Travel & Touring | WA Things to Do
27 May, 2022 By:Fleur Bainger
It’s curious that a bay named after sharks is actually best known for its dolphins. For decades, Monkey Mia’s cheery mammals have stolen the limelight in this place, and for good reason, but there’s a lot more to Monkey Mia and Shark Bay than just dolphins.
World Heritage-listed Shark Bay is the westernmost point of Australia. It’s home to 28 shark species and harbours the world’s largest seagrass meadows. The region’s shores mark the first known landing of a European on the west coast, back in 1616 – some 154 years before James Cook claimed Australia for Britain. Yet when you namedrop its tourism hub, Monkey Mia, the immediate association is dolphins.
Monkey Mia’s wild, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins have been attracted to the cove’s gentle shallows since the 1960s, when fisherman first began to feed them. Over the years, word spread of regular sightings and these days, crowds line the sand in front of RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort. They tune in to talks provided by park rangers three times each morning. A number of dolphins come for some hand-fed fish, and more can usually be sighted deeper out. The experience makes for a lovely introduction to the region - just don’t stop there.
Shark Bay holds a wealth of wonders. It is a destination location, with only one 130km road in and the same road out.
Explorer William Dampier coined the region’s sinister name after visiting in 1699, but Aboriginal people, who have been in the area for at least 30,000 years, know it as Gathaagudu, meaning ‘two bays’. Shark Bay’s diverse mix of wildlife above and below the waterline led to its World Heritage status: it contains 323 fish species and 80 types of coral, along with 230 bird species and 98 reptiles and frogs that co-exist with 37 land mammals. Its seagrass meadows are nearly as big as the Perth metro area; they feed 10,000- plus dugongs.
There’s also a remote island that’s home to only one family, bouncy four-wheel drive tracks and a 60km-long beach covered in a 10m-thick layer of button-sized shells. Read on to discover what else you can access, while based at Monkey Mia.
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Day cruises in Shark Bay
Kick back on a catamaran as the setting sun splashes crimson across Shark Bay’s skies. You’ll spot Perfect Nature Cruises’ 18m boat, Aristocat 2, the moment you arrive at Monkey Mia and once aboard, you’ll see marine life aplenty, be it dolphins, dugongs, turtles, sharks or even sea snakes. Day cruises are also available.
Shark Bay Dive and Marine Safaris offers a more adventure-packed experience via its full day snorkel tour to Steep Point, the Zuytdorp Cliffs and Dirk Hartog Island. They also run dive trips, a wildlife cruise, whale watching and a sunset cruise.
Take a cultural tour in Big Lagoon
The inundated gypsum claypan known as Big Lagoon is where you’ll find Shark Bay’s most vibrant colours. Paprika-red dunes meet pale sand and turquoise water, all within the space of a few metres. Local Yamatji-Malgana man, Darren “Capes” Capewell leads a number of tours, the most immersive being his cultural kayaking journey across the lagoon. He stops at a seagull nesting site and kangaroo-dug waterholes in the sand, before suggesting body-rolls down the dunes.
The Wula Gura Nyinda eco adventure finishes with a feed of barbequed local mullet. Early in the day, Capes’ tour stops at Little Lagoon, where you can get an espresso, chai, hot chocolate or toastie from the Coffee Mia van. It’s also the hub for Shark Bay Beach Hire, renting out kayaks and SUP boards.
Visit the stromatolites in Hamelin Pool
One of the world’s great wonders is just past the Shark Bay turn-off, at Hamelin Pool: a bed of stromatolites. WA’s 3000-year-old living fossils forge a direct link to life forms that existed 3.5 billion years ago. Well before dinosaurs roamed Earth, these single-celled cyanobacteria colonies began releasing oxygen, creating conditions for more complex life forms to evolve. Without them, we may not be here today. Shark Bay’s younger, more complex microbe stacks are the most diverse and abundant on the planet. They exist beneath hyper saline water, visible from a raised, triangular boardwalk. Resembling broccoli- like stumps and growing only 1mm a year, they’re not what you’d call photogenic, but they are hugely significant.
