Shark Bay World Heritage Area

Tuesday 25th - Friday 28th August

Leaving Carnarvon I got the best text ever that another grandchild way on its way. Heading south, just before we lost any phone and Internet reception I got the wonderful news that Kate and Simon had a new addition to the family a beautiful baby boy. At this stage no name, no details, no connection to the outside world. 

    The first photo of Leo Rose with his big brother Jude.

     Our beautiful new baby boy.

We were on our way to Denham and Monkey Mia. Heading south from Carnarvon you turn off the North West Coast Hwy towards Denham and enter the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. This area encompasses the Peron Peninsula, where you will find Denham and Monkey Mia as well as Dirk Hartog Island. It is a large expanse of area both land and marine. It is one of the few sites in the world that satisfies all 4 of the natural criteria to be listed as a world heritage area. 1. Natural beauty, 2.Earth's evolutionary history - the famous Hamelin Pool Stromatolites,

    Stromatolites are colonies of microorganism that resemble the oldest and simplest forms of life on earth around 3.5 billion years ago. The stromatolites grow in Hamelin Pool because of the extra salty water.

 3. Ecological Processes - the largest seagrass banks in the world, 4. Biological Diversity - important habitats where threatened animal species still survive eg. The dugong population,which is one of the largest and most stable populations left in the world. Buy satisfying all four natural criteria, Shark Bay ranks as one of our planet's most important wilderness regions.

Our first night in the area was at Hamelin Station Stay, our first time staying at a working pastoral station. The reason we don't stay at many as they are always off the main drag down dirt roads. This one was only one kilometre and I checked that they grade the road regularly. This was a great place to celebrate the birth of baby Leo with a champers.

   Hamelin Station provides camping facilities and the best camp kitchen I have seen so far, just like home everything was supplied except your food. This is the camp kitchen with great long rustic wooden tables and bench seating for everyone to share. 

    The ground is covered with small fine shells and the original homestead was made out of bricks made from compacted shells.

We moved on from Hamelin Pool to Denham the next day, for a two night stay. Denham is WA's western most town which grew up out of the pearling settlement. Denham looks from the western coastline of Peron Peninsula across the waters of Shark Bay to Dirk Hartog Island. Not a real lot to see and do in Denham.

  It is your usual lay back coastal hamlet with the fishing boats just off the main street and the usual crystal clear water.

    Main street of Denham.

If you are at Denham you have to go to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins. Monkey Mia is approx 26kms, on the opposite(Eastern)side of Peron Peninsula, away from Denham. You have to get there by 7.45am to be given a talk  by the Department of Parks and Wildlife who monitor the dolphin's health and supervise the feeding program to make sure the dolphins retain their hunting and survival skills. In the past many people could feed and swim with the Dolphins but these days only about 5 people are chosen to give a small fish to the dolphins. You are not allowed to even go in the water, at any time,where they come in to feed. 

The Indo- Pacific Bottlenose dolphins seldom miss coming in for their morning snack but there is always the chance that they may not. 

   Everyone lined up ready and waiting, notice no one has their feet in the water, that is a no no.

    

    Still waiting!!

    Finally two came in, a mother and her calf. They are known by name and can be identified by either markings on their body or the shape of their fin.

    Mez was not one of the 4 people chosen to feed the Dolphins, but I got as usual thousands of pics.

Besides the dolphins, Monkey Mia is a very picturesque part of the world and we decided to spend most of the day swimming and lazing in the sun.

    We virtually had the place to ourselves once the dolphins came and went, which was lovely.

   We were extra lucky the day before our visit to MM to buy some fresh crabs off a boat that had just come into Denham as we were heading back from our ride around town. So our lunch spot couldn't have been better, on the small jetty at MM. By the way the crabs were delicious.

Heading to Kalbarri tomorrow.

Monday 24th August - Carnarvon

After leaving Coral Bay we headed to Carnarvon. Carnarvon is the commercial centre for the rich Gascoyne District. It is famous for it's luxurious plantations of bananas and other tropical fruits, however, due to the cyclone that hit the area in March this year there are no bananas and the vegetation is rebuilding after being flattened. We drove around the agricultural farms and did manage to pick up some very fresh veges and some frozen mango cheeks, just delicious.

