Today, we headed off to visit the Francois Peron National Park. We are basing ourselves in Denham as we got an excellent deal at the caravan park at $22 a night located right in town.
The National Park was previously a sheep station and they have preserved the original buildings which are open. It is only 6 kms out of Denham. They have a free hot artisan spa pool.
There is a bird hide. I have never seen wrens go into deep water, they usually have a quick dip at the side. We plan to visit the centre again when we have more time to spend at the bird hide and in the spa pool. We heard the Chiming Wedgebill, so are keen to get a look at one.
Some of the birds, in this case a Scrub Wren were using the wet grass to wet themselves.
The dinner bell. The cook started first and finished last, a pretty thankless task that one.
Three Shearers to a room, only walls, no ceilings. Refrigeration was basic, probably only for the beers.
After looking through the old out buildings, we headed north up the cape, through the sand dunes and clay pans.
The sand is very very soft because of the low rainfall.
We’re still going no where, this was the third time we had to dig ourselves out. Getting bogged in sand is not a problem, you just thank your lucky stars that it isn’t mud :)
Our first view of this bay was the Dolphin mother and calf hunting very close to shore. They are in the bay photo as well, at times they were within 3 metres of the dry sand.
You could see the tidal surge around the top of the cape.
We visited all of the camp sites on the western side of the cape and they were all exposed and not very hospitable. We were happy with our decision to remain in Denham, instead of camping at the cape.
There were hundreds of cormorants there, which means that there must also be a huge source of food for them.
Quite a few rays around.
We then headed south and over to the eastern side of the cape to the only camp site on that side at Herald Bight. This was the first place on the cape that you could beach camp and it was a great spot. The sand was extremely soft and we did see one camper trailer coming out, but it’s a real struggle in the sand. We had a BBQ lunch and swim – just lovely. Don’t know what the rest of you were doing :)
It was high tide when we arrived, so after hobbling over the small band of sharp shells in front, I floated in as far as I could to dodge them. This water is so salty, you just float, it’s hard to stay under. The shells must be the low tide mark.
Pacific Gull – nice red lipstick :)
We spotted this Shingle Back Lizard on our way back to town. A close relative of the blue tongue.
AND, that's what I think of you, telling me to get off the road.
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