Rick and Rae's Travels: Sun, 22nd to Mon, 23rd May

When we woke it was a cool 8 degrees in the van ... not exactly the warmer temperatures we were expecting up here. Still, it was a sunny day and we were still heading north, so we were hoping it would get better.

We were heading in the general direction of Denham which is in Shark Bay. There are several bush camps listed on the way, but on inspection we discovered they were no good for us. They were small and really just very exposed dirt car parks next to shallow, weedy ocean. Apparently you need to telephone the visitors' centre in Denham to obtain a permit to camp at the sites ... not sure just how you were meant to do that as there was no phone reception. The whole area is quite under-whelming ... not the beautiful beaches and coastline we expected. Away from the coast there is nothing ... and I mean 'nothing'! Red dirt and small bushes as far as the eye can see.

We decided to check into a waterfront caravan park in Denham. The park was extremely busy and the wind was blowing ... how unusual! We read all the signs saying that water is precious and that you are not to fill your water tanks in the park. Another sign was a letter from Council advising the park that their de-salinated and bore water usage bill for the previous year was $41,000 which equates to around $391 per day. As you leave Geraldton you are advised along the highway to take water with you as there are limited amounts available further north.

Anyway, we booked and settled in for two nights, and Rick spent some time watching the end of the car races. Later in the day we explored Denham a bit more and drove to a couple of scenic spots, one called Eagle Bluff. The waters in Shark Bay are very shallow and we were hoping to see some sharks or rays from on top of the hill, but the wind was blowing too hard and causing too many ripples on the water. The waters in this area are known for large numbers of the 'Nervous Shark', hence the name Shark Bay.

We were feeling a bit lazy and it was too windy to cook outside that evening, so we spent a bit of time driving around looking for takeaway. The pizza place was closed due to staff illness so we went into a bistro that was doing takeaway only that night ... not much else in Denham. I wish we'd had toast and vegemite ... it was the worst fish and chips I have had for years.

The next morning we were up early again to get some washing in the machines before they were all taken. Once that was on the line (in the wind) we drove the 28kms north to Monkey Mia. Here you are able to stand knee-deep in the water just metres from the dolphins who come in close to shore the mornings. They generally arrive 3 times a day for food somewhere between 7:30am and 12noon. We had arrived at around 11am and there were quite a few people just waiting around. We decided to have an early lunch at the resort restaurant and sure enough ... just as the food was about to arrive, so did the dolphins. We raced down to take a couple of photos and then had our lunch. The dolphins stayed around for about an hour so we were able to go back down to the water after lunch and have a closer look at them being fed a few fish. They are only given one third of their daily requirement of fish and are never fed after noon.

We left Monkey Mia (again a bit under-whelmed) and drove a few kilometres south of Denham to Ocean Park Aquarium. We were a bit skeptical about going in as it didn't look like much from the outside, but for once we were pleasantly surprised. We were in a small tour group led by a very knowledgeable and pleasant young guy. Indoors there were a number of smallish tanks about a metre high that you looked down into and they contained all manner of different ocean creatures, such as squid, eels, rays, turtles and a variety of fish. There was another very shallow (about 2ft deep) but much bigger tank that contained lots of different fish, rays and Lemon and Nervous Sharks. Outside there were two much bigger ponds (about the size of small dams), one of which contained huge Mulloway, Snapper and various other largish fish and the other contained the huge cod and sharks. We were able to go out on a walkway over the shark tank and watch as the tour guide fed the sharks and fish. We had a really nice coffee at the restaurant overlooking the ocean before heading back into Denham, where we found the wind had finally died down a bit.