Step 64 Kalbarri – Denham 406 km's

Saturday 21^st May

Quite cool this morning, 15 degrees :-), but fine.

Quite a long day on the road today but on our way out of Kalbarri we are visiting the other part of the National Park. The part with the made road. The good news is that's another $11 of value out of our $80 annual park pass. $33 down, $47 to go.

The National Park and a couple of other parts of the Murchison River did not disappoint it sure is a beautiful part of the country.

Is that stunning or what, and the view of the park is pretty good too.

 Sightseeing done for the morning it's on the road, back to the main road, to head North to Denham / Shark Bay.

With Di driving and Jethro Tull rocking away on the CD, this is the life.

Editors Note:

Part 1 – Jethro Tull, not an individual artist as most people think but the name of a band. A folk rock group from the 70's, possibly one of the only rock bands ever to have a flute as the lead instrument. Famous for such classics as the 43 minute long Thick as a Brick, Aqualung, a song about a derelict with his "coughed up lung" and an album (Warchild) featuring the 1973 skyline of Melbourne as it's cover art.

Part 2 – For our younger readers. CDs are the way we used to buy, and play, music before Steve Jobs invented iTunes.

I notice from the passenger seat that it's getting a lot redder on the side of the road now. We are really looking forward to the red dust ahead, and trying to clean the van afterwards.

The morning is punctuated by another few lunatics cyclists pedalling away furiously, miles from anywhere . I've said it before and I'll say it again, what part of this seemed like a good idea. Oh well, at least it's only in the 20's not the 40's as it could be at other times of the year.

At the turn off for Denham/Monkey Mia we had a quick lunch stop in MM before heading back towards the coast. Denham/Monkey Mia are off to the side and basically a 130km in and a 130km out on the same road. But well worth it by all accounts.

To break the journey we turn into Hamelin Pools to see the World famous Stromatolites. Stromatolites apparently look like rocks but are actually living organisms and are possibly the oldest living organisms on the planet now. Some scientists believe they were the first living things on mother earth. The ones at Hamelin Pools are thousands of years old. I say allegedly, because after following the signs to a dead end, there were no more signs and Di and I never got to see them. Unbelievable, thousands of years these things have been there, they are rocks and don't move and we still couldn't catch them.

The sign to the left of this van said - "No camping"
It didn't say anything about "No hanging your washing on the fence"

 Next stop was a little more successful when we stopped at Shell Beach. What appears to be your common or garden variety WA white sand beach is in fact made of millions and millions of tiny cockle shells. I guess that would have come as more of a surprise if they hadn't named it Shell Beach. Damn those early explorers and their imaginative naming conventions. Molly Malone could have really stocked up her barrow here, but then again it would have been a long push back to Dublin.

No, not white sand. Not English pebbles. Millions of cockle shells

A cockle's last view before his shell becomes just one more
 in the  rich tapestry  of Shell Beach

Just before Denham there are a number of turn-offs to the beach. Being the adventurous types and given we had been told you HAVE to go to Eagle Bluff we headed off down the 6 km's of dirt road to the lookout. Let's just say that despite the smooth sailing for the first few km's I sensed trouble ahead when we saw the grader parked on the side of the road. Call me phsycic (or call me Dianne) but the next 2 km's were a little less comfortable. It's amazing how many rattles you can have in such a small van.

MM - off road again

But to be fair the views at the end were well worth it. We even saw a (small) shark cruising the bay looking for a feed. Now that I thnk about it, what part of visiting a place called Shark Bay seemed like a good idea??? The goggles and snorkles might stay dry for a little bit longer.

Drove through the town of Denham, that didn't take long, and checked into the Caravan Park. Pretty much all of the sites have sea views, including ours. Although a Husqvarna chain saw would have come in handy to get a better view of the sunset. 

 We also managed to get out for a walk and had a chat to the ladies at the Information Centre. Apparently the overnight camp sites that we checked out on the way in are free. There are no facilities, you can only stay one night and you have to register on the day but the views are magnificent and free sounds like a really good price. We might check that out on our way back to the main road after Monkey Mia.

Readers of V & H blogs, Hertaeg Nomads and Travels with the Taj will remember Denham caravan park as the place where everybody sits around the camp kitchen in the evening to sing “How much is that doggy in the window?”. Everybody does NOT include the Kendalls. We did not venture down for the festivities preferring the motor-homers practise of shutting the door and curtains as soon as it got dark and pretending we are not home. That's not entirely true because Steve ventured outside after dark and checked out the stars. Strangely it was the first time on the trip where we have really experienced the “big sky” of outback Australia. Hopefully it's not the last.