25th - 27th September
 
The Shark Bay Marine Park, if you look at a map the bay resembles a jagged "W" formed by the mainland on the east, the Peron Peninsula the middle and then Edel Land and Dirk Harthog Island forming the western coast. The "Bay" is full of inlets, loops, passages, bights, bays, islands, points, capes and creeks small and large. Some have wonderful names such as "Useless Inlet", "Blind Strait", "Egg Island" and "Disappointment Reach" which all make one wonder as to the origins of such negative place names in one of the most beautiful parts of the long Australian coast.

History abounds here with many places named after Dutch, Portuguese and French seafarers, some of whom had preceded Captain James T. Kirk....or rather Captain James Cook in making landfall. Other places are named after early European explorers and naturalists, such as François Peron who was dispatched by Napoleon in 1800 to study flora and fauna in the Antipodes. 
 
Our first stop on the south then north journey after Carnarvon is at Hamelin Pool in the very south of the eastern arm of Shark Bay. Hamelin Pool was first developed as a pastoral station in the 1860's, then a Telegragh Station and Post Office were built in 1884. It is, however, only in the modern era that Hamelin Pool created much excitement with the discovery of Stromatolites, living microbial colony of underwater structures which are examples of what is believed to be the first life form about 3.5 billion years ago. Pretty amazing fact, but not overly exciting to view, it's not as if they run and jump or anything!
 
 Also at Hamelin Pool, near the old Telegraph Station, is a quarry area from which early settlers cut blocks of sedimentary shell/sand deposits. The Telegraph Station and many older buildings in the region were built of this material. The blocks are hewn using cross-cut saws into blocks about the size of todays concrete blocks, though considerably lighter and easily cut. Each block has multitudes of tiny shells bound together, is quite porous, yet very strong. In this desert region with few, if any, millable trees the blocks were the best building material. The quarry is still used today, though only to cut blocks to repair historic buildings.
 
It's a long, long roooaaad, and straight, as we head up the Shark Bay Road to the Peron Peninsula and Denham, today's destination. Denham is a small community, a tourist fuelled economy boasting 3 caravan parks, 2 pubs and 1 nice restaurant. We book into the Denham seaside Tourist Village, hoping for one of their elevated sites with a vast view westward over Shark Bay, however, as we never pre-book this did not eventuate. And thank heaven for the initial disappointment as a westerly wind is up and stays blustery for three days, and whilst our mates Bob and Deb have a view and we are tucked in behind one of the stepped walls, they cannot sit outside their van to enjoy the view. 
 
Next day both couples end up visiting Monkey Mia, Bob (with severe hangover after the AFL Grand Final) and Deb heading over early to experience the dolphin feeding, with us joining them mid-morning. Monkey Mia is on the eastern shore of the peninsula and is totally protected from the wind assailing Denham, setting a perfect and picturesque day. Though only 3 dolphins have come for the feeding session, they hang around the clear waters of the resort beaches and jetty all day. The four of us decide to do a 3 hour catamaran cruise including a visit to a pearl farm pontoon anchored a few kilometres off-shore then onto a nearby reef and shallow seagrass banks in the hope of finding some turtles and dugongs. We have success in all these ventures, and though swimming is not allowed in this marine park area, we experience plenty of close encounters with these large seemingly gentle sea creatures. 
 
Back at Monkey Mia for a latish lunch, great hamburgers washed down with Matso's Ginger Beer, we do not rush back to windy Denham but rather linger over lunch then a swim and sunbake in these idyllic surrounds. Whilst we swim the 3 dolphins cruise by a few metres away, probably checking to see if we have saved them some late lunch also!
 
And next day, we take the 4WD's up to Cape Peron North through the François Peron NP. The drive is along a sand track, mainly single lane and very soft in places. We traverse sand hills, skirt saucer clay-pans and the large Lake Montbazin, encountering only a single 4WD on its return journey. The landscape, though desert like, is beautiful in its unspoilt glory. It takes us almost 2 hours to reach the Cape with a few stops at beaches along the way.
 
The northern tip is spectacular, red sand hills give way to red sandstone which drop suddenly into a few metres of the most beautiful clear waters with sand and reefs ranging through red, white, black and then deeper, brown smudges of seagrass beds. A vista of over 180 degrees provides lines of colour contrasting the many shades of blue green waters with the red earth and multicoloured bottom. It is truly a visual feast with the added bonus of multitudes of birdlife and the quick glint of silver as fish flash past. Off-shore is a convergence of 3 ocean currents, whirlpools and upwellings bear witness to the struggle against each other, a fisherman's paradise. 
 
The girls decide to walk a few kilometres along the sand-ridge behind the beach to Skipjack Point on the eastern shore, whilst Bob and Roscoe bring the 4WD's via the longer 4WD track. On the Cape Evi had met a family from Belgium who had walked from the other direction and offered them a lift back to Skipjack with the boys, very thoughtful! Skipjack has a timber walking trail from the carpark to a couple of large platforms which overhang the 80 metre cliffs, providing a spectacular lookout along the coast and for sea-life below. 
 
We stop again at a swimming beach on the west side, South Gregories, and take a drive up the beach finding a sheltered spot between two bush covered small dunes. Here we park the 4WD's side by side and set up our gas hotplate between them for a sausage sizzle and a few drinks. The water is clear but quite cool due to the current activity a few kilometres north, it is really refreshing especially after lunch and some sun-baking! Evi is beginning to resemble a Austrian-Aboriginal, in fact we all have deep tans after our marvellous winter. Tomorrow we say farewell to yet another paradise!