If you are going to stay at a caravan park in Carnarvon you have to stay at Wintersun Caravan Park, it is the best. They have something happening each day if you want to get involved. Seeing we arrived later in the day we were enticed to join in the spud night at $5 a head. What was that all about? Well we rocked up to a massive enclosed area and doing a quick calculation there would have been over 200 people from the park all ready for the spud night. What was a spud night? - well you pay $5 and line up for a large boiled potato with mince and all the trimmings, so much food. It was another scene from the movie Cocoon. This Park really has its finger on the pulse, they have different activities each day and a lawn bowls afternoon as they have a full bowling green at the back of the Park.

While we were in town we did the touristy 'Coffee Pot' Train which is an old tram that runs out into the Indian Ocean on the historical one mile jetty that was built in 1897.

   The lovely old very looooong jetty is in drastic need of repair and it is so good that the locals are rallying to see that it is fixed as there is not a lot more to Carnarvon that would attract the traveller. We stayed only one night.

CORAL BAY Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd

Left Exmouth early Friday morning and headed to beautiful Coral Bay. Coral Bay is a small coastal hamlet 150kms south of Exmouth. 

The reef and the stunning clear water of the Ningaloo Lagoon are straight across the road from the People's Park Caravan Park where we are staying for 3 nights. You have to book months in advance to get into this park so luck was on our side again as we didn't book until last week. Lots of greys stay here for months at a time to beat the cold down south. What do you do at Coral Bay? - hit the beach and snorkel in the pristine clear water at you doorstep. So that's exactly what we did.

    I have never seen water as clear and as blue as it was here, just beautiful.

At the beach across the road there is a great drift from one end of it to the other so you swim out a little from the shoreline and just drift effortlessly looking at all the coral of the Ningaloo Reef. The coral here is not that colourful, however, the shape and arrangements are what make it so special. There are interesting walks along the beach around to the reef shark sanctuary where depending on the day you can see up to 20 sharks just off the beach. 

    One with nature out here on our walk, so many vast and open spaces it is quiet unbelievable. I just love it.

     Only our footsteps in the sand.

The day we went around there were no sharks just jumping fish, stingrays and dolphins - just beautiful.

   In the background is the town of Coral Bay, very small not much happening.

     I love coastal and I love remote but I still don't get how people come up here for 3 and 4 months of the year and stay here or any of the other very quite coastal hamlets? This is the Main Street of Coral Bay.

We did fit in a few bike rides and on one memorable one we took ourselves out along a very isolated, hard dirt track off to a place called Maud's Landing. Locals said it was a good ride well worth the effort. Three quarters of the way into the ride, with not a soul in site for miles and miles, alone in the middle of nowhere with no help around, we came across a pack of wild dogs - oh no what to do??? Well not exactly a pack, that was a bit of an exaggeration as there were only two of them. All the same, being the brave souls that we are, especially Mez, we high tailed it out of there into a howling head wind at the rate of knots and never got to see Maud's Landing. 

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there is a small area on the beach near the floating pontoon just off the beach where you can go to feed the fish. On que at 3.30 about 30 large Nor West Snapper come into the shallows and swim amongst your feet and wait to be fed. Seeing we were there on Friday we decided to give it a go and it was lots of fun.

  Heaps of them waiting to be fed.

     They virtually jump out of the water to get the food, couldn't believe how tame and close they were.

     That is my foot at the bottom of the pic. They swim in and around you.

Coral Bay was a picturesque part of the world, remote and well worth the visit.

EXMOUTH Monday 17th - Thursday 20th August

We set out to free camp for the night on the way to Exmouth as it was a large drive straight from Dampier to Exmouth - 589 kms. 

     Along the way the landscape is starting to show some colour besides red and green. Sometimes we came across fields of wildflowers. This is called arid wattle and there were pockets of purple Mulla Mullas from time to time.

     There is still a whole lot of this, which can be quite striking.

We arrived at the free camps too early in the day, in the middle of nowhere so decided to push on and ended up at Exmouth a day earlier than our booking at the caravan park and with no Vodafone reception, again, we couldn't ring ahead. Exmouth has the holiday maker stuck in the fact that you are not allowed to free camp anywhere in the area and have to book into some accommodation. We were lucky to jag one of the last unpowered sites at Exmouth Cape Holiday Park, the park we were booked in from Tuesday.

