Shark Bay World Heritage Area

Carnarvon - Northern Gateway to Shark Bay

Carnarvon is a moderate sized town of about 9000 people with all facilities and services. Located about 900km from Perth, it has an ideal climate. Average annual temp is 26 and average annual rain is 229mm. They claim they are 10 deg cooler than Exmouth in summer and 10 deg warmer than Perth in winter. Pretty good eh? Carnarvon is located in the Gascoyne River region and the river provides water for many of the 176 fruit and veg plantations in the region. These plantations provide 70% of WA's winter vegetable requirements. They produce 30,000 tonnes of fruit and veg each year. We bought some nice bananas from a plantation for $6.00 a Kilo - bargain! The region suffered from severe storms and floods early this year and many of the plantations are still recovering - some were destroyed completely.

One Mile Pier at Carnarvon

The One Mile Pier is the longest in WA and maintained as a tourist attraction. It was originally used to carry wool, livestock and goods to and from the region. Carnarvon was the first port in the world to load livestock onto ships for transport to markets. The jetty is now the most popular fishing spot in the town.
Stayed at the Coral Coast van park in Carnarvon for 3 days. This park had several people from the south staying for months. A bit like people from NSW and Vic going to Queensland for the winter.
Travelled from Carnarvon down the Brand Highway towards Denham and the Shark Bay area.

Sunset over Lake at Hamelin Station

We decided to have a farm break along the way at the Hamelin Station, which is an operating sheep station about 90km from Denham. Many of the sheep and cattle stations are doing it tough financially and some are going into the tourist business to supplement their income. Hamelin Station have built amenities and facilities on their property to give people a unique camping experience.

Wildflowers at Hamelin Station

Hamelin Station Wildflowers

We have stayed in over 40 van parks so far on this trip and the amenities here were the best we have seen so far. They only have 30 sites which were unpowered but a great place to spend a few days. The wildflowers were starting to come out and were beautiful. It would be fantastic to see them when in full bloom in a month or so. The types and colours of the flowers are phenomenal and you can see why people flock from all over to see them. We were amazed at how they can grow so well in the ground which seems to be hard and barren.

Shearing Sheds at Hamelin Station

The station shears about 10,000 sheep each year. This occurs around November - December and the place would be a hive of activity at this time. The shearing shed had 8 stations meaning it could handle 8 shearers at the same time. With each shearer doing around 100 sheep per day it would take 2 to 3 weeks to shear all the sheep. The shearing facilities looked modern compared to others I've seen with fully electric systems, hydraulic press and plenty of space.

Our Camp Site at Hamelin Station

Quarry for Shell Building Blocks - Hamelin Pool

A few Km from the station is a place called Hamelin Pool. There's an historic telegraph station here which was built in 1884 as part of the Northwest Telegraphy Network. It's been decommissioned several year ago and is now a tourist attraction. The coast here has beaches of shell (not sand). The shells are from trillions of cockle shell fish. The shells in the picture have been quarried for blocks which were used as building blocks in the past. They are still cut to repair or replace blocks in historic buildings in the area.

Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool

Shell Beach - Shark Bay Are

Also in this area are marine growths called stromotilites. These are living rocks formed by the binding of cyanobacteria
in shallow water. This is one of the few places in the world where they can be easily seen.

Some of the Trillions of Cockle Shells

Dolphin Feeding at Monkey Mia

The Monkey Mia Dolphins

A bit further north from Hamelin Pool is Shell Beach. The shells are from the Hamelin Cockle and thrive in the area due to the super salty water. The discarded shells have been heaped into massive piles up to 10m thick to form the beach. The beach is kilometers long and over 100m wide. The beautiful shoreline gives way to crystal clear water with intense green and blue colours. These shells would make ideal shellgrit for chickens to make their eggshells harder but it is forbidden to take them from the beach.

Monkey Mia is world famous for its dolphin interaction experience. Every day between 8.00am and 12 noon on up to 3 occasions, the dolphins come right into the beach up to a metre from the edge to be fed. This ritual has been happening for about 40 years, with a small number coming in. The DEC rangers don't touch the dolphins but its OK if the dolphins touch them. There are about 15 dolphins that come in but only have about 5 dolphins in the feeding program and give prescribed numbers of fish to these. They are still wild animals but appear tame as they swim around the rangers and look at the people spectating on the shore. Its truly a unique experience. 

The Pepper Trail at Peron Heritage Precinct

We visited the Peron Heritage Precinct which gives an insight into what life was like on an early sheep station, Peron Station. It was interesting to compare this to Hamelin Station where we stayed and is still operating. The property was acquired by the government some 20 years ago and they created this attraction. The old sheds, quarters and yards still exist and tourist facilities have been added.

Peter with Arthur Pepper

A trail has been built for tourists to walk around the precinct to see the buildings, displays etc and this is called the Pepper Trail, after one of the original stockmen at the station, Tom Pepper. We were surprised to meet a gentleman there called Arthur Pepper, the son of Tom Pepper. Arthur was also a stockman on the station when it closed and gave us some factual information on what things were like then. He was a typical country type with a quirky sense of humour and unique accent.

Big Lagoon at Francois Peron National Park

Little Lagoon at Francois Peron National Park

Two features of the Francois National Park are the Big and Little lagoons. These are tidal lagoons with the little lagoon almost perfectly circular in shape. Both are pristine waterways and natural nurseries for several fish species. These are popular spots for fishing, swimming and canoeing but the big lagoon has 4WD access only over a sandy road/track. There's a campground at Big Lagoon and it would have been nice to stay there if we had time.

Leaving the beautiful Shark Bay area and moving south again down to Kalbarri and then to Geralton.