This large beautiful and remote peninsula, a mere 1200km North of Perth, features the 47,500-hectare Cape Range National Park along its spine. The Park has wonderful deserted beaches, rugged limestone plateaus, many caves and deep canyons to explore. Spectacular Yardie Creek, a gorge created by a sandbar, is a popular spot.
Naturalists and birders will be in heaven here, with over 100 different species of bird and 80 of reptiles, plus myriad flora to discover - there are at least 630 kinds of wildflower alone! Seek out the mangroves, acacia, spinifex, grevillea, eucalyptus and minilya lily, plus the iconic Sturt's Desert Pea. Indigenous wildlife includes rock wallabies, red kangaroos, emus and euros (a kind of kangaroo).
Most visitors will be drawn to the area for pristine Ningaloo Reef, a 260-km fringing coral reef, the largest in Australia and known for its rich marine life that includes 500 species of fish and 300 of coral. Protected now as Ningaloo Marine Park, its most famous inhabitants are the whale sharks (the world's largest fish), dolphins, dugongs, manta rays and humpback whales. Its beaches host loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtle nesting grounds. One of the best things about this reef is that you can get to it just by stepping off the beach.