Tues, 26th Nov, 2019 Gregories Campground, Francois Peron National Park to Eagle Bluff Campground, Shark Bay, WA

5.30am got a photo of the sunrise.

6.30am 20 degrees, no wind – so lovely. Clear sky. The tide is well out.

Heard the goats calling. There were 11 of them down on the point having a drink. A big white billy goat with his girls and a few little kids. Another one called from the bush near our truck so there is more still.

Had breakfast and two goats wandered over to the bush near us to chew on the leaves. They wandered down the beach and joined the others as they headed back up the sand dune away from us.

After breakfast we went back to our spot but the tide was too low though Steve did see one whiting as it was so calm and clear.

We packed up camp. Hotter now without the wind blowing but at least we can put things away without them blowing back out the doors.

Spotted two rabbits as we headed out but we haven’t seen any bilbies or echidnas yet.

Drove back up to Bottle Bay to see how the other guys were going with their fishing. They weren’t there so we tried fishing as it is deeper water here. The water was lovely so I went in and tossed my line out towards the seagrass bed. Caught a few little stripeys but no whiting. Even Steve caught a stripey. I saw a school of little fish fly out of the water in the seagrass then a black shape came out further along from me. That made me back out of the water quickly. It is so clear though I can see them coming from a distance. A turtle swam by and got a fright when he stuck his head up for some air.

As I walked back to the beach I spotted little whiting riding in and out of the waves as they rolled on the beach. So much for going out further. Didn’t see any bigger ones so we gave up.

Drove back up to Skipjack Point to check out the views with a calm sea this time. Made a cuppa and walked out to the seat.

Around to the lookouts.

Found the guys from Bottle Bay – they are fishing out off Cape Peron.

A foreign couple joined us and we chatted. He is from Sardinia, an island in Italy and his wife is from Switzerland. She spoke English well. They are loving travelling around here except for the flies but they have their Aussie Salute working well. He also commented that Aussies also have the right arm bent and are always holding a beer or a coffee cup – we laughed as that is what we were doing. They have a son living in Tassie but think they won’t have enough time to get there this visit. I said to make sure they spend some time as it is such a lovely state to explore. It was interesting listening to her talking in Italian to him about the different fish etc below. Not as much happening as our last visit but there were a few rays, sharks and turtles swimming around. Also some nice size fish too. She said they went on a charter from Monkey Mia and did see some dugong though it was only for a short moment before they went under again.

We drove around to Cape Peron and walked around to where the guys were fishing. The water is so clear we could see heaps of little whiting swimming along the edge.

The guys got hit by a couple of sharks but so far have only caught whiting – no very big either going by the ones they were putting in their esky. Some people eat the small ones whole – too many bones for me. They also saw a dugong this morning – he swam by them and put up his head and looked for a bit then went under and disappeared. Now that would have been special.

We went back and got the rest of our bait and our rods and fished off the rock ledges where we could see the whiting and other little fish in schools. Caught heaps of little ones. Steve got one nice size keeper and I got two medium ones but in the end we let them go as we didn’t have enough for another meal. A foreign tourist chatted with us for a bit while we fished. I offered him a go as the little whiting were just jumping on the line with a little bit of squid hanging off the hook.

Chatted with the Ranger who was doing his cleaning rounds. He said our van was still there this morning as he drove past. He thanked us for parking in a good spot, out of the way. He said the homestead can get very busy as lots of people come out to use the pool. In the busy winter time they have a volunteer camping there to open up the museum etc and he commented that some people were out at 2am using the hot tub. I wonder if they all pay the $15 entrance fee to enter the National Park.

I mentioned the goats at Gregories and he said there were heaps and they are wrecking the plants but they can’t remove them as the local aborigines have the right and catch them to sell them – so much for looking after country – it is all about money! He also said there is a dingo getting around here too – that might have been the dog prints I saw at the Tank.

I asked him about the salt mine and he said it is operational. Owned by the Japanese it is a closed ‘township’ and is called Useless Loop. He said there are 120 ‘Useless’ people working there or ‘Loopers’ as the townspeople call them. He said their health facilities are much better than what is available in Denham.

National Parks have spent their funding for this year on removing all the vermin from Dirt Hartog Island so they will have to wait for more funding next year to continue their work in this national park. He has recently been to Millstream NP as they did a controlled burn there and he said when the spinifex burns out comes all the prospectors. Some even come in with bobcats – as you can detect normally in a national park they must be strange people to think they can take machinery in as well as you can normally only use that when you have a prospecting or mining lease.

He said the next four days should be good like today – yeah. He said November is called Blow-Vember for a reason! May June is the time to visit here, 27 degrees, clear sky and no wind. Oh well we are seeing the area without all the crowds at least.

Had lunch in the shelter shed then headed back to the homestead to collect Nova – our van.

Caught up with the Ranger towing some big tyres to flatten the track – sort of worked.

