Day 91 - 93, Denham ( Fri 25th Sept - Mon 27th Sept )

Denham

Denham is a nice little town situated on the Peron Peninsula in WA of course, it a nice little town with a population of around 600, its in a handy location for visiting Monkey Mia, the Peron Homestead Precinct, and Dirk Hartog island.
There is a pretty good choice of accommodation there ranging from caravan parks to hotel/motel rooms.

The Stromatolites And Shell Block Quarry

On the way to Denham we stopped in at the Stromatolites and the Shell Block Quarry at Hamlin Pool, we had left Canarvon petty early so we had some time up our sleeves and we were going past anyway.

Stromatolites At Hamlin Pool

Stromatolites are the oldest living organism on the planet and Hamlin Pool has the best living example in the world, at Hamlin Pool there is a fantastic viewing platform where you can walk among the Stomatolites at a low level, and read about the formation and nature of these ancient organisms.

Coquina Block Close Up

Not far from the Stromatolites you can go and see the Shell Block Quarry, to get there you can take a shot walk from the Stomatolites car park or drive back a bit to the Hamlin Pool caravan park where you can park and the quarry is just there.
You can see the remains of the quarry where building blocks known as Coquina which are made of nothing but tiny shells compressed and glued together by nature, then cut from the ground and used for the construction of many buildings in the area.

Coquina Quarry

Denham Caravan Park

At Denham we stayed at the Top Tourist caravan park, its not a bad park and price pretty good, we booked at late notice so ended up out the back in the overflow which was not that different to the rest of the park except for the fact that the showers were a little further away and there only un-powered sites to be had, neither of those things worried us, in fact it was good cause it was quieter and there was less through traffic.

Monkey Mia

Monkey Mia Dolphins

Monkey Mia is only 25 kilometers up the road so its a very easy day trip, if you want to see the dolphin feeding they advise getting there at 0800 hrs, that way you are more likely to see them as the loose interest as the day goes on and may not show up.

Monkey Mia Dolphins

We got there about 0845 hrs and fortunately they were just about to start the feeding, we joined the row of people along the shore and listened to the tour guide, and as she talked the dolphins that were there  cruised along the front of the crowd from one end to the another.

It was quite good seeing them so close, the guide picked 4 people from the crowd to feed them, we did not get to feed them but that was no big deal.

Monkey Mia was a nice spot, not sure I would stay there though, its very expensive and after you have seen the dolphins and had a swim there is not much else to do there that was not going to cost a lot of money.

Ocean Park Aquarium

Ocean Park Aquarium

South of Denham 8 kilometers you will find the Ocean Park Aquarium, where as part of a guided tour you can see and learn about many fascinating sea creatures, and watch sharks being fed close up.
After the tour which is very interesting you are able to continue looking at the fish in display, or join another tour without extra cost, the cost for our family was about $70.00.

There is also a very nice restaurant there with amazing views of the ocean.

  

Ocean Park Aquarium Restaurant

Eagle Bluff Boardwalk

20 Kilometers south of Denham is the Eagle Bluff Boardwalk, the board walk is a great place for viewing sharks feeding in the shallow water and also Dugong feeding on the grass flats.

The view from the board walk is fantastic and well worth a visit.

Eagle Bluff Boardwalk Views

The Peron Homestead Precinct

Peron Homestead

The Peron Homestead is a former sheep station located in the Francois Peron National Park, at the old homestead there is an interesting visitors centre and a station life walk trail, there is also an artesian hot spa there if you are keen for a dip.

We did not go right into the NP but did visit the homestead which is only a short distance into the park, from the homestead you can enter the park, after you air down the tyres that is.

Tagging The Kids

The "station life" walk around the homestead was interesting giving a good insight into the life working on an outback sheep station.

While in the shearing shed I found a tagging tool which I think they have left so we can tag our children.

Peron Homestead Shearing Shed

World heritage Discovery Centre

The visitor centre in Denham incorporates a discovery centre and art gallery, both of which were really good to see, the gallery was free but the discovery centre was $28.00 for the family I think but it was worth it.
At the discovery centre there was a huge amount of history on display, the good thing is that once you have payed you can return the next day free of charge to see anything you missed.



We all enjoyed our visit to Denham and while we were there we met Sandy, Jeff, and there fury companions Tinkerbell and Dexter, a very nice family that lived in Geraldton, we are hoping to catch up with them in Geraldton.