Shark Bay

Shark Bay [1] is a World Heritage Site, in Gascoyne, Western Australia. It is famous for its amazing sites, and for its dolphins.

It is located 830km north of Perth.

Understand

Shark Bay is centred on the towns of Monkey Mia and Denham and is made up of Francois Peron National Park, Dirk Hartog Island, Shell Beach, Shark Bay Marine Park, Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve. It was given World Heritage status in 1991.

Monkey Mia is pronounced Monkey-My-Ah, not Monkey Mee-Ah.

The Shark Bay World Heritage Discover Centre [2] is in Denham.

History

The European history of the area goes back to when Dirk Hartog, the Dutch explorer landed at Shark Bay in 1616, over 150 years before Captain Cook made his first landing at Kurnell in 1770 leading to the establishment of the British colony at Sydney 18 years later. The Dutch didn't care for the area, as it contained none of the spices or other valuables they were looking to trade or acquire. Their further visits were largely the result of being blown off course on route to the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia).

Francois Peron National Park is named after a French naturalist who visited Shark Bay in 1801 and 1803. For many years it was a sheep station. The government bought it in 1990. The old homestead is now a museum.

Landscape

Shark Bay has some amazing landscapes. There are beautiful beaches, including Shell Beach, made entirely of shells. There are cliffs, bays and inlets.

Flora and fauna

A large section of Shark Bay has been cleared of non-native wildlife and fenced off at the narrowest point to provide a conservation reserve for rare Australia wildlife. The project is called Project Eden. Many native animals have been releases including the woylie, mallee fowl, southern brown bandicoot and bilby.

The Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is home to the stromatolites, a rare and ancient form of life.

Get in

By plane

Shark Bay Airport (MJK) is around 8km from Denham, and around 16km from Monkey Mia on the Monkey Mia Road. The airport has a sealed landing strip, but no terminal facilities of any substance.

Skywest [3] services the airport from Perth four times a week, and from Exmouth weekly.

Carnarvon is 350km from Denham/Monkey Mia, and has daily flights from Perth.

By car

Shark Bay is around 1000km drive north from Perth. It is around 5000km drive from Sydney, and about as far away from Sydney as you can get on the Australian mainland.

Shark Bay Car Hire [4] is a local operator. None of the majors operate in the area.

Fees/Permits

• Shark Bay Marine Park and Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is free.
• Francois Peron National Park is: $10 per car, $5 per motorbike, free for holders of WA National Park pass.

Holiday and annual passes are also available at Department of Environment and Conservation offices

• Monkey Mia Reserve is: adult $6, child $2, family $12. Holiday permit (valid for 4 weeks) is: adult $9, child $4, family $22.

See

• Monkey Mia Dolphins. The wild dolphins come close to shore at the bay in the mornings. It is possible to feed them. This is in a supervised resort setting, so if you want to get close to the dolphins arrive as early as possible  edit
• Hamelin Pool. Home of the oldest living organisms in the world.  edit
• Shell Beach. is kilometres long beach, comprised of small shells, metres deep.  edit
• Eagle Bluff.  edit
• Francois Peron National Park.  edit
• Dirk Hartog Island. is accessible by plane from Shark Bay airport by charter flight, or by 4wd and barge. Barge crossing must be prearranged. There is accommodation on the island.  edit
• Point Quobba. blowholes  edit
• Steep Point. the most westerly point on the Australian mainland  edit
• salt mountain. The salt mountain at the Useless Loop salt mines can be seen from Denham beach.  edit

Do

• Fishing. Recreational fishing is allowed in Shark Bay, but there are special rules as it is a National Park. Several charter boat providers operate out of Denham  edit

Get out

• Carnarvon and onto Exmouth heading north.
• Kalbarri and Kalbarri National Park are to the south.

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