Posted on 11 September 2025
by
Mum Another travelling day today. We stopped into the Denham visitors centre and the
"little shop" for one last look around before heading south again.
On the way back to the main highway we stopped at Hamelin Pools to try and see
the stromatolites. Even though the tide wasn't very low we could still use
binoculars to see some of them sticking up out of the water. After looking at
the stromatolites we walked along the shore towards the old Hamelin Station, and
its shell brick quarry, before circling back to the car.
As we headed further south we started to see fields of flowers along the side of
the road - including white everlastings near our petrol stop at Billabong
Roadhouse.
For our stay in Kalbarri we camped at the Big River Farm. The property used to
be a horse farm but it is now up for sale. There are still a few horses, dogs,
cats, and peacocks around. The kids were excited to have the pool and playground
right near our site and made good use of them before dinner.
Posted on 10 September 2025
by
Mum 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.
Posted on 09 September 2025
by
Olivia Today we got up early to go see the dolphins 🐬 getting fed at Monkey Mia
(sadly, no monkeys). They feed the dolphins three times. The first time we stood
on the beach and only one dolphin came. The second time we stood on the jetty
and two dolphins came. While standing on the jetty Theo's hat 🎩 accidentally
fell off the side into the restricted area that was just for the dolphins!! We
had to wait until the second feeding was finished, and for permission from the
rangers, before someone (Dad) could swim out and get it. There were a lot of
comments from the peanut gallery (fortunately, no peanuts). For the third
feeding a whole group of dolphins came into the area (more than the first two
feeds). We think they came in to see what was splashing around in their
restricted area - Dad.
Then we looked at souvenirs. I got a badge and turtle mood ring. Then mum and
dad got a drink before we went for a walk. After the walk we got lunch - well
Mum and Dad did because there was nothing me and Theo wanted that did not have
nuts. So we both had a milkshake.😁
We just relaxed for the rest of the day.
Posted on 08 September 2025
by
Theo Me, Mum, and Olivia saw the blood moon it was really cool. A blood moon is when
the earth blocks the sun from the moon. This is called an eclipse. To see the
blood moon we went to bed after dinner and woke up around 1.30am. Then we stayed
up for an hour and a half to watch the earth block the sun light. We also saw a
few shooting stars.
Later after the sun came we went to the Ocean Park Aquarium where we saw lots of
fish. There was lion fish, clown fish, stone fish, lemon sharks 🦈, sand bar
sharks 🦈, and a really big fish called the estuary cod. And that is just a few
of them. When at the aquarium they feed the sharks 🦈 by using a rod to hang a
fish head over the water. The sharks 🦈 viciously pulled the fish head off the
rod to eat it.
Fun fact - stone fished can move very fast. If you step on them they will hurt
you a lot. It is very painful but will not kill you unless you have a heart
attack.
Then we went to Eagle Bluff. At Eagle Bluff lookout we saw a few rays and a
shark 🦈 in the water from up high on the cliff.
Last we went to Shell Beach. It had lots and lots of tiny shells instead of
sand. Where I made a shell castle.
Posted on 07 September 2025
by
Mum Today was Father's Day. Sadly it was a travelling day so John couldn't have a
sleep in. But he did wake to cards and hugs from the kids so not a bad trade
off.
We headed south once again and into the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. Our first
stop (and lunch) was at the Hamelin Pools. Unfortunately we got here just as a
rain shower blew through so did not get out to have a look. We did learn that as
it was also high tide we would not have been able to see much anyways since the
boardwalk was damaged during a cyclone that came through a few years ago. We
hope to drop in again in a few days when the tides are lower.
By mid-afternoon we arrived at the Blue Dolphin Caravan Park and Holiday Village
in Denham. Olivia and I went for a walk through town before we had homemade
pizzas for Father's Day dinner.
