We left Kalbarri this morning at a very civilised 8:15 am and after bisecting the Kalbarri National Park for about 50 km, we headed north on highway one for Shark Bay World Heritage area. Our final destination for today is the little fishing hamlet at Denham, being on the western side of the peninsula but east side of Shark Bay. This is also about 22 km from Monkey Mia, an area famous for its daily dolphin feeding and a site that faces back east to the mainland.

Further north on our present peninsula is the Francois Peron National Park, access to which requires a 4WD. Same for the other peninsula jutting out into the Indian Ocean to our west, and adjacent to Dirk Hartog Island (accessible by boat or plane only). So while we are a little restricted in exploring the area further, we have still seen  some wonderful sights today.

Images below include the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool (biggest pool I have seen!) Marine Nature Reserve. These are ancient organisms, indeed one of the first life forms on this planet responsible for creating the oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere and so dating back more than two billion years. Apparently these here are quite precious and so closely guarded. These are found at the start of the Heritage Park.

Next was Shell Beach where the ‘sand’ is made entirely of small hard shells and the beach runs for several kilometres, with shells up to 9 metres deep. This sea area is also very shallow and very salty, as the heat, lack of rain and the sea bed matting minimises dilution with the external ocean. Also in this area is one of the boundaries to keep feral animals away from Shark Bay, known as Project Eden. Already this has been successful to protect and allow the re-introduction of threatened native animals.

The next image is of Shark Bay then another looking back to the little harbour of Denham. There is good fishing in this area although it helps to have a boat it seems. And there are certainly some sophisticated units here. On our way back from tea this evening, we did encounter some proud fishermen cleaning their catch, including a Spanish mackerel, a good looking snapper and a red coral trout.

As is so usual, another beautiful sunset. Can one get blasé? I hope not  so I have included the aftermath just because I can. What always amazes me is the afterglow which continues for a good 30 minutes or more. Yellow gold in one direction and pinkish and purple more to the south. So lovely. And on that note, good night to all. In to bed early to feed the dolphins in the morning. That is the plan anyway.