After leaving Carnarvon we were heading for Denham but before we got there we had to stop at Hamelin Pool to see the world-famous stromatolites. Not being a well-educated man I had no idea what a stromatolites was. I was hoping for a show that saw them jumping through hoops & performing death-defying acts!
Alas, I was to be disappointed. As it happens stromatolites are the oldest & largest living fossils on earth. They are only found at two places in the world. I snuck up on them & got a photo. They just looked like rocks to me!
It finally had to happen we came across a place where the flies were so bad we had to pull out the fly hats. You can see I have never worn stockings. The seam always goes to the back.
The only other interesting thing at Hamelin Pool was this is where they cut coquina blocks for buildings. The blocks are a soft limestone made up totally of shells. They cut the blocks with a cross-cut saw. A number of buildings in Denham are built from them (more on this later).
We hurriedly left Hamelin Pool & made our way up the spit to Denham. Have spent two weeks at caravan park overlooking the water & just enjoying a great little place. Its been a tad windy at times but the good days make up for it.
The thong shack is where you leave your spare thong.
The white in the distance is salt piled up from the salt mine on the other peninsula.
Monkey Mia is 25km up the road so of course we had to check the dolphins out. Ulrika even got to feed Molly.
As a bonus a turtle decided to check us out on the pier.
Remember the coquina blocks, this is the restaurant in Denham made totally from them. We went there for dinner the other night & had another great seafood platter. Not a deep-fried piece of food on it.
As always we visited the two local pubs. It just so happened that the Shark Bay Hotel was celebrating their 50th anniversary the first weekend we arrived.
There are emus wandering everywhere. We even found an amphibious version.
This is little lagoon just outside of town. It is only a few feet deep & is very salty. The technical name for it is a birrida. It is tidal with a creek that runs into it. We have been told that the creek is full of stonefish.
This is what a stonefish looks like. They are the most venomous fish in the sea. You do not want to step on one.
After getting Billy babysat for the day we drove up to Cape Peron through Francois Peron National Park. It’s about 50km of very sandy 4WD tracks. On the way is the Peron Heritage precinct which is an old homestead that used to run sheep. It closed in 1990 & the land became a National Park. The shearing sheds, etc have been preserved & it is a great explore.
They even have one of these. Southern Cross windmills were made at Toowoomba Foundry in Toowoomba for over 100 years. In a previous life I sold them the steel that they were made from. Sadly they are no longer.
There is no fresh surface water on the peninsula so all the water is artesian. The homestead did have nine artesian wells pumping millions of litres per day. Now there is one which is put to very good use. It’s a very toasty 40°.
This is an interesting story, poor bugger.
We then stopped at Big Lagoon. Didn’t have a kayak as it was too windy.
Finally made it to Cape Peron. Saw a few manta rays, dugong & dolphins swimming off the point. Modern lighthouses are not as good as old ones.
Ocean Park is 10km away, the tour was good value for money. Lots of info on local sea life.
Great view from the pub & the foreshore.
Eagle Bluff is just down the road & a great spot for spotting sharks.
Shell Beach is made from all shells. Millions of them. They are really small.
As always sunsets on the West Coast are spectacular.
Dad died 4 years ago so we did two of his favourite things – had a scotch on the rocks & went fishing. Well Ulrika went fishing because as everyone knows I can’t catch a cold.
We really liked Denham & its surrounds. Great spot which we will come back to.
Word of the day:-
- Hedonist – a person who believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life
- Biridda – dry salt pans (Abo)
- Umami – a category of taste in food, savoury (besides sweet, sour, salt, and bitter)
- Kwaussie – Barnaby Joyce