Kayak, Snorkel and Walk Ningaloo

We will pick you up from your Exmouth accommodation at 2.45pm. Upon arrival, you will be kitted out with all the gear you will need for sea kayaking, snorkeling, and camping over the next 5 days. Your guide will help you fit/size snorkeling gear, PFD, long sleeve rashies, broad brim hat and kayaking gloves. We’ll then load all of our gear and personal effects into the bus, make a quick stop in Exmouth town for last-minute supplies if necessary (this includes a stop at the bottle shop), before journeying into Cape Range National Park (approx. 1 hour), to our base camp. After settling into camp, and a delicious dinner freshly prepared your guides, your guides will pull out some maps and brief you on the plan for next few days. Fall asleep tonight with a sense of excited anticipation about what the next few days will bring!

Meals:  D

We start the day around 7am with an alfresco brekky, including freshly brewed coffee and a selection of teas, before getting prepped for the day. We’ll leave camp in the bus with the kayak trailer around 8.30am, and make the 20 minute drive south to Yardie Creek, our launch site for the trip. After unloading our kayaks from the trailer, your guides will give you a briefing to familiarise you with your kayaks, paddle strokes and safety. You will have some time on the beach to organise your gear whilst your guides do a vehicle shuttle, so the bus is at our end point for the day, before they return to join the group. Then it's off the explore the wonders of Ningaloo! Today we'll cover about 10km in the kayaks (going with the prevailing breeze) and stop at a couple of our guide's favourite snorkel sites, where you'll be amazed at the diversity of life on Ningaloo. Stops on the beach for morning tea and lunch break the kayaking up into manageable sections, even for novices. When we reach the end point for the day, we’ll unpack our personal belongings and any gear we want to take back to camp, and then work in teams to carry the kayaks up into the dunes, where they’ll stay for the night, before boarding the bus to return to base camp around 4pm. Once back at camp, enjoy an open-air solar shower, walk on the beach, or settle in and read a few pages of a good book before grabbing some snacks and a drink to enjoy a west coast sunset. A delicious dinner under the stars rounds out the day before we settle in for a satisfying nights’ sleep.

Meals:  B,L,D

Our day again starts at 7am with an alfresco brekky. Early risers will smell the coffee drifting to their tent and may wish to come and grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy a sunrise walk on the beach. Following breakfast, get prepped for another amazing day exploring Ningaloo. We return to the kayaks by vehicle, work in teams to carry them to the shoreline, and again you will have time to organise your gear whilst your guides shuttle the bus to our end point for the day. Today we paddle a beautiful stretch of Ningaloo coastline, encompassing shallow turquoise lagoon waters and some beautiful snorkeling. During the paddle today, you might marvel at the stunning contrast between reef and range: the juxtaposition of turquoise waters, deserted sandy beaches and coral reef with the arid shrublands and ancient gorges of Cape Range: uniquely beautiful. You’ll find yourself settling into the rhythms of nature and the time will fly by. Before you know it, we have reached our destination for the day, and it’s time to carry the kayaks up into the dunes and return to camp.

Meals:  B,L,D

Once out on the water today, Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay are 2 well-known sites that we will stop and snorkel along the way, and we have other sites that we can snorkel from the kayaks if we feel like it too! Our guides know the reef like the back of their hand, and the nature of our small group tours mean they can customise them to our guests. Today we aim to be off the water a little earlier than previous days, so we can return to camp and have some down time before we don our hiking clothes and drive to Yardie Gorge, the only waterfilled gorge in the entire Cape Range National Park, for a sunset hike. The Yardie Gorge walk is a 2km return walk that takes about an hour, and provides plenty of time for wildlife spotting photo opportunities. You may also see black-flanked rock wallabies here, as well as myriad bird life, including a massive osprey nest. Your guide will point out ancient fossilised corals beneath your feet, and if you look out to sea, you’ll see the gap in the fringing reef where the creek used to flow out to sea at a time when the sea level was much lower than present day. The trail here is a short 2km return, and there are some sections of steep, uneven terrain and rock scrambling. As the trail goes out and returns on the same path, you can choose to sit out any sections that you aren’t comfortable with, and the group will meet up with you on the return journey. The pace is relaxed so we can enjoy the views, and our staff are on hand to provide assistance when necessary. When we return to camp this evening, it’s all hands on deck to prepare dinner before we turn in for the night.

Meals:  B,L,D

This morning you have the option of a cooked breakfast: your guides will be up early scrambling eggs, frying bacon and getting the toast cooked for a hearty start to the day, before we again don the hiking gear, and head off with our day packs to explore another of Cape Range National Park’s awe-inspiring gorges and wildlife. We are headed for Mandu Mandu Gorge, where we take a 3km loop walk (we allow 2 hours here) that explores both the dry riverbed and rim of this spectacular gorge: home to endangered black-flanked rock wallabies and lots of bird life. There’s no need to rush here as we negotiate some rocky scrambles, spot wildlife, and marvel at the forces of nature that have carved this gorge over millennia. We’ll then make our way to the Milyering Visitor Centre (the national park visitor centre), where you’ll have time to enjoy the interpretive displays and do some souvenir shopping whilst your guides prepare a picnic lunch. Following lunch, we change back into our paddling clothes and return to the kayaks to do a few watery kms in the turquoise waters with a stop for another beautiful snorkel before we return to camp.

Meals:  B,L,D

Today is our last day exploring the wonders of Ningaloo! After a 7am continental brekky, you’ll have time to back up your personal belongings while your guides pack up the communal areas of our camp. We load luggage and all our gear on the bus and take it with us when we depart, as we’ll be returning to Exmouth town this afternoon. Once out on the water, we paddle out into the clear lagoon waters, looking for turtles and rays under our kayaks. This section of lagoon is also good for spotting dugong in season (late May - August), so keep a look out! We've got one of our favourite snorkel sites saved for our last day, a beautiful shore-based site teeming with life. After a snorkel and lunch on the beach, we reach the end point of our journey. After a big CONGRATULATIONS and a recap of our journey, it's then time to unpack our kayaks and load them on the trailer, before making our way back into Exmouth town. Your guides will drop you off at your Exmouth accommodation around 4pm, with a promise to have the photos of your Ningaloo adventure uploaded as soon as they can. Guaranteed you'll be buzzing with the amazing experiences that you've just had whilst exploring Ningaloo and Cape Range, and even though you may feel a tad weary, you'll feel energised and inspired by your Ningaloo memories.

Meals:  B,L