29th – 31st Aug. - Shark Bay

As we have travelled around Oz we have heard and asked so many people of their experiences about the places that they have visited.  Almost invariably the opinions have varied so we have learnt to sift through the information gleaned and make decisions for ourselves.  One of the places that have drawn the most conflicting opinions has been Shark Bay.  Shark Bay has been best known for Monkey Mia and the feeding of the dolphins.  We chose to check out this peninsula for ourselves.

 We had left Exmouth and driven south choosing to stop overnight at Carnarvon.  This town promotes itself as the place where the desert meets the sea.  To the south of the town the same flat shrubby country bordered the highway but to the north for a distance of about 6 – 8 klms the country was made up of banana plantations, fruit orchards and vegetable growing.  It was a total contrast within a few klms.  The Gascoyne River which flows through the city was the first river we had crossed that was still flowing in several hundred klms.  Very interesting area.

A basin of the Gascoyne River at Carnarvon.

A very prosperous town, also very windy.

Then next day we moved into Shark Bay.  This involved a couple of hours travel south and then a turn north up the peninsula for 120 klms.  We did not have much real information about this area but were soon to learn that the area has been the focus of much work in restoration of the environment.  Feral goats, sheep, dogs, rabbits, cats and other wild animals have wreaked enormous damage resulting in many species of flora and fauna being threatened with extinction.  Project  Eden was established to set about correcting this major issue and it is doing an amazing things.  Over 7000 feral goats and sheep have been relocated off the peninsula.  An electric fence has been erected across the peninsula to keep out dingos, dogs, rabbits and other animals.  Baiting programs are reducing unwanted populations of animals.  Results are seeing animals like the Bilby and many unique Australian mammals growing in number and many species of plants recovering. 

The wildflowers started along the way.

A sad story - an emu grieves over her chick who has been hit by a car.

 The whole area has been declared a World Heritage Area because of its unique combination of geography, flora & fauna.  The waters and reefs surrounding the peninsula are home to dolphins, turtles, dugongs, several breeds of shark and a myriad of reef fish species.  As for all of the west coast whales visit the area annually during their migration trail.  As mentioned previously the Dept of Environment & Conservation feed dolphins each morning at Monkey Mia on the northern side.  Pearls are farmed in several areas. 

Shell Beach - 2 klms of beach totally shells M deep.

Shell Beach - note the electric fence in background.



Alice up to her armpits in shells.
 "There must be some fish in this aquarium".

Ian is pondering, "Hm, how am I going to get Alice out of here? 
It is nearly lunch time.

Feeding the dolphins at Monkey Mia.

There's a hole in the bucket Dear Liza, Dear Liza.
 At least I am working on it.

The northern half of the peninsula is gazetted as Francois Peron National Park.  It covers an area originally established as a sheep station but purchased back quite some years ago.  There are several beaches along this coast only accessable by 4WD.

We established camp at a park in Denham which is the only town on Peron Peninsula.  It is the base for almost all of the activities in the area from service industries, hospitality, local government, professional and charter fishing and other tourist support activities.  The esplanade looked over beautiful blue Denham Sound.

Denham Esplanade.

A real resort feel to the place.

Took a big hook to catch this beauty.

There are glorious views from a few lookouts overlooking Denham Sound.  One in particular, “Eagles Bluff” had a long boardwalk allowing several views over seagrass beds and birdnesting islands.  Photos cannot capture the beauty of this scene.  Looking from a couple of hundred metres above we saw sharks scanning the beds looking for their lunch too.

The view from Eagles Bluff

Sharks grazing the sea grass beds.

We also visited an aquarium where all the inhabitants had been collected in local waters.



An octopus - very friendly

Ruler of the pond.

Beautiful but dangerous -
The Lion Fish - member of the stonefish family.

How about this one Benny?

The landscape is very special however for Queenslanders it is also unusual.  As for so much of the country that we have crossed there are almost no trees that we would call shade trees.  The fields are covered in shrubs and desert grasses with nothing above two metres in height.  Finding shade for lunch is almost impossible.

Pearl farming off Monkey Mia

 

The boys are well satisfied with their days work.

For the tourists that come here there is coral viewing, Pearl farm viewing, diving / snorkleing, reef fishing, quad bike trail riding, camel rides on the beach, 4WD trail drives and beach driving, and of course, bird watching as well as taking in the sunsets.  Kodak really hit the jackpot when they invented sunsets.  For us it was mostly sightseeing and resting.  A great place to do it too.

Picnic at the beach WA style.