SHARK BAY 2015, World Heritage Area

28th March.  The day before a big trip, a mix of emotions, Excitement, Happiness (no work wahooo) and stress of course. Packing the #Navara & our #Camprite TX6 camper ready for the next 16 days of Exploring, Relaxation and Quality time with Cathy and the boys.

29th Finished packing, hooked up the camper and we headed off mid morning. Traveling North from Geraldton some 112km brought us to our first destination Galena Bridge Camp ground. Only an over night stop over but we were in no rush to get any where and it gave the boys time to explore and get rid of some energy, the Murchison River was Flowing strong & there is some interesting history in the area if you go looking. The river had been about a meter higher in the past week as the flood line in the trees indicated. Oh  and meet our newest little friends the "yep the bush fly"  :)

Bowen Boys sitting on the old Bridge

Black swans near our camp

Old wells near the abandon mine

Remnants of an old mine

The next morning Cathy & I woke just before dawn to Thunder and lightning in the distance. We chucked the boys in the Navara with brekky and packed the TX6 up in about 15 mins, reloaded the Navara and on cue the rain started.We continued north 170 clicks to the Overlander Roadhouse were we topped up on Diesel, made a pit stop and grabbed some early lunch " because we're starving you know dad " After we had regrouped and with every one now happily eating we turned West off the Northwest coastal hwy onto the Denham-Hamelin Bay road. By this time the rain was coming down and the edge of the road was very sticky as I found out more than once on the way into Denham. A few weeks earlier there had been a pretty gnarly Cyclone that crossed the coast at Shark Bay and the edge of the road was peppered with caution signs as the erosion was pretty dangerous if you were to pull off in the wrong spot.

We pulled into Denham and visited the local Department of Parks and Wildlife office to find out the condition of the Francios Peron National park as this was where we were heading in a few days time. The area was still closed off after the Cyclone, so with this playing on our minds we topped up with Diesel again and headed for Monkey Mia, our home for the next two nights.

Our boys joining in on a local caravan park cricket match.

 

Day one. Rain. This didn't stop anyone. We were on holidays.

Our second day was better. No rain, and clouds were heading inland. plenty of wildlife around, we had an Emu walk past our camp, Pelicans out the front and of course yes the world famous Dolphins. The crowd was huge on  the first feeding so we decided go for a walk up the beach & look around a bit. There is a good information center just back from the beach where we killed some time and then returned to the beach just in time as the Dolphins had returned for the second feeding. We were excited to be so close to these magical creatures and the crowd was only very small. Cathy was chosen to feed one of them and took the kids down with her for this once in a lifetime event. They were so excited and yet shit scared at the same time. 

The next morning we packed up camp and headed back into Denham to refill the water tanks check in with DPAW again and hopefully pay our Park & Camping fees for the next 5 nights & 6 days for Francios Peron National Park. To our luck Herald Bight was now OPEN and we were off.  Phew !

Just North of Denham you turn onto the Peron Homestead Rd and make your way up to the old station homestead where we dropped our tyre pressures to about 20 psi. While we were here we visited the great informative walk which gave the boys a look into Station life back in the Day and how tough they used to do it. There is a great thermal hot tub here also, we skipped it on the way in but on the way out we soaked all the dirt away and tested the tub out, its about 45 degrees in the water which was perfect for me but bit hot for the others.

Head NNW from the homestead up a red sandy one lane track to get to several Campgrounds.  Other tracks had locked gates due to recent rain and storm damage but we followed the signs to our destination Herald Bight.The road in was a great drive, this was later to be discovered to be due to the fact we were the Second car/camper in after the several inches of rain recently and the trip back out was horrendous and in some points scary due to others that had used the used track not using correct tyre pressures. :(

 

The next 5 days were fantastic. Great weather (even the rain) we swam, tried our luck at some fishing, walked the great beaches, explored the red dunes, relaxed & were witness to some very special events. We had an Eagle Ray fly out of the Water just off shore (mating season) we had a few Dugongs swim past, Dophins came in to feed, probably why we didn't catch anything :) , we walked among 15 to 20 young Shovel nose Rays (I kayaked passed mum or dad & just quietly I had to have about 3-4 for looks before I relaxed), we witnessed the last part of the Blood moon, Yep the big Bunny found us in the bush, Daniel had his 9th Birthday (he is a luck little bugger, his birthdays are in some of the best places) and we had NO phone range.. :)

Daniel's 9th birthday

Z

Easter morning

Oh and William successfully kicked a rock that hard he managed to ruin a few toe nails and remove some bark. He's a tough little bugger but and the next day he was back into it.  Daniels expression when he saw the wound & blood straight after was priceless.. No camera though....

