Denham (375KM) is our next stop. Denham is the main town for the Shire of Shark Bay area with a population of 600+ people. The tourist industry - which functions mainly from April until September- witnesses an influx of over 250,000 people passing through the Shire on the main North West Coastal Highway of which approx 110,000 actually come into the communities including Denham and Monkey Mia. When we read those figures we could see why it was necessary to book ahead.

On the way to Denham we stopped at Hamelin Pool Station where you can park and walk to the seafront where boardwalks have been built to view Stromatolites. Stromatolites are rock-like structures built by microbes. Shark Bay's Stromatolites are only 2,000 to 3,000 years old, but they are similar to life forms found on Earth up to 3.5 billion years ago! They provide a unique insight into what the world was like at the dawn of time. Hamelin Pool is one of only three places on Earth where you can see living marine Stromatolites. (The other two places are in the Bahamas.) Stromatolites are found in Hamelin Pool because its water is twice as salty as normal seawater. Few predators and competitors can survive these conditions, allowing the microbes to flourish and form Stromatolites much as they did billions of years ago.

This region of the WA coast has over 320 species of fish. We saw a small selection on a guided tour at the Shark bay Aquarium. The poisonous and venomous ones were really interesting:- such as The Stonefish which is one of Australia's deadly marine creatures. They inhabit shallow waters along the coast. The stonefish is well camouflaged in the ocean, as it is a brownish colour, and often resembles a rock. This is why it is called the Stonefish. It has thirteen sharp dorsal spines on its back, which each have extremely toxic venom. The venom of a stonefish can kill a human in two hours.

People swimming in the ocean need to take care, as they can unknowingly step on a Stonefish and have venom injected into their foot.

The pain from this is extremely intense and the cure is to place the affected foot into the hottest possible water to break down the toxins. Apparently the pain is so bad that those affected are capable of plunging the foot into boiling water and not feeling it, so burns from boiling water could also be added to the pain from the toxic venom.

The other one is the Fugu literally "river pig" (bottom left of photo) which is the Japanese word for puffer-fish and the dish prepared from it, Fugu can be lethally poisonous therefore, it must be carefully prepared to remove toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat. The Fugu can only be prepared by specially trained chefs who undergo a 3-4 year course. The licensing examination process consists of a written test, a fish-identification test, and a practical test, preparing and eating the fish themselves. Only about 35 percent of the applicants pass, so I leave it to your imagination as to what might have happened to the 65% who failed the test. The stripey fish called a Lionfish is also poisonous through 18 needle-like dorsal fins. A sting from a Lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal.

The other interesting ones were the sharks, a sea snake which the tour guide handled to show us what it was like and Sam the turtle which was a very placid turtle who lived in the pond because he had lost a flipper and wouldn’t have survived in the wild. Apologies for the quality of the photo but they are in a tank with not much light around.

We went to Whalebone Bay where Ross drove the car right next to the sand about 3 metres from the water and we sat on our chairs, looked at the ocean and ate the sandwiches we had packed for a picnic.

Next day we got up early as Dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia (26kms) begins at 7.45am and continues at 9.30am and 12midday. She told us that 7.45 was the best one. We got there at 7.35, thinking there would only be few people there. There were at least 200. There are very strict rules which you are told about by The Rangers who then invite everyone down to the shoreline. There was also a jetty so Ross suggested we go there as we knew we wouldn’t stand a chance of being chosen to feed the dolphins with all the kids wanting to participate. As it turned out it was the best position to have. We waited for a good hour before the dolphins showed up. First a smallish female and her calf appeared. She put on a real show chasing a fish she saw in the water. (This was not part of the feeding. The fish was unlucky enough to swim where she could catch it) She was really fast and jumped up with the fish in her mouth and swallowed it.. When the buckets of fish came out some more calves and dolphins appeared as well as a couple of really big dolphins. They are not a bit afraid and go really close to anyone in the water. You are not allowed to touch them.

After the feeding we went up to the Monkey Mia Resort and had a beautiful buffet breakfast sitting in the dining room just metres from the sand and water. The resorts emu appeared who can get very possessive with any food anyone outside might have. They suggested that if he came along to hide the food so he couldn’t see it.

On the way home we called in at the Francois Peron Homestead where you could take a walk and see the old shearing sheds and yards from the early 1920s. The station operated until the 1950s and was purchased by the WA government and the homestead itself is now used as a place for rangers, environmental scientists etc to stay, It has an artesian spa (40c) which the public can use.

The caravan park we stayed at in Denham was not one of the best to say the least, but there was so much to see and do at Denham and Monkey Mia that it really didn’t bother us that much as we spent most of the day out and about.

Thursday 11th July

We left Denham at 8.30am as it was 329kms to Carnarvon, which is our next stop.