Today was planned as a driving day to get to Kalbarri, our next destination, however we ended up making a few sightseeing stops along the way – all still in Shark Bay. These were some of the stops we hadn’t made on our way up the peninsula the first day.

So first we stopped at Eagle’s Bluff, which was a steep cliff with a boardwalk perched high above the bay below. There were great views across Shark Bay to Useless Loop. Much of the waters below we’re quite clear and we had a good look for any sharks or manta rays or other marine life, but couldn’t see any.

We then stopped about 15mins later at a place called Shell Beach which is an amazingly white beach that has been created naturally from hundreds of millions of tiny seashells (Fragum Cockles). We made pictures in the shell sand and splashed our feet in the shallows of the water. This is also where the fence for Project Eden is constructed as it is at the narrowest part of the peninsula.

Then we drove back to Hamelin Pool and decided to stop there again as we’d seen some things in the gift shop there that we wanted to have another look at – we’d hurried through a bit last time. We also had lunch while here.

Then it was time to make haste for the remaining 200 or so km to Kalbarri, as it was almost 2pm by this time.

Nothing much of interest between Overlander Roadhouse and Kalbarri, apart from noticing more and more wildflowers on the side of the road. This was a nice sight.

We eventually got to Kalbarri about 4.30pm and did some research on caravan parks and settled at staying at the Tudor Caravan Park, as it had a pool, playground, and jumping pillow – and when we rang them they offered to give us a discount on the children. So we went and set up. We had a good location again right across from the playground and jumping pillow. The kids enjoyed these for a while before dinner.

Lauren, Sam, Michael and I had a fun game of 500 tonight – we’ve often been too tired to play cards, but we made the effort tonight and it was fun.

We had a slightly less busy day on the Saturday. It was my turn to feel a bit unwell, so I stayed back at the van while Michael took the kids down to the playground at the foreshore and then to the Shark Bay Discovery Centre which had a lot of information about the history and natural resources around the area.

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.

From my reading, I had learned that the dolphin interaction takes place usually 3 times a day from around 8am to 12 noon. Because the dolphins are actually wild, the exact times that they come in to the shallows are not controlled by staff. But the dolphins are so used to doing this now, that it is a reasonably regular pattern that they follow. It is very rare for them not to come in at all. The first interaction and feeding usually takes place around 8am, but we had read that it gets so busy at the first one and it is often better to wait for the 2nd or 3rd interaction. So we didn’t get there until 8.30am. It was a 20min drive from Denham to Monkey Mia. There was a small fee to get into the Monkey Mia Resort area.

The first feeding was just finishing as we arrived. We went and read some information about the dolphins, and specifically the 5 female dolphins that they feed here. Apparently practices have changed significantly here over the last 10 yrs or so. Previously they would feed any of the dolphins that would come into the shallows and also visitors were allowed to touch and feed the dolphins. But they found that as the visitor numbers increased, the dolphins were being handled too much, so they moved to a ‘no touch’ policy. They also found that by feeding any of the dolphins and feeding them any time of the day that they came in, the dolphins started to act like they were begging for food, rather than being able to forage for food themselves, like wild dolphins should. So they changed the policy to only feeding dolphins from 3 family lines and only 3 times per day maximum and only in the morning, not afternoon. They feel this is a balance between encouraging the dolphins to still come in to the shallows and ‘interact’ with the visitors, but to continue to be able to maintain its survival skills for the wild and pass on foraging techniques to its young. So when they notice 1 or 2 dolphins coming in to the shallows, one of the staff goes down to the water to ensure no one touches it and to check if they are going to settle and stay in for a while. They speak with other staff via walkie talkies. Once they decide the dolphin/s are going to stay for a while, the ‘interaction’ begins. One of the senior staff stand thigh deep in the water and instruct us visitors to stand in a straight line about knee deep in the water. The staff member has a microphone which they use to speak to us about the dolphins. They do this for 20mins or so while the dolphins swim around. Sometimes they are joined by other dolphins during this time. But generally only the 5 that are fed come in quite close ( and not always all of them). After this time, some volunteer staff come down with buckets of fish – usually only about 4-5 fish per dolphin. They stand at the same depth of water as the senior staff member, facing the crowd. One volunteer stands beside each dolphin ( the dolphins know what is happening at this point). Then the volunteer with the bucket chooses a visitor from the crowd to come and give the dolphin a fish. About 4 people are chosen for each dolphin – a man, a lady, a child, and then someone at the volunteer’s discretion. Considering there can be 100 or more people at some feedings, and sometimes only 2 or 3 dolphins, only a minority of the crowd usually get to give the dolphin a fish.