Exmouth is situated on the North West Cape and was originally established as a support town for the Harold Holt Naval Communication Station, a joint Australian and USA venture in 1967. This facility houses the world's largest VLF( Very Low Frequency) Transmitter and is also the second tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. It is used to communicate with submarines all around the Southern Hemisphere. Exmouth would have been an interesting place in the late 60's through to 1992, when the USA withdrew, as the US had set up an all American town with US currency, flying the American flag, with its own Diners etc. Apparently the locals were very welcome but they had to change their money over to US dollars to purchase anything in the area.

Today the town relies on the tourism of the beautiful Ningaloo Reef for its survival. The world heritage listed reef is internationally recognised as one of Earth's last ocean paradises. The reef runs from Exmouth in the north to just above Carnarvon in the south. It is one of the largest fringing reefs in the world( reefs that hug the coastline) and can be accessed straight off the beaches. All the way down the coast the waves can be seen crashing just off the coast. This area is also famous for the presence of lots of marine life especially the whale shark, the world's biggest fish. It is a filter feeder and is harmless to humans. It is seen normally between March to early August. We decided to take a tour to snorkel the reef, with Ningaloobluedive, and MAYBE see a whale shark, however, we were not expecting to see any.

    All geared up and ready for the snorkel 

 This was a good tour as they have a spotter plane that radios the activity in the water around the area. No whale sharks, however, after a lovely snorkel in crystal clear water through masses of coral we went in search of the Humpback Whale. 

     The flipper wave, very dainty! The colour of the water was amazing.

The spotter plane had seen a lot of dolphins and whales interacting a long way out so the skipper decided to go in pursuit. 

    Heading to the wild blueyounder in search of ??????

We ended up being over 13 kms off the coast which is a long way on the ocean and the water was over 400m deep. No dolphins but heaps and heaps of whales that were very inquisitive and came right up to the boat. Took heaps and heaps of pics and after many near misses

      Just missed a breaching whale you can see the blue of her body just below the surface, from the amount of splash she was a big one.

I was lucky, however, to capture the one below after an aching arm trying to hold the camera in place for ages.

   This was happening all the time, at times the day was overcast and the water didn't show up as the beautiful turquoise that it is.

   This whale kept doing barrel rolls constantly sticking a flipper out and giving us a wave.

   Lots and lots of pics like these right next to the boat.

Lots of bike riding around the town which looks like it is a town on the way up with new estates popping up with expensive modern homes and a great canal system like they have in The Gold Coast.

The Novotel Ningaloo Resort would be a good place for a getaway from the cold as you can fly into Exmouth as the drive is a long way from most places. A car is a must in Exmouth as most attractions are kms away. The caravan park was very accommodating and after our first night at the unpowered site we got a very good site close to all ammenities and did all our cooking at the very large and very well equipped camp kitchen that was frequented by many travellers from all over the world.

   Just had to show you where we got a coffee from each morning, right out the front of the caravan park. This is a very cool van that has been converted into a little cafe.

Off to Coral Bay tomorrow.

Dampier

Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th

On the way to Karratha we stopped for brekkie at the Whim Creek Pub and no we didn't have a beer but a coffee and a break for 5 mins.

   Great old pub in the middle of nowhere.

Arrived at Karratha about 20 kms before Dampier. Karratha is one of the fastest growing towns in Australia, a lot of wealth in the town due to the mining. It has developed into the largest and economically diverse community in the Pilbara. There are caravan parks here, however, it was suggested that the better place to stay in the area is Dampier. Before arriving at Dampier we drove up the Burrup Peninsula and had a look around. 

Hearson's Cove, were the locals go to swim is a lovely part of the world, is set amongst a very unusual and rocky landscape.

   The shoreline at Hearson's Cove is covered in crushed shells with little sand and has crystal clear water.

    Crushed shells as far as the eye can see.

If you ever get to Dampier than a visit to the North West Shelf Gas Plant is a must see. Unfortunately the information and interactive display is closed on weekends and we were at Dampier on Saturday and Sunday. You can, however, drive up and have a look around. 

