Mozzies Around Australia: Day 23 Cape Range National Park

Saturday we packed some lunch and headed off to explore the Cape Range National Park . Its about a 40 km drive to the entrance to the park and there’s some things to see on the way. As I mentioned yesterday , there is the Harold e Holt Communications Complex , During the second world war. There was a radar complex built at the end of the peninsula to monitor the area. However, it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold war that America realised it had a huge black hole in terms of communication in the indo pacific region. In May 1963, the American and Australian governments signed an agreement to develop the communication station,

The result of this is the “13 Towers” numbered 0-12 as they were very superstitious and wouldn’t’ use 13. These massive towers are skyscraper material with the biggest being 389m tall. There are VFL transmitters that cover about 400 ha. Originally the station was run and manned by Americans who basically built a city around it – houses, roads, power plant, water desalination plant – anything and everything that was needed. The complex is still deemed to be American soil but is now run by the Australian Navy . You still have to drive on the other side of the road when you are in the complex.

We moved on down the coast to the Vlaming Lighthouse which gives you a great view of the whole area. Dropped in at the Myerling Discovery Centre for some information and some retail therapy. Ended up with a cute fella called Buddi (see below) . The Cape Road is a real contrast as is much of the west coast. You look inland and its desert, you look the other way and it’s the turn off to so many beautiful beach areas often with access to snorkeling with names like Turquoise Bay, etc.

We travelled the full length and ended up at Yardie Creek Gorge which is the only permanent water supply. Its not a through road so you have to retrace your steps to get out . Stopped at a place called Lakeside to have lunch and wile away a few hours swimming and fishing, Back home to get ready for our big adventure tomorrow – swimming with whale sharks !

Hopefully we will have some more movies to upload soon,