Day 85: Shark Bay (Day 3)
Today we went on a tour of Francois Peron National Park. Access to the majority of the park is only by 4WD, so rather than driving ourselves through all the sand we booked with Wulu Guda Wyinda.
We meet our tour guide "Capes", who gave us (and our two tour-mates) all indigenous names for the day, which we were told we had to remember if we wanted to eat lunch! Olivia's name was Warda (pearl shell), Theo's name was Biguda (handsome kangaroo), John's was Thaaga (shark) and I was Wirriya (ocean). Once introductions were over we drove out towards the park - spotting kangaroos and emus along the way. Then at the old Peron Homestead we let down the tryes and drove into the sand. The two kids took over as navigators and animal spotters sitting in the front seat of the old Landcruiser.
As we made our way to the northern tip of the park we made a few stops along the way to learn about bush tucker - digging up some native yams and having a taste. We kept an eye out for thorny devils and echidnas along the roadside, bearded dragon in the dead trees, and blue tongue lizard in the scrub. We saw lots of animal tracks, some smaller lizards, and the bum of blue tongue lizards before we made it to Cape Peron.
At Cape Peron we had morning tea and then went for a walk along the coast. Wow what an amazing mix of colours - red and white sands meet blue ocean and sky. We also saw dugongs and eagle rays swimming off the cape.
We all had a swim while "Capes" cooked up some fish for lunch. While we were eating, a monitor lizard dropped in to check out the BBQ area. After lunch we walked along the coast the other direction towards Skipjack Point. From the lookout at the point we saw cowslip and eagle rays, a white tipped reef shark, and some large fish swimming below the cliffs.
We then drove to Bottle Bay and along the sand to the end of the beach. To end the tour we headed back to the old Peron Homestead for a soak in the artesian hot tub. It was a perfect end to an amazing day with amazing people. We all learned so much and really enjoyed a day out in the park.
