They learnt that Shark Bay meets all 4 of the natural values criteria for a World Heritage Area (there are only ? Of these in Australia). These 4 criteria are : 1) Natural Beauty – there is much of this at Shark Bay, from the white beaches to the red headlands and cliffs, from the glittering sands and shells of the fringing islands, to the red sands of the Peron Peninsula, from the oddly shaped claypans called ‘birridas’, to the turquoise coloured Big and Little Lagoons. 2) Earth’s History – the stromatolites. 3) Evolutionary Processes- some marine species and some land species are distinct to this area due in part to the isolation of the area, and also due to the environment created bybthe presence of vast amounts of seagrass. 4) Threatened Species – it is the last stronghold for 5 critically endangered mammals, and is also a haven for the endangered humpback whales, dugongs, loggerhead turtles and green turtles.
They learnt that Shark Bay has the largest bed of seagrass (which dugongs, whales and turtles love). They learnt about Project Eden, whereby a feral-proof fence has been erected across the narrow section of the Peron Peninsula to keep out feral goats, cats and rabbits etc. Once all the feral animals were gone, they reintroduced the threatened mammal species from the nearby islands onto the mainland and they have been increasing in number.
They learnt that the western most point in Australia is called Steep Point. It is on the most western and less inhabited peninsula of Shark Bay and is hard to get to (we didn’t go there). Interestingly, you need a permit to go there as it is private property. Also on this same peninsula is a place called Useless Loop. It actually has a salt harvesting industry there.
They learnt about the first explorers to arrive in this area – Dirk Hartog (Dutch) in 1616 (stepped ashore at what is now called Dirk Hartog Island). Then Dutch Captain De Vlamingh revisited the site in 1697. It was then visited in 1699 by William Dampier, the first English captain to explore the WA coast. It was Dampier who gave Shark Bay it’s present name after noticing the prolific number of sharks in the area.
They then came back to the van for lunch and a rest. Everyone was feeling a bit tired today. We had planned to go for a drive into the Francois Peron NP in the afternoon. We had found out that for some of the more northerly tracks it is recommended that you have certain types of recovery gear with you (as you are driving through a lot of sand). We didn’t have all this gear, so had thought we might just visit the Peron Homestead and then Big Lagoon. We got away a bit later than we should have and so just ended up going to Peron Homestead. This was enjoyable though. It had an artesian hot tub (like a hot spa) where we all had a relax. We saw a whole group of emus drinking from the creek where the spa water ran off. Then we had a look at the sheep shearing quarters which was quite interesting and Michael gave them all a lesson on the sheep shearing process. It was getting too late then to venture further into the NP, so we headed back to Denham.
We had thought we might get fish and chips for dinner and eat them while fishing off the jetty. However there was quite a cold wind blowing back at Denham and so instead we got fish and chips and went back to the van to eat. This was the first part of WA where we started to need our Long pants and jumpers again. It was still warm during the day, but the mornings and evenings were cool, especially if there was a wind.