A further 110kms north and we arrived at Denham. A small town (pop – 650) and the only town around Shark Bay. We chose the only caravan park with a pool which also luckily turned out to have a lower density of flies than every other place we visited in the area, as well as a family with 3 children – monster truck playmates for the boys. Apart from these three very positive features the place was a bit of a dive.
Our first morning here was April 25th so we set our alarms to make the local ANZAC Dawn Service. It was a fairly low-key affair but touching none the less. This has tied in nicely with our visit to the Anzac Centre in Albany and the boys have both completed Workbooks on the Anzacs and the 100 year anniversary.
We used Denham as a base to explore Francois Peron NP which we did over two days; firstly visiting the tip – Cape Peron via 40kms of soft sandy track. The scenery was spectacular but the flies were overwhelming.
On track to the tip of Cape Peron.
We had a mild reprieve from them fishing at Gregories beach and were also surprised to spot a seal swimming about 10m from the shore here too. There was a small amount of excitement on the way home when we stopped in a queue of five cars with the front one bogged in the soft sand. Julian was quick to jump out and lend a hand and luckily the extraction was not too difficult.
Is it still a selfie if you share it with a hundred flies?
The second day we only went in as far as Big Lagoon and then checked out the historic precinct of the Peron Sheep Station. Sam was very enthusiastic and explored the shearing sheds in great detail reading the large number of information plaques. Given it was already 33 degrees outside we only washed feet in the 40 degree artesian spa here, but I could imagine how nice it would have been in the cool of the night.
Bird nest on the Peron Station windmill.
Again it was a relief to return back to the dingy CP just to get a break from the flies. We were also trilled to find out that the mother of the 3 children used to be a tour guide on the Gibb River Rd and was so excited we were going to be traveling it soon that she wrote out 4 pages of notes detailing where to stay and what to see. What a gift! Jules quickly transcribed this ‘gold’ into an email and sent it around amongst our little group of fellow ‘Lappas’ that we keep in touch with.
View across the Denham coast.
Dear James, Thank you for the Monkey Mia postcard! We had a wonderful holiday at Shark Bay when Jess and Megie were little girls, so we are enjoying seeing and reading about your visits to all the interesting places that we visited then. But that was the furthest North we ever got in WA, so will have to see it through your eyes from now on. Once you cross into the NT though, we might be able to reminisce again.
Thank you again for thinking of us. Love to you all. Adrienne.