Near the homestead we met Daddy Daycare with 15 chicks. The Ranger said the emus have been very busy this year making babies! They slowly wandered off into the bush so we could pass.

Our van was still there and the fridge was still going! Steve hooked up the van while I checked out the museum which was open this time. The walls were painted telling the story of the aborigines, ships, pastoralists and national park.

In the next room is a display of animals – ones they are trying to keep, like the Bilby and the ones they are trying to remove – cats, goats, foxes, dingoes etc.

Drove back to Denham. A flock of emus were along the edge of Little Lagoon as we drove by. Just got a photo as we climbed the hill.

We had to stop for a wide load – someone’s big boat. They were backing it into the yard obviously to do some maintain on it.

We pulled into the Water Facility and paid $5 to top up the water tanks in the van.

Topped up with diesel in town and got some more bait. Had a cuppa. Texts came through so tried ringing Erica back but no answer there. Steve rang Tassie Mike back – they had been to the Palmer River again and scored with a 22 gram nugget and a few other nice ones from a lease by Dog Leg Crossing. George Wilson gave them permission to detect on Palmerville Station and they didn’t have to pay. We had heard he was charging $50 a day.

Chatted with Mickey – the movies stars have arrived from Foxtel’s Discovery Channel to do a program on gold mining called Gold Rush. The main chap, Parker Schnobel, is a descendant of one of the Klondike miners in Alaska. She has the ‘stars’ there with her, the crew are staying at the pub. They have put some footage of her accommodation place in the show. We got the update on the last race of the Supercars – Jamie won it but Scotty won the Championship and Penske/Johnson ended up winning the Team Championship even after all the controversy from Bathurst.

Rang Mum and Dad – Dad fell out of bed again. I should have moved his bed side cupboard. We had put padding on the corners but he ended up cutting his lip. He says Mum pushes him out of bed – at least he still has he sense of humour even if he can’t remember things happening.

We walked down to the Discovery/Information Centre. Not sure if the building is supposed to look like the front of a ship – bit ugly considering the lovely seaside town buildings around it.

Memorial to the sailors of the HMAS Sydney II lost at sea out from Shark Bay during World War 2. All their names are listed.

‘Velsheda’, a pearling cutter.

$11 to view the museum but it near closing time. The video about HMAS Sydney II was free so we checked it out. It is the same 3D one we saw in Geraldton but the display is different.

Steve pointed out a great photo on the wall of Shark Bay taken from the Space Shuttle Endeavour in January 1996. The photos were $5 each but there was a postcard size for $1 so I got that instead. Will send it to Mum and Dad.

Outside is a direction bronze on the pavement.

Back to the van to go online to book our Steep Point camp sites in Edel Land National Park (proposed) – need to ask someone what that means as we still have to pay the national park fees etc. There seemed to be heaps available but when I looked closer most of the sites were for a minimum number of people, 5 etc so I couldn’t click on those ones. I ended up booking one night at False Entrance where the blowholes are at the bottom of the park and then one night at Blackies in Shelter Bay (someone had said that was a good spot to get whiting). Paid for our vehicle entrance fee of $15 and $8 each for first night (no amenities there) and $11 each for Shelter Bay as there are a few toilets there. It said to print out the confirmation but we don’t have a printer so I just wrote it out and downloaded the page onto my phone just in case. Probably won’t see a ranger as it is the off season. The nice Ranger we saw today didn’t ask for our passes into FPNP.

It was after 6 when we headed out of town to Eagle Bluff to check out the boardwalk and watch the sun set there. Spotted some more emus and rabbits along the roadside.

Poured our drinks then walked along the boardwalk chatting with a young chap. View from the first lookout – sun shining straight over Eagle Island.

Information boards on what we could see from here if the sun wasn’t shining in our eyes. Spotted a couple of rays below us. Here’s the chap I had swim near me at Gregories while I was fishing.

Don’t think we will see any parrots today.

Continued along the boardwalk.

If the seagrass keeps building up the bay they will all end up way out at sea.

Further along gave me a better angle to zoom in on the island at the many cormorants hanging out there. There was a heap floating too – I thought they were sitting on another rocky area but it moved!

Steve pointed out a kangaroo on the sand dune.

Looking across a point with Denham in the distance.

More info about the change in this area over the years.

Panning around over the salt lake where the camp area is.

As the sun was heading down we walked back to the truck and drove around to the camp area.

I walked out to the beach to watch the sun set while Steve chose a spot to park the van for the night. I climbed up on a sand dune while the other campers sat on the beach waiting for nature’s light show.

Looking back to the lake.

Very pretty though the sun is still setting behind the Useless Loop Peninsula.

I walked back to Steve and we parked the car where he chose. As I got out a little snake slithered under the back wheel.

Set up camp for the night. The wind has picked up again – will have to check the weather forecast!

Nice to have a good shower and not be battling the wind outside though we still have a couple of days in the truck when we explore Steep Point area tomorrow.