The drive from Carnarvon to Monkey Mia is 389km. We had packed down most of the caravan last night so we were on the road by 8.30am, not as early as we would have liked, but we woke to an overcast and gloomy day that kept us in bed a little later.
We followed the North West Coastal Highway for most of the day with the scenery flat and treeless with a lot of coastal scrub. We were following alongside the Indian Ocean although we rarely caught glimpses of it. The altitude for most of this journey was just 14 metres. We wondered what this country would grow and soon enough we saw goats.....lots of goats! This is the perfect country for these animals as they seem to like the saltbush that grows profusely. There are lots of wildflowers showing their pretty heads along the sides of the road with colours of yellow, white, purple and pink. There are not many places to stop and take photographs so you will just have to imagine the colour profusion. We do however find a look-out to stop at for a photograph and although we have driven up a steep hill to get to the lookout the view is not magnificent but there are some lovely wildflowers.
On the road again and we soon come to the Shark Bay Road turnoff that will take us 200 kilometres towards Denham and Monkey Mia. We pass by Hamelin Pool where there are some pretty amazing Stromatolites. We don't stop though as we have decided to stop at Shell Beach for our lunch break. We are now driving through Francois Peron National Park. This park used to be a sheep pastoral station but now forms part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area and its diversity is astounding. The marine life here is amazing from Dugongs to Sharks to Dolphins and everything in between and I know that we have not allowed enough time to explore this beautiful area.
We arrive at Shell Beach for our lunch break and it is so lovely! The whole beach is made up of small cockle shells and set against the background of turquoise water it makes for a perfect photo! We walked a little way along the beach and read the interpretive boards that are set up in wooden arbors. We didn't see anyone swimming or snorkelling here but it was quite an overcast and cool day.
From Shell Beach it is just under an hour before we reach our final destination of Monkey Mia. I don't know exactly what we were expecting but this place is amazing. It is a huge resort complete with restaurants and bars as well as a grocery shop and the obligatory souvenir shop. All of this sits on a bay that is so tranquil. We can see dolphins frolicking in the water and I can't wait for tomorrow morning when they feed them. We had intentions of doing a little driving through Francois Peron National Park tomorrow but have now decided to can that idea and stay right here at this resort. I will give a full update tomorrow.
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