Look into the water for the scars of iron-wheeled wagons that carted wool to ships some 90 years ago. Reach the stromatolites boardwalk via the Hamelin Pool historic village, home to Shark Bay’s original telegraph station and post office.
Get knee-deep in shells on Shell Beach
Stretching 60km-long, Shell Beach is made entirely of tiny, white Hamelin cockles. They measure only 14mm each, but after an estimated 3000 years of piling up, they go down to a depth of 10m. As with the stromatolites, the hyper salinity in Hamelin Pool – created by a sandbar called the Faure Sill – has allowed the bivalves to flourish. Bring shoes – the shells are scratchy underfoot.
Feed the sharks
Less than 30min in the car from Monkey Mia is Ocean Park Aquarium, where you can watch daily shark feeding. Sharks are kept in an outdoor lagoon before being returned to the open ocean, only metres away. The lagoon has an over-water walkway and central gazebo for close viewing, but you can get even closer.
The Shark Dive Experience sees you scuba underwater alongside the toothy residents – with no cage. Elsewhere, turtles, fish and sea snakes are rehabilitated in a series of open fish tanks, while stingrays, stonefish and other local species swim in glassy homes. Locals will tell you the aquarium café is the best coffee spot in town; its restaurant does tasty lunches with epic ocean views.
Fly high over ship-shredding cliffs
Arguably the best way to see the far-flung highlights across Shark Bay’s 2.2 million hectares, is via a scenic flight. Zoom alongside the stunning yet treacherous Zuytdorp Cliffs (named after a Dutch East India merchant ship carrying silver that became wrecked there) and view the deep red of Francois Peron National Park from the air. You can also see the manta ray-dotted waters of Dirk Hartog Island and WA’s most western point, Steep Point. Shark Bay Aviation provides an excellent, low altitude perspective.
Go four-wheel driving in Francois Peron National Park
The tyre deflating station inside Francois Peron National Park is one of the busiest spots in Shark Bay. Once your high clearance four-wheel drive has low PSI, you can bump your way to Big Lagoon and Cape Peron, watch for marine life from Skipjack Point Lookout or follow the 1.5km clifftop Wanamalu Walk Trail from Skipjack to Cape Peron.
On your way back to Monkey Mia, make time for the Peron Homestead Precinct (which is also accessible by two-wheel drive). It’s a 1900s sheep station turned self-exploratory heritage site that’s best known for its spring-fed outdoor hot tub. Fun fact: the homestead’s shearing shed was relocated there from Denham after too many shearers were distracted by the town pub.
Explore Dirk Hartog Island
Tory and Kieren Wardle moved to Dirk Hartog Island when they were teenagers and have been purposely marooned there for more than 20 years, raising three children on the remote landform. They run the Dirk Hartog Island Eco Lodge – an old sheep station homestead once owned by Kieran’s grandfather – as well as an ocean villa and several campgrounds.
The island is accessible via a single-vehicle barge, boat or light plane; once there you can join four-wheel drive tours, an eco-boat cruise or explore via kayak. WA’s largest isle is where Dutch mariner, Captain Dirk Hartog, left a pewter plate as evidence of his visit in 1616; it’s now known as Cape Inscription. His recordings resulted in a rewrite of world maps. Nearby is Turtle Bay, where some 3000 threatened loggerhead turtles nest each summer, believed to be Australia’s largest breeding colony.
Getting around
You’ll get by just fine around Shark Bay with a two-wheel drive, including reaching Peron Homestead Precinct, but if you want to adventure any further, say around Francois Peron National Park and to Dirk Hartog Island, you’ll need a four-wheel drive to tackle the soft sand tracks. Beware of emus crossing Shark Bay’s roads at all times of the day, and kangaroos at dawn and dusk. When you’re in Denham or Monkey Mia, everything along the waterfront is walkable. If you fly from Perth, there’s car (and even boat) hire available at both the airport and Monkey Mia.
Members save at RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort
RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort was upgraded in 2018 and is the only accommodation at Monkey Mia. It includes self-contained beachfront villas, hotel-style rooms and dorms, as well as swimming pools, barbeque facilities and an extensive campground.
Images: Australia's Coral Coast
