Carnarvon to Kalbarri

September 18 to September 24

The usual big town chores were done before we left Carnarvon, a big food shopping trip, and fill up with fuel and water. We hadn’t traveled for 8 days so we were pretty keen to get going. We had set our sights on a free camp area at the Gladstone Lookout, on the eastern side of Shark Bay. Although both our free camp reference guides said it was available, numerous newly erected signs said otherwise. As there were no facilities there anyway, and on top of a hill in 40km/h winds, we weren’t too concerned and drove further south to a “Parking Bay” just before the Denham turnoff.

Secluded camp spot off the highway

South of the Pilbara the availability of parking bays has increased dramatically. Some are typical truck stop type pull off areas very near the highway, while others lead to a labyrinth of tracks that snake away from the highway and can be quite quiet and spread out. On some of the highways they can be every 15 kilometres, so if you need to stop (and revive) there are plenty of opportunities. There are still large rest stops with toilets every 100km or so, but they can get very busy. The right parking bays can be way better (see photo).

We were joined at the parking bay by three very young backpackers in a station wagon, and although we had driven well into the track maze, with no one else in the whole area, they came and camped about 20 metres from us. We decided they must be new at it and wanted the security of another camper close by their tents.

Monday we headed for Denham and Monkey Mia, in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area.

Shell Beach, amazing beach and scenery

There is a number of things to see on the 130km drive from the highway. We stopped at Nanga Bay, an old fishing resort, and then Shell Beach. This whole area along the L’haridon Bight and Hamlin Pool, about 120km of coastline, is bounded by a Faure, which is a sand/shell ridge that stops the tidal movement of the water within the two bays and keeps the water shallow. This causes evaporation and therefore concentration of salt in the coastal water. These conditions are ideal for Hamlin Cockle shells to thrive over the centuries, and Shell Beach is tens of metres deep in shells. In the deepest areas the shell has dissolved and compacted, and was “quarried” in blocks (like sandstone) and used in construction.

The salty condition is also ideal for Stromatolites to grow at Hamelin Pool, which we visited on our way out. These growths are of microbial construction, the oldest and simplest form of life on earth (stromatolites date back 3.5 billion years).

Monkey Mia "dolphin experience"

We arrived in Denham to a mass of construction. In October, Denham will host the 400 year anniversary celebrations of the landing of Dirk Hartog in 1616, the first recorded European landing on Australian soil. We had heard some unflattering reports about Denham (especially its caravan parks), but I liked it. You can see how good the foreshore will look after the redevelopment, and it is nicely spread out along the coastline without needing transport to get around.

It was suggested to us (thanks Mark) that we should try and stay at the caravan park at Monkey Mia. There’s only one, and although when we rang we were told there was no powered sites available, there was “plenty” of unpowered, which suit us fine. On arrival the unpowered sites were only car parks around a small grass area for tents. Fortunately we found a good park next to a palm tree so it was actually really good. So good we decided to stay two nights.

Monkey Mia

Tuesday morning we headed to the beach for the “dolphin experience”, what everyone comes for. Get there early because the dolphins are more consistent visitors first up I was told (again, thanks Mark). After the 7:45am briefing finishes, everyone stands/sits/lies around waiting for the “experience”. There can be up to three visits in the morning, and there is no contact after midday.

At 10am (as we were about to board a catamaran for a bay cruise and visit to the black pearl farm) we were graced with the presence of one of the anointed dolphins. We had an earlier dolphin come in, but the rangers checked its markings and deemed it unworthy of receiving a feed.

Stromatolite formations at Hamelin Pool

Am I starting to sound like a grumpy old man? Allow me a short rant. I understand the need for wildlife preservation and managing the interaction, but from a time in the past when they would get twenty odd dolphins coming in every day, they now get a couple at a time, maybe twice a morning. They had a streak of two and a half weeks last year when none came in. I’m not sure how long big paying tourists will gamble on a chance interaction. The next morning none had come in by 9:30am, with about 300 disappointed guests biding their time.

Anyway, we did enjoyed the experience, and the black pearl farm visit was also interesting, which is a fully self-contained floating operation in the bay. We did a couple of walks in the dunes area and admired the wildflowers.

Eagle Bluff south of Denham

Wednesday we departed Monkey Mia, visiting a number of bays and lookouts along the peninsula. This area is spectacular, and if you were a four wheel drive enthusiast there is hundreds of tracks leading to secluded beaches and headlands to explore.

We free camped on the peninsula near Hamelin Pool on Wednesday night, before heading towards Kalbarri, stopping overnight at a free camp at Galena Bridge on the Murchison River. The Murchison River Winds its way from some 300km inland, and as it reaches the coast at Kalbarri forms the centre piece with the gorges of the Kalbarri National Park.

Kalbarri's famous surf spot, Jakes Point

We arrived in Kalbarri on Friday, of a long weekend, at the start of school holidays, looking for a caravan site. After being told “good luck” by the Visitor Information Centre person, I did find a park with one site for two nights, easy. Kalbarri is an old fashioned beach town (a very popular spot for school holidays apparently), reminiscent of Kingscliff (I think, rather than Noosa Pete, sorry) 30 years ago. The coastline is also exposed to the big swells from the south and home of Jakes Point, a sanctioned surfing reserve (like Bells Beach and Crescent Head). The waves were breaking at about 5 metres while we were there so I declined the opportunity to take it on. As it is a reef coastline there aren’t a lot of other surfing opportunities at Kalbarri, maybe as we head south.

The wind has continued to blow and the temperature range has been around 8 ^o overnight to 19^o since we arrived. Let’s hope spring gets here soon.