Shark Bay

23 – 28 September 2012

There were some lovely plants in flower along one section of the road as we approached Shark Bay - absolutely no idea what most of them were… but the country did seem to become less arid, although still just low shrubs with occasional Myall or Mulga then a few Eucalypts.

 

 

The World Heritage Discovery Centre in Denham is wonderful – we went back several times to look at the displays and watch the videos all about the history and environmental aspects of Shark Bay. One of the reasons it is so special is that it is at the latitude where tropical merges into temperate so there is a wide diversity of species found both in the sea and on the land.

Many of the streets etc have names of early explorers or ships, and this has stimulated our interest in the stories of exploration along this coast.

We did the tourist attractions - Ocean Park, where we had a guided tour of an ocean aquarium …. interesting information, but very commercial and rather depressing, with the fish and sharks etc being in captivity in rather green water.

A Lion fish

 

Seeing the dolphins at Monkey Mia was quite different – the dolphins are wild and there is a policy of minimal impact on them. eg only 5 particular dolphins are fed, (the rangers can identify them by the scars and notches out of their fins from shark attacks), they are only fed a maximum of three times each morning, and are only given a very small proportion of their required food. We didn’t feel that they were exploited….they are not trained to perform and no-one is allowed to touch them.

There were 320 people at the beach the morning we went for the 7.45 session! They were lined up two deep, for about 100m along the water’s edge…all carefully controlled by the ranger.

When they come in close, they lift one eye out of the water and have a good look at you!

 

At Little Lagoon we saw an emu walking in the sea…unusual!

We walked along the edge of the lagoon and its creek with mangroves.

And saw a little Military dragon

Shell Beach, down the southern end of the peninsula, is brilliant, blindingly white

 

 

the beach is just beautiful, made entirely of tiny cockle shells (coquina)

 

that are mined for shellgrit for chooks and cement, which is said to be sustainable as the shell deposits are replenished continually.

Just near Shell Beach is the narrowest part of the Peron peninsula, and a tall, electrified fence has been erected across it with the aim of controlling movement of feral cats and foxes. ..Project Eden.
 

If you walk over the grid on the road near it, you hear a savage dog bark!...there are sensors that trigger the recording to play from the white pole.

 

As part of the project, several species have been re-introduced, with mixed success.

 

The lookout at Eagle Bluff is spectacular with a boardwalk high up along the cliff face, and you can look down on the shallow water  - we saw some sharks and rays there.

 

The drive right up north in Peron N.P. was 47km along a sandy, sometimes deep sand, track so we had to let the tyres down

 The track also went through some salt pans – birridas

 Driving along the track we saw several Bobtails (Stumpy tails)

 

A Western Blue-tongue and three small Sand Goannas – Bungarras. (no photos),

and several dragons...much bigger than Spike.

 

The scenery at the end of the peninsula was absolutely spectacular! Worth the effort of getting there!

 

 

The water was turquoise, with red cliffs and white sand

 

We went for a walk through the red sand dunes

from Cape Peron to Skipjack Point where there was a viewing platform.

 

 

 



A wonderful 5 days!