![\"ningaloo---7\"](\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/ningaloo-7.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n17 kilometres north of the entrance to Cape Range National Park, the rustic farm of Yardie Creek Homestead is the<\/em> base to access the area\u2019s reef, creeks and dunes. Smack-bang in the middle of nature, it\u2019s common to find an army of kangaroos grazing around your tent (pop to the bathroom around 3am). Our host, Marie, was a Western Australian from the depths of Margaret River. A dainty figure with wild eyes and a no-nonsense attitude, she had the personality of a monster truck: crushing you with truth and guiding you with reality.<\/p>\n \u201cThat Corolla is never going to get you past the (Yardie) creek. Don\u2019t even try to drive down a path that isn\u2019t signed.\u201d She pursed her lips as if I\u2019d already beached my car. \u201cThis woman is not pulling a pommy out of a ditch at any time of the day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n This was her reaction to our optimistic plans of driving to Charles Knife Canyon in a Corolla. As a child of the \u201860s, Marie had moments where she\u2019d slip into an airy, tie-dye nostalgia and then return to the matter at hand.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis place was a wonderland where not many people came. It still is, I guess. You won\u2019t see yourself a rock wallaby down the creek unless you jump in a boat,\u201d she said. \u201cTake a kayak down the water. That\u2019s if those scrawny, pale arms will get you anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n I saw these cheap shots as playground tactics. But she was right. Not about my arms, but about not seeing a rock wallaby. Instead of taking the Yardie Creek boat tour, we took the one-hour return hike that ran through class 3 and class 4 trails (steep routes with high temperatures on the escarpment). We may not have seen the illusive rock wallabies that apparently defied gravity, but the views of the creek were worth the adventure.<\/p>\n I just didn\u2019t have the nerve<\/span> heart to tell Marie.<\/p>\n Perks of camping on a homestead is that it usually comes with continuous local knowledge. On our first day of snorkelling in Turquoise Bay, through the yellows and purples of the coral, we came across schools of tropical fish, stingrays, squid and green turtles. We told Marie of our find and her eyes lit up.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope you\u2019re going to pay me extra for this,\u201d she said. Dotting and scribbling instructions on a local map, she directed us to a track five kilometres north that had the catchy name of \u201cturn 2\u201d.<\/p>\n We parked the car at a rusty, unmarked gate just off the road and mooched over the sand dunes to a stretch of deserted beach. Directly in front of us, in the shallows of the water, dozens of green turtles paired off to mate. Keeping our distance, in an early afternoon sandstorm, we watched for hours as loggerhead turtles began to join the party. It wasn\u2019t a car-keys-in-the-bowl situation, but you get the picture. It was pretty special.<\/p>\n At nightfall we headed to Trisel beach, again on Marie\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one of the only places in the world<\/em> you\u2019ll see greens and loggerheads doing this,\u201d she said. Marie was referring to the fact that Ningaloo is the probably the most important mating and nesting site on Earth for these turtles. \u201cAnd don\u2019t go shining your torches. It\u2019s not a disco rave.\u201d<\/p>\n She passed us a leaflet on the conservation of turtles during nesting season. Predominantly aimed at the bloating tourist interest in the habits of turtles, the leaflet is basically a list of dos and don\u2019ts that help protect their numbers. Marie educated us with worry on her face.<\/p>\n After negotiating the \u201csuicide kangaroo\u201d filled roads at 15 kmph in the pitch black, we left the car and allowed our eyes adjust to the moonlight. As per leaflet, we adopted the \u201ccommando position\u201d when we spotted dark shapes up high on the beach. Crawling like two injured commandos, time became an issue. We lay silently in front of these three animated silhouettes for at least 30 minutes. Sand flicked back into our faces, which meant nesting had began. We crept closer (as per leaflet), staying low, and didn\u2019t utter a word. 15 metres. 10 metres. Five. The closer we got, the clearer the image became. And what a scene it was.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nAcross the sand dunes to Ningaloo<\/h3>\n
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