Shark Bay

Shark Bay is a world heritage area about half way up the west coast. It is most famous for the dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia but has a lot more (and a lot better) to offer than just that. Shark Bay surrounds a 200km long peninsula and islands containing national parks, coral reefs, wildlife sanctuaries and quaint fishing villages.

About 10km after we turned off the highway onto the peninsula we went into Hamelin Pool, an old telegraph station. The station is no longer in use but the buildings still stand and you can buy all sorts of trinkets and devonshire tea at the little shop. However, the main attraction at Hamelin Pool is the largest known colony of Stromatolites in the world. Stromatolites are brown rocklike colonies of micro-organisms that resemble the oldest and simplest form of life found on earth around 3.5 billion years ago. The colony in Hamelin Pool are about 3000 years old. Although they aren't the most dazzling of sights, the stromatolite role in evolutionary history is profound. For 2900 million years, these microbes were the only life on earth. By consuming Carbon Dioxide and releasing oxygen, they were largely responsible for creating earth's atmosphere, and set the stage for other life forms to appear.

Heading further up the peninsula we came across Shell Beach. Here millions of small white shells have accumulated over time to create the beach. In some places the shells are up to 10 metres deep. The shells cement together over time and in the past blocks of these solid masses were used for buildings in the area.

Denham is Australia's most westerly town and is also the only town with decent services in the area. So we stopped in at the caravan park for a night and picked up some supplies before heading bush again. Denham has a cruisy laid back feel of a tropical fishing village, but is still a bit rough around the edges. The town is beautifully located on a turquoise bay. On a still day it is crystal clear, making it easy to spot the dugongs which feed here for a few months every year. In fact, the area is home to approximately 10 percent of the worlds dugong population. Unfortunately for us, it was a bit windy so we didn't spot any.

The Francois Peron National Park dominates the tip of the peninsula. Access is only with a 4WD and the soft sandy roads required us to lower our tyre pressure right down. Even then, we managed to get a bit stuck thanks to the weight of the camper and boat we are trailing around behind us. But the effort of the drive out there was well rewarded. We camped at Greggories camp, a spectacular spot, in a sheltered bay, protected by a reef just off shore. It is said that Shark Bay is where the red centre meets the coral coast. And I couldn't have said it better myself. The magnificent rust red sand dunes and white sandy beaches area striking contrast to the aqua blue ocean. A sight made even more magnificent at sunset. We put the boat in the water and had several fishing sessions out on the reef. We were lucky enough to be camped near two other friendly couples (the only other people at the campsite) so Rob and our new friend James went fishing a few times together and we would all met on the beach after some hard days fishing to enjoy the sunsets. The fishing is getting better the further north we head and we enjoyed squid and black snapper while camped here.

We had planned to brave the crowds at Monkey Mia to attend the feeding of the dolphins but as it happens we made some dolphin friends of our own at the camp site. A pod of about eight dolphins seemed to look forward to our boating trips and came to frolic around the boat on several occasions, showing off with jumps and on one occasion when were obviously weren't paying enough attention, a big flip. Rob even touched one, the dolphins wasn't very happy about that, but they came back to frolic within a few minutes. This didn't do wonders for our fishing as they scared all the fish away but was such an amazing experience we decided we could give the costly and crowded trip to Monkey Mia a miss.

The only downside to Shark Bay is the long boring detour required off the highway to get there. However, we backtracked and continued north along the other side of shark bay towards Carnarvon. Carnarvon is an odd town, it has the makings of a cruisy tropical destination, with some gorgeous old houses with sweeping verandas. However, the whole place is just a bit drab. There is a lot of work going on so perhaps in a few years it will have made something of itself. However, for our purposes it provided supplies, fishing gear and a rego check for the car. We made a stop at Point Quobba for a few nights before heading north. More for old times sake than anything else; Rob spent his 22nd birthday here on his last Australia trip.  There are several fisherman's shacks tucked behind the dunes with camping areas scattered between them. It's not an amazing place but there is a lovely beach, with a sheltered lagoon area perfect for snorkelling. 

Quobba is the furthest west that we will travel on this trip (almost the most western point in WA) and is also the furthest point from home we will go, so in a way, from tomorrow we're heading home. It might just take a while.

The Mid West Coast

As we left the suburbs of Perth the landscape opened up with flat expanses of land and the fringing rugged ocean. We passed through the market gardens bordering the city, which as we headed north, gave over to larger dryer farms. Always to our left were the huge dunes hiding the windswept beaches from our view.

A few hours north of Perth we visited the Pinnacles. They are an amazing sight and even more dramatic because of the small area they cover, one minute we were passing through coastal scrub and then it clears onto an expanse of sandy dessert dominated by these rocks sticking up through the sand like daggers. 

Jarvis has a story book about a family who travel around Australia in their camper trailer, two of the places he has been most intrigued by in the book are the Pinnacles and the sideways trees in Geraldton (see photos further below). Both of these places were within this stretch of coast, much to Jarvis' delight.

