Sweet As, Out In The Wop Wops

Shark Bay

It's difficult sitting here in the tent while there's a band playing down the street, but where there's a band there is beer and a one particular fool and his money will... Well you know.

Oh this is heaven. I've just discovered that I can use my tank bag as back rest. It may require a bit of modification, but when filled with my fleece blanket and sleeping bag you can sit back tolerably. And when it comes to this touring business tolerable is as good as it gets sometimes.

Right, so a few days ago I was in Shark Bay, some five hundred Ks south of my current location. Shark Bay is a World Heritage area, and rightfully so. it's got endangered species which are found only there, also which I've forgotten the names of already, someone should have mentioned there would be a quiz. Actually I think that the heritage listing is due to the extent of marine life present. Also notable are the stromatolites of Hamelin Pool. These are the cyanobacteria lucky enough to colonize water so saline nothing else would eat them, and to prosper by trapping sediments and building mats of mini - reefs, and bommies, all the while doing their algal thing and were kind enough to release oxygen into the atmosphere to that ripe 20% we find so pleasant today. Hamelin Pools is one of the last places to see to see these splendid living rocks and the ten minutes you spend walking the boardwalk suspended above them is bound to be amongst the most overstimulating experiences of your life.

To be fair though the rocks have a hard time competing with the dolphins that have been visiting the area of Monkey Mia for nie on fifty years. Apparently some broad started feeding one back in the sixties and three generations of of the dolphins progeny have been showing up for a feed daily with little sign of stopping. Of course this makes for excellent research opportunities and even better money for the shire.

So that's what I'd come to see, but I saw a lot more thanks to Ranger Rodger of the local CALM Office. I met Rodger's sister Sue in Perth, via my friend Clare whom I was visiting, and she suggested I pay Rodge a visit. He was nice enough to let me stay at his house. And even show us arround

The weekend got off to a good start as we went to a farewell dinner for one of his workmates which turned into a late night party out on the old homestead in the National Park. The sole reason being to utilize the saltwater bore hot tub. So the first night was spent telling lies under a waning moon, and a creaking windmill with the park staff.

I entertained myself the following day by visiting the dolphin feed and a small aquarium named Ocean Park, just down the road from Denham. The aquarium is remarkable because A) the place collects all the marine life right out of the ocean half a K below B) they do it at minimal profit and 3rd the main draw is a tiger shark which prowls an open pond with a gazebo stood in the middle. Nothing to keep people out other than common sense. But of course this is Australia, if you don't have common sense you die of spider, crock, snakebite , or liver serocis by the age of ten.
Apparently even common sense lacking non - Aussies need not fear the beast as she's incredibly shy and tries to hide when the staff dive the pond to clean it. Other attractions at the park include loggerhead turtles sent from down south by greyhound bus for rehab and re-release into the wild, sea snakes and several types of sting ray.

Saturday rodger invited me on a ride along while he did his rounds along Francois Peron Park. This basically consisted of riding in a Land Cruiser for 8 hours while Rodger collected park fees and swept dunnies. I was able to stare down the lens of my Nikon at the various lookouts and was able to catch some pics of a sea lion, a ray and a blue tongued lizard. I didn't have my camera when I startled a Brown snake in the dunnie however. Which was equally disappointing for Rodge as he rarely sees snakes. The Brown was quick to get away once seen which is why aussie pit toilet walls have a two inch gap above the floor. Off into the bushes as soon as I opened the door.

Over the weekend I also learned that endangered species taste delicious. The locals, real locals, were having a native food festival and are allowed to kill one Dugong that's Manatee to northerners for special events. It seemed nice, but was overcooked. Better was the green curry sub turtle for lamb and the roo tail in plumb sauce stole the show, with fall off the vertebrae slow cooked goodness.

We put a nice cap on the weekend by getting out onto the water on rodger's day off to do a bit of fishing. WE didn't' have much luck other than some bait fish , but we were met by some playful dolphins just before we called it a day.

A great weekend, thanks heaps Rodge.

posted by Dusty Calfee @ 10:31 PM