Shark Bay

7th November

We have spent the past 4 days based in Denham exploring the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It’s a pretty area, with beautiful sandy bays and beaches, loads of wildlife and lots of interesting sights to explore.

The geographical formation of the bays here mean that they are very shallow and highly salty. These conditions have led to some unique ecosystems in the area.

The stromatolites and microbial mats at Hamelin Pool are formed from bacteria and other microbes. I love it when we get to have a bit of a science lesson while sightseeing. The kids thought it was pretty cool that the sorts of bacteria in these formations has been in existence for over 3500 million years. They are among the most diverse in the world.

 

In the next bay, Shell beach is made from cockle shells, rather than sand. The shells reach over 9 metres deep in parts. Again, interesting to learn how and why this has occurred here. But the result was one of the whitest beaches we have ever seen, with super clear turquoise water.

 

Further up that same coastline is Monkey Mia, famous for the dolphins that visit daily. They have over 20 dolphins who come into the bay on a regular basis, so it’s a popular place to visit to see wild dolphins up close. They have 5 particular dolphins they feed each day – if they come to visit. We were very lucky the day we went because both boys were chosen to feed the dolphins, we got to see them up very close. The boys loved it!!

 

Our favourite place in the area was Francois Peron National Park. It is a stunning area of natural beauty and full of wildlife. I have done a separate post for it. Click here to read about it and see the pics.

 

Denham has been a good base. And we got to spend time with friends we met at Red Bluff too which was nice. In the middle of town there is a jetty and pontoon that the kids had a ball jumping and diving off. There is also a great “shipwreck” themed playground there, built all out of recycled wood.

 

Great place for sunset too.

 

There were also great views from the caravan park. The kids loved the jumping pillow. It became the meeting point each morning and afternoon for all the kids in the park to get together and play hide and seek or tiggy for hours on end.