We stopped in the nearby fishing towns of Cervantes and Jurien Bay before finding a little camping spot behind the dunes at Sandy Cape (for those interested in finding the spot, we camped to the south of the campground down a 4WD track which turns off at the Info Bay). It is a fairly desolate strip of coast, with basic towns, windswept beaches, long stretches of nothingness between towns but sparkling blue waters. Anyone who's read Dirt Music by Tim Winton would be able to conger up pretty good images of the  coast and the towns in this area. Although the campsite at Sandy Cape wasn't ideal (a bit windy and not much to do), it had a great beach and some shade. So we stayed put for the Easter Long Weekend in an attempt to avoid the crowds. However, the holiday makers who were willing to venture along the 4WD track still found us and we were surrounded by big groups of revellers and the beach was crowded with trucks and quad bikes. But once the weekend was over, things quietened down a bit and we got back on the road and continued onto Geraldton for a couple of days.

South of Geraldton we passed through Dongara. If I was heading this way again, I would probably head for this town for a stop over. It has a lovely main street lined with fig trees, the river winds through the town and there is a really nice beach and harbour. Definitely worth a visit. As it was, we really needed the services of a larger town so we just got some treats from the bakery and continued on to Geraldton.

We had been told by numerous people that Geraldton wasn't a particularly nice place but we needed supplies, power and water and Jarvis was dying to see the sideways trees. So we checked into the caravan park in town for two nights. We were in fact pleasantly surprised by the city. Maybe having such low expectation helped, but there is a lovely foreshore with playgrounds, barbecues and lovely views and one street back from the water there is a decent strip of shops and cafes.

Our next stop was the sleepy fishing town of Kalbari. Although, it is a popular holiday destination and as we were there during the school holidays I wouldn't exactly describe it as sleepy. However, the crowds were happy and laid back and we joined in the holiday feeling with them. Jarvis also enjoyed the dozens of kids running around the caravan park and playground at the pub. Kalbari sits on the banks of a fairly large estuary; so, much to our delight,  for the first time in months, we were able to get the boat in the water. When we weren't boating or fishing off the rocks, we explored the surround Kalbari National Park, famous for its river gorges and lookouts, including the well known Natures Window, which was worth the walk in, even in the ever increasing heat.

From Kalbari, it is a long and very boring drive to the Shark Bay area, most well known for the dolphins at Monkey Mia. However, it is with a lot of excitement that we set off for Shark Bay. The waters from there on become warmer, turquoise, full of fish and the coral reef starts. So after four days of R and R in Kalbari (which felt just like a family holiday should) we set off for bluer seas.

Perth with Pa'o

After dropping Em's parents back to Perth we spent a week or so chilling out in Margs, enjoying our last days there. We went to see Kelly Slater surf in the pro surf comp, hung out at the beach, went to Sunday Sessions at the pub, had a little birthday party for Jarvis and checked out several wineries we'd managed to miss during our stay. With the end of the grape season most of the travellers had moved on, our little camp was quickly emptying out, the weather was turning cold and everyone kept telling us the cold winter rains were on their way. So after one last party at Big Valley we bid Margaret River and our friends goodbye.

We arrived in Perth in time to meet Rob's dad, who had come to visit us. Rex rented a lovely little stone cottage in Fremantle for his visit. So we enjoyed the luxuries of running water, proper beds and a washing machine for a few days.

We managed to squeeze in a fabulous whirlwind tour of Perth. We went to the Aquarium (a birthday present for Jarvis from his Pa) and spent the day wandering around Hilary's Boat Harbour. The harbour itself it a bit tacky, but there are hundreds of boats moorings to check out and nice cafes and the aquarium was great fun.

We took ourselves on driving tours of the city and northern beaches, the foreshore areas along the lower swan river, checked out the workings of the port, enjoyed the view from King's Park and wandered aimlessly around Fremantle. We spent most of our time in Fremantle, it is by far the loveliest part of Perth (in fact locals don't even consider it part of perth but a separate city all together). Whilst almost everything about Perth seems to be shiny and new, Fremantle stills retains many, if not most of its original buildings and in many parts you could easily mistake yourself for being in the early 1800's. We ate fish and chips at the world famous Cicerello's (which by the way didn't rate very well with us), drank beers at the even more famous Little Creature Brewery (which totally lives up to its reputation), drank coffee at Gino's; the long standing locals coffee haunt and ate many lovely meals at very non-famous but delicious eateries scattered around Freo.

Rex, being a volunteer at Sydney's Maritime Museum, was very keen to check out Fremantle's counterpart and the shipwreck gallery. He enjoyed both immensely, we enjoyed the beers at the brewery while he explored our maritime history. We all took the tour through the Fremantle prison, which only closed it's doors as a working prison in 1991. It was well worth the visit, a little scary but really interesting. 

Photos: LEFT - The entrance yards of the prison were beautifully grassed and maintained, the prisoners were not allowed into this area. RIGHT - Once the closure of the prison was imminent, prisoners were given leave to paint murals on the cell walls, some were spectacular.

Much to Jarvis' dismay, we dropped Pa at the airport and said our goodbyes. We spent one more night in Perth at Ali's house in the hills, packing our stuff, doing a big shop and enjoying a proper bed one more time.

It was our fourth visit to Perth since we've been over in the west and there is still so much more to see. But we do feel very familiar with the city now and have thoroughly enjoyed exploring Perth.