Overview

  • Main Attractions: Monkey Mia dolphins and dugongs, Shark Bay World Heritage Drive, Francois Peron National Park
  • Best Time to Visit: September to November
  • Local Specialty: Dolphins
  • Travelled By: Rental car
  • Cost: $$$$
  • Duration of Stay: 2 days
  • Location: Western Australia

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What We Liked

The chance to get up close and personal with diverse marine life is exhiliarating.

What We Disliked

Many places in Western Australia are off limits unless you have a four-wheel drive vehicle so if you’re planning on going into National Parks and off road, take a four-wheel drive vehicle with you.

Summary

Shark Bay is world renowned for the Monkey Mia dolphins that have visited the shoreline daily for the last 30 years. It is also one of Western Australia’s most biologically rich habitats, with an array of plant and animal life found nowhere else on earth. Lush beds of sea-grass and sheltered bays nourish dugongs, sea turtles, stingrays, sharks and other aquatic life.

Shark Bay: Our Experience

 

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As we drive from Geraldton to Shark Bay, we notice dark grey clouds in the distance that seem to hang from the sky to the ground. They look like twisters all around us and I say a little prayer that we don’t have to drive through it.

An hour later we are in the head of the worst storm I have ever encountered. Unfortunately, it is my turn to drive and my knuckles are white as I grip the wheel like my life depended on it. The car is a two-wheel drive and it is aqua planing all over the place. Luckily there are no other cars on the road so I skirt around the puddles and attempt to keep the car on the road. The side of the road is a red pile of mud so we definitely need to stay on the road.

We get through the storm in one piece and I am glad to see the Denham shoreline in the distance.

 

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If you love wildlife, this is the place to visit. From dolphins to sharks, Shark Bay has it all. A couple of days in the area is not enough time to see it all but that’s all the time we have here.

Monkey Mia is world renowned for pods of wild bottlenose dolphins that have visited the shoreline for over 40 years. These dolphins visit the Monkey Mia beach about three times each day between 8am and noon. We got to see these graceful creatures close up and they are the highlight of our trip to Shark Bay.

 

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We were not satisfied watching the dolphins visit us at the beach so we decided to take a Monkey Mia tour on a yacht cruise to watch them and other marine life such as dugongs in their own environment. On a side trip, we were also taken to a pearl farm that not only harvest black pearls but also implant gold nuggets and opals into them.

 

We decide to stay in Denham at the YHA as it’s more affordable than the pricier resort in Monkey Mia. There is one advantage to staying at the Monkey Mia Resort – it is slap bang on the beach and in front of the visiting dolphins area.

Denham is a beautiful seaside town with calm blue waters of the sweeping bay which is situated right outside our hotel. Once a ramshackle town that grew up around a pearling camp, it is now the main administrative and population centre of the Shark Bay area.

 

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Once we have had our fill of dolphin spotting, we spend the rest of the day driving along the Shark Bay World Heritage area, a 130km drive through Denham and Monkey Mia, which takes us through numerous scenic lookouts that allow us to get a glimpse of evolutionary and biological history, unique natural formations and abundant marine life.

 

We have plans to go hiking in the stunning Francois Peron National Park, however only four-wheel drive vehicles are allowed so we have to give it a miss.

Francois Peron National Park is an impressive area of acacia cloaked red dunes and arid shrubland surrounded by turquoise water. Most of the park is a four-wheel-drivers paradise, as we found out a little too late, offering remote camping sites and access to white sandy beaches. In the south is the Peron Homestead where one can explore the park’s historic past or relax in the artesian hot tub. This is one place we have to visit on our next trip here.

 

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We’re not sure where to go for dinner so we wander down the road to the main strip, which consists of a restaurant, a pub and a cafe. You can tell that we’re in a small town!

A quant, old building draws our attention and we decide to have dinner at The Old Pearler Restaurant.

 

Our few days at Shark Bay are over and we make our way to our northern-most destination – Exmouth.