   The plant itself is massive, too big to fit in a one pic.

For more than 30 years, the North West Shelf Project has been WA's largest supplier of domestic gas as well as being one of the world's largest liquefied natural gas producers, supplying gas to Australia and international markets.

As you drive into Dampier you have to stop at the statue of Red Dog. He was aka the Pilbara Wanderer and is one of the best known and loved traveller in the North West. Red Dog was a kelpie, cattle dog cross and his statue is here as Dampier was one of the towns to which he often returned.

We stayed at Dampier Transit Caravan Park the only one in Dampier and it is a must that you book as it is always full. Not a very large park, in a good position across from the port but OMG the constant noise of the trains being unloaded one carriage at a time, especially at night, would drive me to a mental state if I lived there full time.

   These iron ore trains are miles long as they meander through the countryside. They are unloaded 24 hours a day 7 days a week and I bet they don't get Xmas day off.

We rode our bikes around the town and it is a very pretty town with its diverse landscape of salt mountains, iron ore deposits, crystal clear blue water and the industry of the port. 

    View at the front of the caravan park.

  Of course all this riding is thirsty work, so a corona at the local pub watching the sun go down was a must.

Dampier and Karratha are developing into wealthy towns and there are plenty of boys with their very big toys using the harbour as fishing is a very big recreational sport up here.

   There is a progression of boats being hauled onto trailers every day, and as you can see they are worth a pretty penny.

Dampier is like Port Hedland, worth a look if you get up this way.

Broome to Port Hedland

Thursday 13th - Saturday 15th August

We left Broome and decided to go to Eighty Mile Beach for two nights. Eighty Mile beach Caravan Park is about 360kms down the highway from Broome and then you turn onto a dirt road for a further 10 kms. We had been told that the dirt road was pretty good and that it would not be a problem to take the van in as we don't do dirt. Well we turned onto the dirt road and it was just terrible, not just a dirt road but badly corrugated. We lasted nearly 3km and turned back.

     The road into Eighty Mile Beach - doesn't look too bad but the van did not like it at all, it was terrible.

So where to now? We looked at Wiki Camp, an app for the iPad that tells you all the camping spots all around Australia and the distances from where you are and people write comments and give suggestions, it's a must have when travelling this vast landscape. I have probably told you about it before this, apologies if I have. We decided on a camp spot called De Greys free camp, another 190 kms down the road as Port Hedland was a bit too far. 

    Cows ambling across the main highway not perturbed by the monster truck speeding towards them. You have to be so mindful as they can turn and run right in front of you, silly creatures.

    Lots of wildlife, mainly birds at the free camp spot near De Greys River.

Today, 14th is Bonnie's 1st birthday and little brother Ged's 49th birthday. We left De Greys and headed to Port Hedland, one of the world's largest and busiest working harbours. Port Hedland is the gateway to the Pilbara Coast and vast ranges, rich in minerals. It is unique in that you see bulk carrier vessels, some up to and over 300 metres in length gliding through the harbour entrance adjacent to the main street. You also have a vibrant community living alongside large scale industry and this is just a way of life for the people of Port Hedland. This is a very interesting place and we stayed at the Point Cooke Caravan Park. When first arriving we took the van into town and took in the sites and the harbour.

    It was hard to get the whole ship in the shot using my iPhone. These ships are constantly coming and going from dawn to dusk every day. One guy told us for every 10 ships you can see lining up to come into port there is another 30 behind them.

We had a few drinks and dinner at the Yacht Club that is now only a social club as over the years with the dredging of the harbour for industry, there is nowhere for them to launch their yachts. A lovely spot to take in the water, another sunset and the imposing workings of industry all in the one place.

   Again not the best shot as I forgot the camera and had to use the phone. Before sitting down I had to wipe the table and chairs as they were covered in a fine red dust. 'Welcome to Port Hedland' was the comment when asking for a cloth. 

    Everything is covered in red dust, even the salt hills that you see as you drive into the town.

    It is a particularly pretty town at night with industry lighting up the night sky everywhere you look.

BHP Billiton's trains, some of the longest in the world, follow the main road into town as well. They transport iron ore from Mount Whaleback in Newman to the port. 

Port Hedland is definitely worth the visit.