Day 19 - Carnarvon to Monkey Mia

Little progress south and then a big detour, I'm heading to Shark Bay to see what it's all about.

Quick Stats

• 4 hours on bike
• 382 km
• 7796 km total

Morning walk along the Carnarvon foreshore to get some coffee. A delightful sign informs me the original retaining wall I walk on was built by aboriginal slaves in the late 1800s.

There seems to be a concerted effort in Carnarvon (and the Gascoyne region it lies within) to identify the indigenous contributions, whether willing or unwilling, to the development of modern Australia.

The nearby Bernier and Dorre Islands were aboriginal "Lock" Hospitals. Prisons for the sick, brought from all over Western Australia. Most taken for 'treatment' of non-specific illness would die on the islands of unrelated illness or old age.

Time to get moving though. I've stalled this morning at its 11°C and I'm not yet ready to pull out the thermals for riding. I depart at 9 am.

There's rain forecast for the next few days down towards Perth, so I'm in no rush to get down there. I decide to book a night in a beach Villa at Monkey Mia. Mostly famous for the morning dolphin feed, I'm not convinced there will be much else there to hold my interest.

The first couple of hours are more of the same of the last few days, but I'm continuing to see wildlife of the land-based kind. Goats. Goats are everywhere. I see another cat as well. And maybe a dozen emus.

There's also wild Grey Nomads everywhere. I must overtake two hundred caravans in an hour, two, three or four at a time.

Ten kilometres from my turn off, I stumble on a giant mound that's had a road built up it for a lookout.

Did I mention its pretty barren out here?

Arriving at the Overlander roadhouse for some fuel and a snack, I watch with enjoyment as the two hundred caravans behind me all join the queue to get fuel.

Sipping my second coffee of the morning, a fellow rider joins me for a chat.

He's on a BMW 1200 GS and says he left Melbourne on the 13th of July. He's since managed to ride to Cape York, across from Cairns over the Gulf Developmental Road, around to Gove and up to Darwin before getting here. Bloody hell I thought I was doing it quick. He wants to be back in Melbourne by the end of the month.

As if to provide a perfect contrast, a caravanner overhears and says he came from Cairns. Set out 9 months ago.

I wish him the best of luck and head back down the road to turn onto Shark Bay Road. I'm detouring a good 150 km off the highway to go see whats there.

It's not long before my first stop.

So there used to be a boardwalk here before it disappeared in a cyclone in 2021, but the signs are still around and I think I can see what they're talking about.

The sea here is incredibly salty (two to three times more than the ocean) due to how the seagrass stops the water flowing out and evaporation. This means most things struggle to survive.

A bunch of bacteria manages to survive here though, extremely ancient bacteria. These microorganisms produce adhesives as waste that cause layers of sand and rock to bond together attracting more bacteria and creating "microbial mats". Apparently in deeper water, these mats can stack layer on layer to create metre high living mats called stromatolites. And apparently this is the best living example in the world.

I'll have to take their word for it given I can't see them. Oh well.

Another thirty minutes down the road and I get to the aptly named Shell Beach. It seems one other thing capable of thriving in this salty sea - fragum cockle.

They number in the billions, and this beach is a graveyard over 9 metres deep, 1 km wide and 19 km long.

I decide to go for a quick swim to check just how salty this water is. Its extremely satisying how easy it is to float. Its also extremely cold with that breeze.

This is also one of two very cool conservation projects happening in Shark Bay area. You may be able to just make out that fence in the background? Its electrified and spans the entire width of the narrow land bridge leading to the Peron Peninsuala including going a fair way out to sea. They are attempting to create a native sanctuary free of introduced pests (cats, foxes, goats, etc) to reintroduce species extinct on the mainland. Its called Project Eden.

The second project is the "Return to 1616", where they've done similar, however on the nearby Dirk Hartog Island. Where they want to return the Island to its pristine stay as Dirk Hartog's voyage would have found in 1616.

Alas I can't visit Dirk Hartog Island. Or indeed the most western point of Australia that lies within this area. Or actually most of the national parks. Its all 4WD only access. Disheartened, I head on to Denham to see what I can access.

There's a few tours that run from here including scenic flights and boat cruises to see the dugong and sharks of the bay. I've seen the cows of the ocean off Hinchinbrook before though, so I grab some food from the store and head on.

Twenty minutes down the road I'm at Monkey Mia. They've got no idea why its called that. Maybe the monkeys that accompanied Malay pearlers, or the aboriginal word for salt or bad water, but that's what stuck.

There's not a lot to do here but relax and watch the sunset over the pristine beach from my beachside villa. Although I haven't done a load of washing since uhhh Brisbane.. so I might do that tonight.

Tomorrow morning a colony of dolphins that have been here for fifty years will apparently come in for a free feed.

Oh the photos from the whale shark swim got sent today, so I've updated that post.