Denham and Monkey Mia - Western Australia

We left Kalbarri having spent five glorious days soaking up the atmosphere of this picturesque coastal town and travelled only 150klms to a roadside camp spot at Nerren Nerren where we spent the evening. Next morning we started out early, around 7.45am and travelled 250klms to Denham and Monkey Mia National Park where we spent a couple of nights at the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort.
We arrived in Denham around lunchtime so parked along the beautiful Denham foreshore found a bakery and bought a couple of grain bread rolls and had lunch (double smoked ham, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers on the rolls). While eating lunch an emu strolled past along the footpath, truly an amazing sight. I just love the diversity of nature in our fabulous country. As we left Denham it had become very windy and by the time we travelled the short 26klms onto Monkey Mia the weather had turned a bit nasty and the waters very rough. Due to the full moon and king tides the resort beachfront was awash.
Next day the weather was still bleak and showery until lunchtime but cleared mid afternoon, temperature around 26 degrees (very comfortable, after all it is winter). Late in the day strolled along the waterfront of the resort and caught sight of dolphins swimming around the jetty area.
Monkey Mia is within the dolphin's natural feeding area. Monkey Mia is world-renowned for the bottlenose dolphins that visit daily and interact with humans. They have visited the shores of Monkey Mia daily for more than forty years. Feeding times are between 8 am and 12 noon. The dolphins are wild, so the numbers and the exact times of their visits vary; however they may visit the shore as little as two or as many as fifty times a day.
What a difference a day makes.........next morning (Friday 8^th June 2012) we woke to a glorious sunny day, temperature around 20 degrees.
We got the exhilaration of Monkey Mia as we ventured early, down to the water's edge, and had the dolphins swim into the shore for their morning feed. It was something else to be standing in the water and have these magnificent and beautiful animals swim around just a metre in front of you.
That afternoon we left Monkey Mia and went back into Denham, where we visited the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery and Visitor Centre......... an interesting and informative centre about the history, marine life and the many aspects of this area over the last 400 years. Shark Bay became World Heritage listed in 1991, after meeting all four natural criteria.
Criteria 1......Earth's History
Criteria 2......Ongoing Evolution
Criteria 3......Natural Beauty
Criteria 4......Threatened Species
Travelling back along The World Heritage Drive to the North West Coastal Highway we ventured out to the many coastal vistas such as Eagle Bluff, Whalebone Road Vista, Shell Beach and Hamelin Pool Stromatolites.
Shell Beach .......this unique beach is made up of countless tiny cockle shells layered up to ten metres deep and stretching for over 120 kilometres.
Hamelin Pool Stromatolites.......these rocky looking lumps in the water resemble the oldest and simplest forms of life on earth dating back 3.5 billion years! The water at Hamelin Pool is twice as saline as usual sea water.
We settled for the evening at the Gladstone Scenic Lookout about 150klms south of Carnarvon. A great free camp site perched on the rocky hill top looking over floodplains to the eastern side of Shark Bay.
Tonight we are in Carnarvon, again it is wet.