A Western Swing – Wildflowers, Gorges, Coast

[dajop]

Great trip report and impressive photos. The scenery is truly amazing. Our paths must have almost crossed I think. Thanks to the good fortune of only being able to secure seats into Perth 2019 from Singapore, as Covid evolved in the east, on about Day 12 of hotel quarantine we decided to stay in the west for a holiday and made our way up the coast to Monkey Mia and Denham before travelling back to Kalbarri, and then back to Perth before we flew into "lockdown central" (aka Melbourne) on Wednesday.

 

[JohnM]

Next morning, we were up fairly early to get across the peninsula from Denmham to Monkey Mia by about 0730h for the dolphin experience (Monkey Mia - Wikipedia).

 

[JohnM]

Pretty Little Lagoon near Denham.



Shark Bay daisy.



The channel between Little Lagoon and the sea.



Boats moored in front of Denham.

 

[JohnM]

Eagle Bluff, about 18km S of Denham. A very nice boardwalk and viewpoint.

 

[JohnM]

A mid-afternoon scenic flight. Forty minutes out over Denham west across the Useless Loop salt evaporator, orbits around the Zuytdorp Cliffs and Steep Point (the most westerly location on the mainland), over the channel btween the mainland and Dirk Hartog Island (Dirk Hartog Island - Wikipedia), several orbits over the shallows between the S end of the island and the mainland, spotting dugong and dolphin and ray pods, before coming back into MJK abeam of Little Lagoon. Spectacular.

 

[JohnM]

The sandy 4WD track out to Steep Point that @JessicaTam will remember from 2017 when we crossed paths at Denham and both a had a day free. I was on my way home from my Canning Stock Route trip (post #146 here: Way into the WA wilderness) and we took the Troopy I had rented for that out to Steep Point. It was a great day’s drive!



Steep Point from the air.



And on the ground back in 2017 with @JessicaTam.

 

[JohnM]

Back to the aerial views. Channel between the mainland and Dirk Hartog Island and S tip of the island.



Pods of dolphins and rays. PJM was excited to spot a dugong and calf, but I missed it. We were at 1650 feet.



It would be a fabulous area to fly over in a microlight, like I did at Exmouth last year (from post #45 here: Escape to the Coral Coast).

 

[JohnM]

Back into Denham and a walk around town to finish the day.

The shell-block church.

 

[JohnM]

And that was it for Shark Bay. Up at sparrows next morning for the run home.



Not a lot of time to spare, but the wildflowers were spectacular aadjacent to Kalbarri NP so we made a stop there, another at Geraldton for fuel and one more at Jurien Bay for lunch. I had PJM back home before 1630 Sunday afternoon, in good time to ready herself for work the next morning.

 

[JohnM]

And that’s it for a great and varied trip.

 

[VPS]

Thanks again for the TR and the beautiful wildflowers (one day)

 

[RB]

Thanks for another enjoyable read. You have certainly been seeing a lot of WA. How many km's (and time) since you got the new vehicle)?

 

[craven morehead]

Another super interesting TR. The eco-retreat looked good. This country really does have some bizarre landscapes. Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[JohnM]

Thanks for another enjoyable read. You have certainly been seeing a lot of WA. How many km's (and time) since you got the new vehicle)?

I took delivery on 24 April 2020. Had it in for its 60K km service last week, so in 16 months.

I did c. 17K clicks in the 10 weeks to the end of this trip - roughly 8K on the Kununurra excursion and 4K each on the revised Rudall River trip and this one.

It has been an excellent year to be locked up in St Marko's Promised Land (TM), given the widespread rains bringing out the wildflowers in exceptional abundance over a wide geographic spread.

Subject to Saintly blessing, I am hoping to venture in it to the lands over the E edge of the world in Terra Coronus next year...

 

[jastel]

Certainly a lot more to see and do up there than 35 odd years ago when I was there. But the dolphins still come that's the same.