Bugger time to head back to Shark Bay to catch up on some home duties, refill the fridge, freezer water tanks & see if the beer is cold at the pub. Yep !

We checked into the #Shark #Bay #Caravan #Park and after all our chores were done spent the whole afternoon in the huge fantastic resort style pool they have got there. We all loved it. The next morning we filled up with Diesel, grabbed any last minute items and headed out of Denham. On our way out we made a stop over at the Ocean Park Aquarium [click] to watch the Shark feeding & learn all about local Sea creatures great n small. Well worth the $68 for a family to get in. From there we headed out the Useless Loop Road to our next home for 5 nights 6 days. Tamala Station, Honey Moon Bay. [click]  After stopping in & chatting to the station owners and grabbing the key to the gate we were off.

Yep we had arrived at Paradise.

After finishing unpacking & setting up camp the next 5 days we kicked back and relaxed by the sea enjoying the sun, sand awesome scenery. The boys settled right in climbing the rocks, swimming with their new body boards, fishing, playing beach cricket.

On the third day we packed lunch, water and headed off to #Steep #Point, the Western most point on mainland Australia for a day trip. the road in was again a single lane very rugged sand track that took approx 2 - 3 hours for us to get there. well worth it though and we tested the #Navara out again and it proved itself with no problems at all. 

Thanks to the young traveling couple who took the photo.

After lunch we made our way to the Blow Holes. Yep rugged Coastline but so beautiful. 

After spending about 1/2 an hour here looking around the cliffs taking in the awesome coastline (looking for a quick spot to throw a line in) and listening to the roaring of the air trying to escape from cracks in the rock, We thought it was time to get the kids off the rock as they were getting a little too keen, so we decided to make our way back to camp as it was another 2 hours away. 

The next day we chucked the shoes on grabbed the water bottle and headed of like young explorers on a new adventure to check out some caves I had seen just around the corner while kayaking a few days earlier. the kids had a great time, even if Christopher did nearly knock himself out "what dad ? DON'T jump in the cave" 

Our last day. this is where the realization that Returning to work is getting closer by the day but mother nature sure turned it on for our last day, the hottest day since our journey to the #World #Heritage area begun so swimming in the crystal clear water was the ticket. That afternoon two Dolphins come to within 5m of the shore to feed on those whiting that we couldn't catch LOL. To top this great trip off we cracked a few beverages and sat there with the sand between our toes watching the sun go down. What more could you want.

The next morning was yep Pack up day :( . After leaving the area cleaner than when we got there we made the trek out and on our way William spotted a "Dad Emu and two young ones. After returning the key and putting some air back in the tyres we headed for the black top.

Our journey home was going to be some 3 hours travelling so we all decided that we would take the Hamelin Pool turn off to see the 2 - 3000 year old #Stromatolites to break the trip up. Daniel & William were interested in the informative plaques on the walk but Christopher was just interested in how many fish there were and why could we couldn't catch them .. lol 

We returned to the Navara & TX6, refilled our water bottles and started the journey home. on the way we decided to take the scenic route via Kalbarri where we were both blown away as we had never seen that many people there. Yep School holidays.. hmm we grab a few refreshments and headed off making our way home. The end of another great trip. Thoroughly enjoyed the time away with the kids and the awesome person who said Yes, she would spend the rest of her life sharing our journey through life together. My Best friend, Caring mother to our Children, Lover, Best nurse ever, & Teacher,  Cathy. So till next time . Take care on the tracks. #BOWEN05

Cathy's awesome sunset shot. #Tamala #Station, #Honeymoon #Bay