So we had spent a half hour or so looking through the displays and information, and then started to go down to the beach near the interaction area where the kids played in the sand for a bit and Michael and I sat down on towels to watch. Not long after sitting there, we noticed some dolphins playing around in the water not far out from the beach. It started off as 2, then became 3, 4, 5. This was fun to watch. After about 10 mins, 1 of the dolphins came in closer to shore and one of the staff members went down to the water and more people started to gather. We went down to the waters edge as well. After another 5-10 mins the interaction started. We ended up with 4 of the female dolphins that they feed, and one had a baby with her. I took lots of video during the 20 mins, knowing we would have to edit it. When it came to feeding time, Hannah and Beth were both chosen as the child to feed a fish, so that was exciting for them.

After the dolphin interaction, we walked down the beach a bit to where you could swim ( outside the interaction area). The kids had a bit of a play in the shallows for a while, and then decided to go up to the pool for a swim ( day visitors to the ‘resort’ were able to use all the facilities. The main pool was a bit cold, but there was also a warm spa tub there. So the kids enjoyed this. We had read that there were BBQs for use, so had brought some sausages to cook for lunch. We did that, and had lunch at a table near the pool. Then the kids were happy to spend another hour and a half getting in and out of the pool and spa and sun baking. Sam and Michael also had a half hour game of tennis during this time as there was a tennis court right next to the pool which we could also use – there was no charge for the court or racquet hire. So it was a reading few hours.

Eventually around 2.30, we thought it was time to go. We got back in the car and started driving back towards Denham. We had passed a place called ‘Little Lagoon’ on our drive this morning, which we liked the look of, so decided to stop in there on our way back. It is almost completely round and is quite shallow (only about 3m deep throughout). You could see the lagoon from the main road, so it was just a short drive to the edge. There were driving tracks along the edge of the lagoon and you are permitted to 4WD along these. So we did this for a while, and found a spot we thought we’d like to stop and try fishing (in the creek area leading from Little Lagoon to the ocean). We didn’t catch anything, but it was fun (Lauren even went for a swim to unsnag us).

We drove back to the van park and then it was the usual night time routine.

Thursday 20th September was another driving day. We didn’t leave Carnarvon until after 10am because I had to stock up on a few more grocery items and we got the kids started on some schoolwork before driving today. It was 325km to Denham, which was where we were going to stay. It is the most westerly town in WA (and therefore Australia) and seemed like a good place to base ourselves for a few days to see things around the Shark Bay area.

We drove straight through to the Overlander Roadhouse which was 200km from Carnarvon, and was the turnoff from the North-West Coastal Hwy onto Shark Bay Rd, which took you out onto the first peninsula. The area called Shark Bay is actually made up of 2 peninsulas and a number of islands on the most westerly part of WA. The whole area is World Heritage listed and there are a number of places of interest to visit, not just Monkey Mia. After a brief toilet stop and stretch of the legs at Overlander Roadhouse, we started the drive along Shark Bay Rd.

We decided to stop at the first tourist attraction, Hamelin Pool, which was only 25km along the road. The Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is the name of the bay area at the very south-eastern end of the first peninsula of Shark Bay. It is one of only 2 known places in the world with living examples of marine stromatolites. These dome-shaped structures are formed by tiny single-celled organisms called cyanobacteria that can tolerate the highly saline waters of Hamelin Pool. We parked in the visitor parking area and went to the store to find out about viewing the stromatolites. I was expecting we might have to pay to do the boardwalk, but we didn’t! It seemed a fairly casual setup as there weren’t many signs around telling you where to go. The lady at the shop showed us a map of where we could walk – either do a 20min walk to the boardwalk area, which included a lookout area and a shell quarry. Or you could drive closer to just do the boardwalk. We decided to do the longer walk. The shell quarry was quite interesting. The Shark Bay area has lots of tiny seashells growing in parts of it, and these were once quarried for building blocks to be used in buildings. We came to the boardwalk and walked along viewing the stromatolites – they looked a bit like cauliflower coral growing in the shallows of the bay.

It was then straight through to Denham where we checked in to the Shark Bay Caravan Park and set up. The ground in all the van parks is tiny shells mixed with sand. That evening I did a bit of reading up on Monkey Mia – the facilities there and how it all works. We planned to go there for a few hours tomorrow.