some air out of the tyres & set off. It was just over 30km to the homestead itself. The road was rough, the sandy bits were actually the best as they were less corrugated, but overall it was okay, about a 50-60km an hour road.
The landscape is totally different to anything we have seen before, huge rolling sand dunes, covered in spinifex & other grasses & the occasional small shrub, not a tree in site.
As you get closer to the homestead, the track is pretty rough with lots of washouts & holes, you crest a hill that is very very rough at the top & you are greeted by amazing expanses of green water & the homestead. We arrived at the homestead, it was nothing like I imagined. Ningaloo has this amazing prestige, I expected a grand homestead sitting on green lawns overlooking the ocean, but instead it was pretty basic & showed the harshness of the environment that they live in.
An older lady came out & took us through all the information & drew us a mud map of how to get to our site. It was all way less formal than we expected. We set off with our key to our camping area, which was South Lefroy Bay. There are 4 different camping areas at Ningaloo station, but you are only granted access to yours, as they are all locked by gates. The cost was $35 per person per week & we had to pay a $100 key deposit. On the wall it also said they had shorter term camping for $20 per person for either 1-4 nights, kids were half price.
Clutching our mud map we jumped back in the car & set off. It was about 20km to our campsite from the homestead. The roads were pretty basic & slow going with lots of pot holes. The landscapes got even harsher with larger sand dunes, less vegetation & lots of dead smaller trees. There were goats & sheep everywhere as we made our way. It's funny, it really felt like we were really somewhere remote, I guess we are, but in reality you are less than 100km from Exmouth or Coral Bay, it just had that feel.
Heading towards our campsite
I can only imagine what it felt for the first explorers in this area, stunningly beautiful beaches, but so dry, arid & harsh, no water at all. Definitely an eye opener, when looking at it from a farming background as well. We found the locked gate for our camping area & made our way down to the campsite, the signs warned to drop your tyre pressures down to 20 PSI as it was going to get soft. We didn't, but they were already down at about 24-28. Our campsite was right on the beach tucked in behind a small sand dune, it was on soft sand & didn't have a turn around, so Mat had to back in around a corner on the soft sand, it took a few goes, but we finally got the trailer in the right spot without getting bogged, but it was touch & go.
Lots of soft sand to negotiate
There is no shade at all, so we set the big awning up as well, as we planned to stay for a week. By the time we were completely set up it was really hot & about 3pm. The rest of the afternoon was spent looking at our incredible views & checking out our own patch of beach.
View from camp
Our snorkelling paradise
The next day was probably one of the most relaxing we have had on our trip so far. We swam & snorkelled directly out from our camp, only 20 meters to the beach, read a book & relaxed. Ningaloo is definitely a great spot to relax. There are heaps of campsites all along the beach, but luckily it isn't very busy & they have put 2-3 campsites gap between each group of campers, so it was really quiet.
During the morning Mat went for a fish & I went for a swim right in front of camp. It was beautiful in the water, I came back to the shore & just sat in the water. Right where I was just swimming a large school of fish jumped out of the water with a couple of dolphins hot on their tails. The dolphins continued to hunt for about 30 minutes in the bay, pretty cool.
View to the north
The next day we decided to go for a drive within our camping area. To the north we couldn't really get very far but to the south we found a quiet area with no campsites that looked like a good fishing spot. The sand dunes were really high & the beach pretty steep with rocks & the reef not very far out. Mat was soon catching a lot of smaller emperor that were under size. He got a huge bite & hauled a fish right into his feet when it dropped off, we have no idea what it was. Back to camp for more swimming & relaxing, what a great place.
Fishing spot
The next day we decided to do a day trip into Coral Bay along the 4WD coast road. It was an amazing drive with wonderful views. The road itself was pretty rough, but you could tow a trailer through, it would be slow though. It took us 3 hours to get from our camp at Ningaloo to Coral Bay but that was with 5 or so stops for photos, it was probably 65-70km of driving, but really worth doing.
Coast road to Coral bay above & 2 below
We arrived in Coral Bay to find a lovely little town with a fantastic swimming beach. It is a very touristy resort town & was packed with holiday makers. There is no fresh drinking water in town & you have to pay for it at the caravan park at $1 per 10L, so we filled our drums up. We also paid for a shower while we were there, at $3 each it was a bargain, but the water was so salty it felt like you were showering in sea water, but it was nice to be clean. We then took advantage of the phone reception & made a couple of calls & checked emails. The town has a couple of supermarkets that are expensive but pretty well stocked as well as a bakery. We went to a cafe for lunch & had excellent local fish & chips. It was then time to head back to Ningaloo this time around the bitumen. It was a nice day out.
Coral Bay
Our next few days were much the same, full of relaxing, swimming, snorkelling & fishing. It seemed to get even quieter with even less campers, which was nice. The wind dropped of on our last couple of days & the weather was glorious. There was a picture of a fish on the wall on the office at the Ningaloo homestead that said "at Ningaloo everyone's happy" that was completely true for us, we had a really wonderful relaxing time. Mat managed to catch us a feed of fish & 2 lots for the freezer, so we have a nice supply of emperor.
Yes we will be getting the sand out of everything for a long time to come, but it was so worth it. We seriously considered staying for another week, but our supplies were getting low & we had itchy feet to discover what the rest of the Ningaloo coast would be like.
Important things to note, you must be fully self sufficient. There is no drinking or other water available, you must have a chemical toilet, take all your rubbish out, you can have a fire but it must be off the ground & you can't collect wood at the station (there is not much around on the way in either, we didn't bother with a fire as it was to windy). We stayed at South Lefroy Bay in campsite 16, a great site with excellent water acres, but we had to back the trailer in as there was no turn around, site 14 near us looked really good to & had a turn around area.
It was really quiet on our visit in mid September with lots of gaps between camps. If it was busy I am not sure it would of been as enjoyable as the camps are pretty close together & some sites aren't even on the waterfront, so I would be really disappointed if we got one of those if it was as busy. As you don't get access to the other camping areas as they are locked with different keys I can't comment on what the others were like.
In summary we loved Ningaloo & wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. If you are looking for that peace of paradise it can be found at Ningaloo. We just hope you get to see it like we did with hardly any people to share it with.
Its just a beautiful spot there.
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