Mandu Mandu Creek

Details of the trip down here from Onslow:
- 580klm
- 197.7 cents/litre on the way at the Nanutarra Road House. I mention that it was at Nanutarra only because it has a cool name.
- An overnight stop in an isolated, untitled and non-descript rest area. Lovely sunset and star packed night.
- Vegetation changes are very subtle until Cape Range with almost nothing above a meter tall.
- Geological changes are much more evident. We have left the Pilbara and the terrain of the Mid-West is more evenly covered with dirt/sand and an absence of the crazy granite and basalt outcrops of the Pilbara. It’s softer/smoother here.
- The military is here as well. Big airforce base at Learmonth. Just north of Exmouth is the Harold E Holt, VLF (very low frequency) transmitter established by the USA for comms to their submarines in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. Exmouth was established to support the base
- the Ningaloo coral reef is in swimming distance from the beach at our camp site. Never seen that before.
Exmouth has Gold Coast like aspiration (or perhaps St Huberts Island). There is a very wealthy looking area with man made canals and big boats. It is different to G.C. because they need to accommodate big tidal differences and cyclones, so it looks a bit more industrial strength. Real Estate has several of these for sale between $2.2 and $3.7 million if you fancy establish a holiday home.
- We are camped at North Mandu which has only 5 sites that are booked on the diabolically challenging WA Parks web site. We got some coaching from a ranger in the Chichester NP so we get by.
- did you know that Cape Range was a target for the Japanese during WWII because the Yanks had Radar and Naval Bases in the area.Läs mer