Shark Bay

Our next port of call was Denham which was another boring drive south from Carnarvon. I know I sound like I'm hard to please but these endless roads of nothingness are taking their toll!! Every crest you come to reveals a view exactly the same as the one before and it just goes on and on and on...... Western Australia is a very big place so I guess its to be expected. I promise I wont whinge about it any more!!

Denham is a small town on the western side of the peninsula, in the area known as Shark Bay, and a short drive from Monkey Mia. Monkey Mia consists of a resort and a nature reserve so its not actually a town. So we decided to stay in Denham and then visit Monkey Mia for the day. It was very windy in Denham on the day that we arrived. We put the awning out as usual but soon realised that was a mistake and rolled it up again. It was flapping around madly so we just couldn't leave it out.

This is the main street of Denham from the town jetty.

Its an absolutely spectacular place.

We arrived at Monkey Mia just as the first session with the dolphins had begun. They are absolutely gorgeous and come so close. The main adults were called Nicki and Puck and have been regulars everyday for many years.

The conservation staff that manage the sessions are allowed to feed the dolphins a small amount of fish three times each morning. However its up to the dolphins what time the feeds happen. We were lucky enough to see two sessions. It is very strictly controlled and only certain dolphins are fed. They don't feed the male dolphins as they become too aggressive. They keep extensive statistics on the feeding and how many dolphins turn up and they test the water all the time to make sure that there is no bacteria in the water that is not supposed to be there. You are not allowed to touch the dolphins either. Its sooo tempting when they come close but even the rangers dont touch them.

As well as the dolphins we saw some other wonderful creatures at Monkey Mia. We saw turtles, stingrays and gorgeous pelicans. I just adore pelicans. It was also so exciting to see two huge turtles in the wild.

Aside from the wonderful creatures Monkey Mia is just a spectacularly beautiful place. The only buildings are those connected with the resort and the visitor centre. The water is crystal clear and the sand so pure and white.

Another place we checked out was Eagle Bluff, a lookout just off the main road out. The view was spectacular.

As you can see it was a breathtaking view, with a great boardwalk to enjoy it from along the edge of the cliffs.  It was probably a 60 to 70 metre drop down to the water. We had a good look through our binoculars and saw a shark and some very large stingrays in the shallow waters close to the shore. I was very impressed to see a shark in Shark Bay!! Apparently it was named after the very large number of 'nervous sharks' which inhabited the area when it was named. I'm not sure why they are called nervous sharks. They are very small. Maybe that's why they are nervous.....

The next day we visited a nearby aquarium which was about 10km out of town on the same coastline as the lookout above. It was great. The guide was very well informed and had a sense of humour. We saw lots of different fish, strangely many of them were described on the basis of their taste and how challenging they are to catch which I found unusual. Usually fish in an aquarium are spoken about in more revered terms!

We did see some sharks too.

One thing we saw was a tank containing stonefish which are poisonous and their sting is apparently excruciating. You would never notice it was a fish if it was hanging around in between rocks and sea grass. They don't do much, just sit there. We went right off going in the water after we saw a warning sign on a nearby lagoon.

After the aquarium we enjoyed a coffee and cake in the cafe which had the most spectacular view of the coastline. Its really hard to describe how magnificent the view was. Even the photos don't do it justice.

We also visited a place called Little Lagoon. There is also a Big Lagoon but that's a lot further away in a national park. Little Lagoon was lovely. We saw the little creek that flowed in to fill the lagoon and the lagoon itself, which was actually quite big!

The West Australian coast is amazing. Parts of it are so remote and it is so unspoiled and beautiful.

On our way out of Shark Bay we stopped to visit the stromatolites which are strange growths of bacteria (doesn't sound good does it), which are millions of years old. They only appear here and in Brazil, Mexico and the Bahamas. I have to say that it was not very exciting. I'll let you judge for yourselves.

From Shark Bay we headed for Geraldton. On the way something exciting happened. It rained! I got so excited when it started but it only lasted for about 4 minutes!! However the closer to Geraldton we came the clouds gathered and it ended up being a very rainy, windy and cold night, the first on our trip. We snuggled up in the van and listened to the wind and rain outside. It was very cosy.

Geraldton is in the heart of the WA wheat belt. There are huge paddocks of wheat everywhere by the road. There are large silos near the port in the city where ships are loaded to take the grain overseas. There were seven ships we could see from the beach waiting to load up.

The next day turned out to be a lovely sunny day so we took a drive to a nearby historic settlement called Greenough. We ended up having a really lovely time looking at all the old buildings and having a yummy lunch outside on the patio of the cafe. The old town had several churches, a courthouse and police station, a school, a shop, a hall and some houses. It is run by the National Trust and was very interesting.

Whenever I look at old buildings I am always drawn to the domestic side of things.

Kitchen in the police station building

I had to take a photo of this old cot with patchwork coverlet

After leaving Greenough we set off to find a nearby railway museum which was in another small town called Walkaway. However we ended up going down the wrong road and so Mike took the opportunity to check out the beach behind some large dunes.The beach was lovely. Then he decided that another dirt road needed to be investigated. It went like this.

Mike: I just want to see whats down here.
Me: It looks a bit sandy... 
Mike: Oh the sand is not a problem! 

Just after that we got stuck in the sand on the narrow track through the dunes. We couldn't go forward and we couldn't go backward. This was not good. I just sat in the car and tried to stay calm. (I was too preoccupied to take any photos!)  Mike always stays calm and looks for a practical solution, so he got out and let some air out of the tyres. Once he did this, we were able to reverse all the way back down the track to a spot where it was wide enough to turn around which we did.  Thankfully we got out fairly quickly and were able to reinflate the tyres with the compressor that we have in the back of the ute. Sand is not to be trusted! It was quite scary. We were a long way from anywhere and nobody else was around.

After that bit of excitement we set off on our quest to find the museum. It was fascinating and absolutely bursting with a huge collection of things from the local area.

Again the domestic pieces interested me the most, along with some typewriters. When I first learned to type I did so on a manual typewriter so I was reminded of how awful that was when I saw the collection in the museum.

This sampler was made by Mary Anne Jones in 1872. 

On the way back into town we had a look at the leaning trees. All around the area the trees lean over as a result of the winds the frequently blow in from the ocean. Even though there are huge dunes between the sea and the fields the winds must really roar through. There is a huge wind farm nearby too so at least the wind is harnessed for energy.

All in all it was a great day.