Our first overnight stop was at Monkey Mia, after getting a glimpse of half a dozen of sharks in the shallow turquoise coloured waters below the Eagle Bluff lookout. We had promised the kids to go and see dolphins, and there’s no better place in OZ than Monkey Mia to do so in a reliable and most spectacular fashion. The Monkey Mia dolphins are famous across the country for regularly getting a feed from the Tourists. Over nearly 50 years this has now been happening on a daily basis. Lucky the scientists eventually found out that in order for these dolphins to continuously survive in the wild and pass on the necessary skills to their offspring, there should only be a maximum of three feeds every morning, providing just 10% of their daily required intake. Furthermore, feeding is restricted to always the same five members of the larger group of local dolphins.
It seems that the dolphins still enjoy coming very close to shore so that we can watch them just a couple of meters in front of us.To escape from the crowds, we quickly moved on the Francois Peron National Park, which due to its – by the way most enjoyable - soft sand tracks is only accessible to 4WD vehicles. We visited the cape on a rainy morning, which meant we had the cape for us alone. Imagine the magic as the sun came out, and a bunch of dolphins came to say hello again, this time just to us and no one else.
The area is known for the beautiful contrasts of red sand dunes, white sandy beaches, turquoise waters and deep blue skies. For once, we could also add some pretty clouds to the mix. After sighting our first Dugong, some kind of underwater cow of similar size, we drove to Big Lagoon where we experienced our first non-stop rainy day. Lucky enough the following day the sun was out again, and everything dried quickly. It was at this location that we spent 5 nights camping and enjoyed a worldclass kiting spot just by our own. Best was, we only had 15 meters between our wind-sheltered campsite and the kite launching spot!!!
There are lots of other areas round Shark Bay which are ideal for kitesurfing. But if you want to be safe from the numerous lemon and tiger sharks, there’s basically only Little Lagoon. At all other spots you don’t want to get into trouble and spend too much time in the water, even if it’s shallow, as we saw that these sharks can come pretty close to shore. What we missed while kiting here was a kiteboarder community. Were we too early in the season? Or have all the others been caught by sharks? Perhaps they are simply too scared of even attempting the trip into Shark Bay, or are disgusted, when they get to see the choppy waters of Nanga Bay – apparently a prime location for kiting. Well, what would you prefer if you had the choice between overcrowded mediocre kitespots in Europe and the excellent but lonely spots on Australia’s West Coast?
Now Shark Bay is not well-known for kiting, but it forms one of the largest World Heritage areas in Australia. The visitor centre in Denham offers a very pleasant introduction to the natural wonders of the place. Apparently, the shire got its World Heritage Status thanks to some federal politicians who wanted to win their election campaign. Disgusted about being run over by federal statesman, and worried about being controlled by UNESCO officers in Paris, local people didn’t support the program at all. Well, it has turned out that Tourism has become the main income stream for the region.
Lucky enough there are still a few hidden gems off the beaten track that are worth exploration just for the sake of experiencing the natural beauty of the vast shallow and hypersaline bays. The tracks lead through Tamala country and towards Steep Point, Australia’s mainland’s Western most point. The department of conservation has already transformed Dirk Hartog Island into a National Park. For a budget of $2,500 we could have spent a couple of weeks over there, chartering a barge to get our car over and discover the place where the first record of Europeans has been laid by Dutchmen in 1616. What’s most impressive is that the Shark Bay region still appears a lot like four hundred years ago. Want to feel like those early tradesmen and explorers of the Southern Seas?
This stretch of coast is still very dangerous with its massive swells, gale-force winds and rocky outcrops, even hard to handle with modern sailing boats. You’d still get an awesome feeling of remoteness and adventure! We got our ration of adrenaline driving down the 4WD track through huge sand dunes and along vertical cliffs, which revealed itself as our most scenic drive since we left Sydney...Have a look at this picture set on Flickr: Shark Bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment