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.