Continuing north from Kalbarri we were now heading towards some of the locations we had all being most excited to visit and all for different reasons. We had intended to stay at Denham in one of the caravan parks but at $55pn when your on a budget you look around and glad we did, friends we had left Kalbarri with that morning had said they were heading to Nanga Bay, after making a call we decided to head to the same spot and based ourselves from there for a week at $30pn.
Hamlin Pool
First spot you come to after turning off the main highway north, famous for the Stromatolites which we had seen earlier at Cevantes. Here they have built a nice boardwalk out over the water where you get to see the dried out versions above the high tide line and below the water you can see the still living examples, these are the oldest living fossils and quite amazing they are made from layers of bacteria.
Nanga Bay Station
About 50km south of Denham this is an old sheep station but for the last 25 years has served as a resort for travellers coming to the area. Nice big sites with good access to the beach, an artesian spa and restaurant if you want the night off cooking. Thankfully they had a TV setup in public area so I was able to commandeer it the first night to watch NSW win Origin 1. From here there a few lookouts and beaches which are good for fishing and being only 30mins from Denham easy enough to restock supplies if required. One beach being Shell Beach made entirely of these small shells below, they go down about 10m and at that depth are so compacted they were cut into blocks and used for building in the area.
Monkey Mia and Cape Peron National Park.
This was one of the highlights of the trip so far for Fred, back at school last year he had studied about this area and the dolphin feeding that goes on and was very excited to finally get here. With an early start we made it to Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort just before 8am and were happy to hear the dolphins had not turned up as of yet, however a few of our friends were there so we said our hellos and took our place on the beach. Being a little sneaky and knowing they only pick a few people out of the crowd to feed a fish I left Kel and Lil in the middle of the beach and took Fred off down the end away from all the other kids, worked a treat as when it came time for feeding Fred was picked and in he went, we were very happy for him and he was very excited by the whole experience. They have been feeding some of these same dolphins since 1975 so a couple are nearly 40years old, in the past you just bought a bucket of fish and walked into the water and fed the dolphins, these days they control the whole experience and no dolphin will get more the 2kg of fish in any day. We were lucky as first to arrive was a mother and baby only to be followed by two more mums and bubs and finally a lone arrival making seven dolphins for the day.
After the feeding was over we went back into Denham to stock up on food and then made our way out to Cape Peron National Park, the first place you come to is Peron Homestead, up until 1993 this was a working station but has since being taken over by National Parks. There homestead has a nice little display showing the different animals both native and introduced, then taking a walk around you can see the artesian spa, shearing sheds and shearers quarters. On leaving the homestead you stop at the air down station as the rest of the tracks are sand and lower tyre pressures both protect the track and make the driving easier on the car, the shocking corrugations could only be taken with care. We drove straight to the tip of the Peninsular arriving at Cape Peron just near lunch, we then backtracked to Skipjack Point where we spotted below a school of Sea Mullet, 14 rays (eagle type we think) and even a turtle. We also had a look at Bottle Bay and Gregories where Lil managed a quick swim in the chilly waters before we returned to the homestead to air up the tyres at the provided station and head back to Nanga after a long but enjoyable day out
Steep Point
This was something I had in my mind early on in our planning for the trip, coming all this way and not going to the most westerly point on mainland Australia would seem like a waste but it is a very remote area. Having asked around and hearing another family did the trip out in a day we decided to give it a go, we had supplies for an overnight trip if required but intended to do it in a day. Again leaving Nanga Bay early in the morning we went south on the highway and turned into Useless Loop Road which soon runs out of tarmac and becomes a dirt road with varying levels of quality, after some time you come to the Steep Point/False Entrance junction, turning right we headed for Steep Point, from here the roads became extremely corrugated and in parts we were down to 20kmh. Soon you come to a sign asking you to reduce tyre pressures as this next section was over sand dunes and more dash rattling corrugations until finally you come to the rangers house and report in, from here it is only a few km to Steep Point and our objective complete. Photos taken and lunch consumed we had a look around and spotted some guys balloon fishing from the cliffs, we went over to have a look and get a run down of how it works, they were good enough to bring in a Kobai whilst we watched on, the lengths people go to catch fish is quite remarkable, Robson Green on Extreme Fishing needs to have a crack at this technique. Basically the bait the hook and attach a helium filled balloon to the line, using the wind to blow the hook away from the cliffs the bait hangs just under the surface, once a fish is caught they reel it in and at the cliff they send a hook down the line which drops over the fishes head, this bigger rope is used to haul the fish up the 20m.
We continued driving along the coast south and came across a memorial to the Nor 6 which was a fishing boat lost on the rocks back in 1968, three of the four crew died but one managed to survive floating in the ships coolroom eating the stores and drinking water from the defrosting ice, he survived two weeks before the currents brought him back to nearly the same spot and he was recovered by another fishing boat, one lucky fellow.
The track continued along the coast and came to Thunder Bay Blowholes, unfortunately today they were not blowing so we kept going and returned to the main track back towards Nanga Bay, our log for the day was 370km over 11 hours so quite a big day but well worth it for the views and bragging rights.
And so that was our time around Shark Bay, a lovely area but again the weather gods were against us and we did not get to see its true beauty due to winds and cloud but still a great time was had by all, next on our route was a trek inland to see a rock!.
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