shark bay
A holiday away from a holiday! This place is where you begin to see the red sands contrasting with the turquoise waters.
We left Kalbarri and made our way to the remote Shark Bay. There wasn't much along the way so be sure to have all of the travel snacks and podcasts downloaded. The RAC Monkey Mia was unreal and a brilliant stay for the week! We felt like we were at a tropical overseas destination, but the curious emus that roam the caravan park quickly reminded us that we were in fact in Australia. The marine life here was insane! Dolphins, turtles, dugongs, sharks, eagle rays and cormorants just to name a few! If we weren’t hanging at the beach or jetty, the rest of our time was spent splashing around in the pools, eating ice-creams and enjoying many sundowners at The Monkey Bar. Just be aware you are required to pay the conservation pass either online before arrival or at the entry station. It is $15 per day for families or $60 for the annual pass. This will be checked to participate in the dolphin feeding experience which begins from 7:45am but is subject to whether the dolphins want to visit or not.
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francois peron national park
We ventured out to explore Francois Peron National Park. We visited Peron Homestead where we walked through the old shearing shed and had a soak in the artesian hot tub which sits at a constant 40 degrees. Soothed some tight travel muscles. The hot tub is closed on Mondays and Fridays 8-11am for cleaning. Our highlight was Big Lagoon! The red sand contrasting with the clear, turquoise water was something quite spectacular. These sandy tracks are quite corrugated so be sure to air down and take your time.
shell beach
Shell Beach, known as Wulgada by the Malgana people, is a unique place to visit. A beach made of trillions of cockle shells! The salinity of the water is almost twice as salty as the open ocean which creates the perfect habitat for the fragum cockle to flourish in the billions. In some places, the shells can be 10 metres deep. Shell Beach is roughly 45mins from Denham so best to visit on your way in or out of the peninsula. There is caravan parking making it easy to visit.
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steep point
During our stay at Monkey Mia, we went on a little sneaky camping trip to Edel Land National Park, traditional Country of the Malgana people. We snagged the last site at Shelter Bay, Tip 1 campsite, for a night to break up our 4WD adventure out to Steep Point, which is mainland Australia’s most westerly point. Fully off-grid and camping right on the beach, pinch us! Be sure to book as it is hot property with the white sandy beach and clear blue waters. The southwesterly winds found us later into the evening but between the gusts, we slept to the waves gently lapping the shore and woke with the seabirds. There is no phone reception which was bliss and there are pit toilets. Be sure to check-in at the rangers station on the way past.
What an adventure it was! it could easily be done in a solid day trip from Monkey Mia or Denham. You would be looking at a 7-8hr round trip. Once you hit the turnoff for Useless Loop Road, there is 20km of bitumen, followed by an unsealed road (which again was recently graded before our visit) with only a few patches of minor corrugations. How do we keep lucking out, thank you gravel gods! Once you past the air deflation station, the adventure takes it up a notch! 30km from Steep Point you will hit a narrow, one lane road that has deep dugouts as you travel up the sand hill. It will throw you around but our warriors were in fits of laughter and loved every minute of it. For this section, it tells you to engage 4WD and jump on UHF12 to communicate with others who wish to use this section of road. We dropped our tyres to 20psi and didn’t have any issues. The track out to the blowholes requires some driving across dunes and over rocky sections but nothing hectic.
After an amazing adventure, it called for a pub grub at the most westerly pub in Australia on our return. Grubby faces, sandy feet and salty skin wasn’t going to stop us. The chicken burger at Shark Bay Hotel, or locally known as The Old Pub, was a great feed and value for money!
What an adventure it was! it could easily be done in a solid day trip from Monkey Mia or Denham. You would be looking at a 7-8hr round trip. Once you hit the turnoff for Useless Loop Road, there is 20km of bitumen, followed by an unsealed road (which again was recently graded before our visit) with only a few patches of minor corrugations. How do we keep lucking out, thank you gravel gods! Once you past the air deflation station, the adventure takes it up a notch! 30km from Steep Point you will hit a narrow, one lane road that has deep dugouts as you travel up the sand hill. It will throw you around but our warriors were in fits of laughter and loved every minute of it. For this section, it tells you to engage 4WD and jump on UHF12 to communicate with others who wish to use this section of road. We dropped our tyres to 20psi and didn’t have any issues. The track out to the blowholes requires some driving across dunes and over rocky sections but nothing hectic.
After an amazing adventure, it called for a pub grub at the most westerly pub in Australia on our return. Grubby faces, sandy feet and salty skin wasn’t going to stop us. The chicken burger at Shark Bay Hotel, or locally known as The Old Pub, was a great feed and value for money!
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The Shark Bay Discovery Centre in Denham has a free 3D documentary called ‘Fire on the Water’ which tells the story of the battle between HMAS Sydney (II) and HSK Kormoran during WWII. The deep sea 3D imagery was so clear as it took you through the shipwrecks. It was quite moving to watch. Just out of Denham, Little Lagoon and Lagoon Creek were little gems to visit. We acknowledge the Malgana, Nhanda and Yingkarta people who are the traditional custodians of Monkey Mia and the broader Shark Bay area. It was time to continue to travels up the coast to the highly anticipated Ningaloo Coast!
Peace + love,
Peace + love,