Denham – Monkey Mia 30 October 2006

Drove onto Denham, another touristy village, which has evolved to service Monkey Mia and the Shark Bay attractions. Although it is late in the season, it is still quite packed with people heading out to see the dolphins. Dolphins! Smolshins! We just want to see the dugongs! The setting is much prettier than we expected. An elevated entrance leads to a sleepy little town spread along a magnificent waterfront. There isn’t much to Denham - a few tired shops along the high street, lots of new and old holiday cottages, a bakery that charged $5 for a loaf of wholemeal bread, an older butcher selling his meat in a traditional manner and a small school of 2-3 classrooms. We also saw a huge construction of multiple buildings on outskirts of town that turned out to be the new school. One classroom for every kid, the locals say!
In the afternoon we went out to Francois Peron NP and had a close look at the old sheep station. The park was only created in 1991 after the lease of the property ran out and it feels like the farmers just upped and walked away. It reminded Heather of the sheep stations she visited as a kid. It was fairly isolated and rugged and the shearing sheds were very authentic and reflected the conditions of a much earlier time. The beds, fridges, stoves, baths and washing machines were still in the quarters. The tools and machinery lay idle waiting the kiss of a shearer to wake them up.
After chatting to another traveller who told us not to miss it, we rather foolhardily, set off to explore the Big Lagoon. The 10k track was narrow and sandy and hard work for the driver! (Peter secretly loves these difficult drives with his newly acquired love of four wheel driving!), however we got through it OK, only getting bogged once! Luckily we always have a spade with us! The lagoon is geographically very interesting and the aerial photos attest its beauty and significance. But at the edge of the water and after a windy walk it did not seem worth all the hassle. Back to the caravan park (first one for over a week) to a really great elevated site looking directly over the beach to the other peninsular. The wind roared all night as this was an exposed position.