Shark Bay

Without breakfast we headed to Shark Bay, a big peninsula with large protected National Park areas. Our first stop was planned to be at a viewpoint about 2km off the highway. But the road got rougher and as there was a quite steep downhill ahead of us we decided to turn around. On the way back we lacked the speed that we had and got bogged (again). Luckily the 4WD worked after some tries and we were able to drive in a bit more stable terrain. But on this way the car overheated, so we spent about half an hour waiting for it to cool down. It was a good opportunity to get our breakfast coffee.
Afterwards we stopped at Shell Beach, an isolated bay which is inhabited by zillions of mussels. Because of a natural sea grass border the salt level in the bay is twice as high as in the ocean. Therefore most other creatures had to abandon the water, just the mussel feels like a fish in the water :D Also the water was incredibly clear. From there it was just a short drive to a viewpoint with a boardwalk where you can often see dugongs and sharks. Not on our watch!
Finally we arrived in Denham, a lovely little harbour town with a great esplanade. There we had breakfast at 12, the selfmade Breakfast Burger was well worth the wait!! Then we went for a swim directly at the jetty on the esplanade. The water is full of sea grass which is the reason why Shark's Bay is one of the last places on earth where the dugongs are living. Unfortunately we didn't see any of those here as well. Before we left we visited the local information centre where we watched a documentary called "Fire on the water". It was about the sunken cruiser HMS Sydney that was shot by a disguised German vessel named Kormoran. A really interesting story!En savoir plus