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Exmouth, once US Navy town, now provides easy access to Ningaloo Reef, Cape Range National Park and the many spectacular beaches and coral lagoons, including pristine Turquoise Bay.
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Exmouth is situated on the North West Cape 1270km from Perth. Exmouth experiences summer year-round with an average winter temperature of 25C, and a summer average of around 35C. Exmouth has little rain and no wet season, so the summer days are low in humidity.
Exmouth is a very young town located on the Gulf of Exmouth on the eastern side of the North West Cape. Dutch ships first visited Exmouth as early as 1618 but it wasnt until some 350 years later that a town was settled.
North of Learmonth Airport is the solar Observatory, alongside the Gulf of Exmouth. Looking towards the Gulf of Exmouth from the height of the Cape Range National Park, the colourful prawning fleet of the Kailis factory is very picturesque. Exmouth prawns are without parallel, and a platter of freshly caught prawns in one of the local restaurants is an epicurean delight.
Ningaloo Reef is Australias largest fringing coral reef and runs 260km along the length of the North West Cape, beginning at Bundegi Beach near Exmouth. Many different varieties of soft and hard coral can be found, as can wildlife such as tropical fish, sea snakes, sharks, moray eels, seals, rare dugongs, turtles and the largest fish in our oceans, the whale shark. Marvel at the vibrant underwater life snorkeling in fabled Turquoise Bay only metres from the white sandy beaches.
Just north of the North West Cape are the Muiron Islands, a snorkeling and diving paradise a short boat ride from Exmouth. Turtles nest in the imaginatively titled Turtle Bay, an excellent spot for swimming and lazing bout on the beach. A superb range of dive sites available around the Muiron Islands, some of these include The Cod Sanctuary, Jaws Reef, Mackerel Lumps, Pearl Reef, The Jack Pit and Porite Bombies.
Game fishing out of Exmouth is sensational with over 40 varieties of game fish in the waters. Different species of marlin, sailfish, short-billed spearfish and broad-billed swordfish, not to mention sharks, Spanish mackerel and tuna can be wrestled, tagged and released.
The Cape Range National Park covers 50,581ha of land near Exmouth along the western side of the North West Cape. Cape Range is a massive limestone range that has been eroded of time; Cape Range National Park is awesome with spectacular deep gorges, ridges, gullies and extensive caves. From the eastern side, visitors can travel along the Charles Knife Road exploring the Thomas Carter Lookout with its magnificent views of the deep gorges, across rolling plains and out to the splendid azure waters of the Gulf of Exmouth beyond. Wildlife is regularly sighted around Exmouth, bustards, kangaroos, wallabies, emus, and bungarra lizards abound and wild goats are often seen precariously climbing the gorges. On the western seaboard of the North West Cape, around the very end of the road around the cape is Yardie Creek. An estuarine lagoon filled by very high tides that cross the sand bar at its mouth, the gorge of Yardie Creek has diverse and lively fauna from black-footed rock wallabies to nesting sea eagles. The walkway from the car park to Yardie Creek is almost littered with the ancient fossils from the time when the landscape of Cape was part of the ocean floor. The underlying limestone caves and waterways of the Cape Range National Park are also home to unique blind shrimp like creatures that are living remnants of the prehistoric era.
One of the few fringing coral reefs on the west coast of a continent in the world, Ningaloo Reef creates a protected lagoon around the North West Cape. First-time or inexperienced snorkellers will find Exmouth an ideal base to explore the underwater environment. Manta Rays, colourful coral and beautiful species of tropical fish are accessible year-round as Exmouth enjoys summer for most of the year. For the ultimate wildlife encounter swim alongside a giant Whale Shark, the worlds largest fish. These majestic creatures cruise past Ningaloo Reef from March to June. They can grow up to 18m long, but are harmless in that they are filter feeders, with plankton as their diet.
Central Exmouth North West WA - Western Australia
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Western Australia - Map of Exmouth Australia
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