Denham - Monkey Mia

The trip from Carnarvon to Denham is endless flat scrub a very boring drive for about four hours, with only a roadhouse to break the journey along the way. About 90klms from Denham we stopped at Hamelin Pool Marine and Nature reserve where we were able to view the Stromatolites they are the largest and oldest living fossils that dot the shore in rocky lumps and are around 3,000 years old. There is a very good boardwalk which allows visitors to get a good view of these extraordinary formations.

We had booked the Seaside Tourist Park in Denham and were only able to get into the overflow area for the two nights that we required, $34 p/n for no power or water. Denham is a very popular seaside town with holiday makers from southern WA, overseas tourists and of course all of us grey nomads and is only 25klms from Monkey Mia which is world famous for it's Dolphin feeding.

We were told it is best to go out to Monkey Mia early morning as more Dolphin's come to the early feeding. Today I finally saw a sunrise! I usually try to keep my eyes closed to well after sunrise and then Baz will bring me my breakfast, but not today. We arrived at the beach around 7.45am and the weather was rather chilly and a brisk breeze blowing, but of course you ignore these discomforts as you wait in the shallow water along with a hundred other hopefuls for your first glimpse of a Dolphin. Finally the Dolphin's arrive but of course you are not one of the lucky ones picked to offer them a fish, but to be in the water just metres from them is still all worth the early rise and the little bit of discomfort from the brisk morning temperature. It was great to pop into the Resort after the feeding to enjoying a lovely HOT buffet breakfast, we made sure we beat the crowd.

Hamelin Pool Broadwalk

Stromatolites

Dolphin's arriving for the feeding

A Pelican lives in hope for a spare fish

Later in the day, wind blown and looking very
tired from my early morning rise

Carnarvon

Feeling the chill!
Thursday we crossed over the Tropic of Capricorn and we have certainly noticed the drop in air temp. We have now spent the last two and a half months in temperatures 25 degrees and above and are not looking forward to the cooler weather as we head south towards Perth.

We stopped in at Point Quobba on our way to Carnarvon, we had thought we would have spent a night there but all the good camp sites were taken, only spots left were soft sand surrounded by scrub and no vista. So we retraced our steps to the highway and went onto Carnavon. The Blow Holes at Point Quobba were very impressive and the coastline was very rugged a big difference to the sheltered calm sandy beach at Coral Bay that has the outer reef to break the rough seas of the Indian Ocean.

We were lucky to be able to book into the caravan park a day earlier than expected at Carnarvon and Rex & Carlene were surprised to see that we had rocked up while they were out and about. Fresh produce is readily available, as the plantations surrounding Carnarvon are on fertile river flats where they grow fruit and vegetables which can be bought direct from their doors or from the growers market that is held on Saturday mornings in the town. We were able to stop in at the market as we left town and pick up some lovely fresh fruit and vegies to take with us. We were only in the town for a couple of nights but we did manage to fit in a visit to the One Mile Jetty which is one of the longest in WA, it was late afternoon so thought it would be best to catch a ride on the small loco which was a lot quicker than we could walk. The Jetty has certainly seen better days, as while we were out on the end of it you could feel a slight sway caused by the gentle waves rolling in through the piers.

Point Quobba coatline

Blow holes Point Quobba

One Mile Jetty Carnarvon