Paddling in Cape Range National Park

Cape Range National Park sits on the western edge of Western Australia's North West Cape peninsula, where an ancient limestone range meets the Indian Ocean and the fringing reef of Ningaloo.

The paddling here is almost entirely coastal and estuarine — calm, sheltered water read more by tide and wind than by current or gradient. This is sea kayak and SUP country, with one creek gorge that anchors the inland experience.

Yardie Creek is the park's signature paddle. The creek cuts through red limestone cliffs on the southern end of the park, about 38 kilometres south of the Milyering Discovery Centre via Yardie Creek Road.

The water is deep blue and still, the gorge walls rise sharply on both sides, and the reflected colour bands in the rock are as much a part of the experience as the paddling itself. Black-flanked rock wallabies, ospreys, and sea eagles work the cliff faces.

Kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding are both popular here; the creek is also run by guided boat cruise. Out along the reef lagoon, the paddling shifts to open coastal water with snorkelling woven in.

The Osprey Sanctuary Zone Kayak Trail, the Mangrove Bay Paddle, and the Kori Bay Paddle are among the named routes. The Tantabiddi Sanctuary Zone is another focal point — a roughly 1.

4-kilometre paddle west-northwest from the boat ramp puts you into protected reef water. These sanctuary zones are the reason paddlers come: coral formations and fish life that reward a slow pace and a mask in the water.

Ningaloo is a Marine Park layered on top of the National Park, and sanctuary zones carry their own access rules.

Check current conditions and any zone restrictions with the park before you launch — what's open to paddlers, and where you can anchor or land, can change. The North West Cape is remote.

Exmouth is the service town, and once you're in the park, you're committed to what you carried. Wind off the Indian Ocean can build quickly and reshape a day on open water.

Yardie Creek offers the most sheltered paddle in the park; the reef lagoon routes demand more attention to conditions. Plan around both.