Shark Bay

Shark Bay is another world heritage listed marine park said to have the oldest living life forms in the world – Stromatolites.

Our first stop was at Carnarvon on the northern tip of the bay. It’s a small town and there isn’t a lot going on, but we setup camp for 3 days so that Bel and I could restock supplies, catch up on chores, and take a break from all the recent excitement!

The next day Bel did the washing (we were down to our last undies 😳) while I did some running repairs before giving the bikes a wash ready for a ride around town.

We headed off toward what we thought was the coast before realizing we were on a river mouth – the Gascoyne River. We eventually found a lovely cycle path along the banks of the river and followed it into town.

The cycleway then linked up with an old tram line that ran from the city centre out to the deep sea jetty 3.3km away. It was used to ship wool until 1965. We followed the line, first crossing the bridge to Babbage Island….

And then through scrub land filled with wild flowers

Along the way we came across these huge bees that had made a hive by burrowing into the path. Bel had read about them – Dawson’s Burrowing Bees that are only found in Carnarvon.

There were hundreds buzzing around, but they are hard to make out. Each of the dark brown patches in the photo are a burrow for the bees. I wasn’t going to get any closer as the bees were already swooping us aggressively from this distance and I had no idea if they sting.

The problem was that we had to ride through them!! Twice! So we backed up a bit and built up some speed and blasted through. They weren’t happy!

We eventually reached the coastline and the One Mile Jetty where we stopped for a nice lunch before doing the walk out to the end.

You can pay $5 to walk it or $10 to catch the train. We chose to walk. The funds are are used to help maintain the bridge – I think someone might be drinking the proceeds – it was very rickety!!!

After the walk we jumped back on the bikes and headed into town and through the bees once more – we think there were even more waiting for us on the way back!

Saturday morning we woke to an overcast sky and this thing called “rain”.

It was cold and wet. We want to go north again😢. At least the tent was getting a wash.

When there was a break in the rain we headed into town to see if the markets were on. Thankfully they were, selling fresh local produce as well as some artisan products.

We stocked up on lots of fresh veg…beans, butternut pumpkin, corn, tomatoes, broccoli, sweet potato, cabbage. Yum. It cost us a total of $12!

There was also a lady selling home made pies, I busted Bel checking them out – she’s a pie addict!

After the markets Bel went and got her hair done before we did the rest of he shopping. We then set ourselves up to watch the big game…

Well the second half that is, as I stuffed up the time through a combination of NZ and WA time zones. Kiwis were too good again – need to fix our line out!

That night we had mince chow mien for dinner, using the cabbage, and baked a cake. A very productive wet days entertainment.

Sunday morning we were on the road again, following the world heritage drive around Shark Bay to Denham. It was another cold wet day, what’s going on?

We covered around 350km, and the constant theme was wild flowers. Yellow, pink, purple, and gold. I have no idea what they were except the wattle which was in bloom everywhere toward the end of the drive. Need to do some research.

There were also melons growing along the side of the road.

Our first stop was at Hamelin Pool to see the Stromatolites. Quite amazing that a place that can look so lifeless is completely the opposite – which has been a continuing theme of the trip. The Stromatolites are microbial mats that are said to be like rainforests for microbes with a massive diversity of life.

Next stop was Shelly Beach, a beautiful spot with a beach made entirely of Cockle shells. Quite an amazing site.

The water here is twice as salty as sea water, too salty for most life, so the shells thrive and have no predators. The beach also marked the start of Project Eden where an electric fence has been erected to keep out cats and foxes and protect the bilbys and other wildlife under threat. Bloody cats.

We made some lunch and then drove the final leg to Denham. Arriving late afternoon to set up camp and to settle in.

Monday morning we headed over to the famous Monkey Mia, 25km away, to watch the dolphin feeding. Another beautiful spot with a resort. We spent the whole morning there watching the Dolphins while enjoying coffee and breakfast, and soaking up some sun. They had two feedings while we were there and were about to do the third. It was very different to Tincan Bay, only 9 people got to feed and there were a lot more people than that!. It was still very nice and a great spot.

After a quick walk along the beach we headed back into Denham, following the scenic route.

We stopped at the pub for lunch – the most Westerly hotel on the Australian mainland! It was a poor second to our original goal of driving out the Steep Point – the most westerly point on the Australian mainland, but the road was closed 😢 so this was going to have to do. Oh well, we’ll have to come back.

After lunch we had a quick drive through the Peron National Park and found a Thorny Devil crossing the road. Amazing little lizards.

Their walk is very funny, freezing, then stuttering a few steps, then darting, then slow motion walk, then dart, then freeze – he took a long time to cross the road!

On the way back to camp we came across a mob of Emus. They are the local scavenger here – there’s always got to be something raiding your tent no matter where you go.

For our last night in Shark Bay we headed out to dinner to the local restaurant that’s in an old building made from stone quarried from Shell Beach – the cockles have compacted into limestone hard enough to be cut into building blocks.