Nomad pace is most relaxing | The West Australian

CHRISTINE WALSHThe West Australian A few days stretched ahead in the World Heritage area of Shark Bay. We were already in a new time zone we coined "grey nomad time" - relaxed, no

engagements, self-indulgent. More WA travel: CAPE PERON SPECIAL PLACE RECOGNISED GREAT NORTHERN EXPOSURE HIKING WA GET ON YOUR BIKE BEST OF THE WEST There were plenty of nomads around; in

caravans, on buses and driving vehicles, like us, happy to stay in motels or caravan parks. There was time to explore, walk, read, return to favourite spots and, in our case, notice the

difference each day as the sun set across the bay from the small coastal town of Denham. Denham, on the west coast of the Peron Peninsula, has a long Aboriginal history and its European

settlement was based on pearling, fishing and the pastoral industry. Today it's mostly tourism and fishing, with salt production, across the bay at Useless Loop, near Dirk Hartog

Island. It's a perfect base, with everything tourists need, including an excellent discovery centre, a relaxed, friendly feel and a beautiful location. SHARK BAY And natural beauty is

everywhere in Shark Bay; a reason for its 1991 heritage- listed status. The area satisfied all four natural criteria for listing - natural beauty, Earth's history, ecological processes

and biological diversity. Listening to grey nomad time, we moved at a gentle pace on our first morning, heading to Francois Peron National Park, 4km north-east of Denham and along the road

to Monkey Mia, some 30km away. The park covers 52,000ha and occupies the top half of the peninsula. A few kilometres into the park is the Peron Homestead, a former sheep station owned by the

State Government. You can see the old shearing quarters and machinery, how water made the area viable for livestock and take a dip in the artesian hot tub. PROJECT EDEN The park is also the

base for Project Eden, a 1991 government conservation project aimed at rejuvenating the peninsula's ecosystem and re-introducing native species. According to the Department of

Environment and Conservation, woylies, bilbies and mallee fowl have been established successfully and nine chuditches introduced in May seem to be faring well. The tracks within the park are

only suitable for four-wheel-drives, except for the bitumen to the homestead, and nearby is an area where tyre pressures can be let down and re-inflated. A great user-friendly idea. READ

4WD ADVICE HERE We took the 10km track to Big Lagoon. Along it were early wildflowers, with the Shark Bay daisy (Pembertonia latisquamea) the most prolific, with its mauve to pink flowers. A

few parakeelyas (Calandrinia sp.) were also emerging, pink against the red dirt. The lagoon, once a landlocked saline lake, opens to the bay and is a good spot to walk, fish and camp.

It's also a good introduction to the park which has other more remote attractions. Later we drove 20km to Eagle Bluff, where a boardwalk stretches along the crest of the hill. Two

sharks swam in the shallows below and what looked like hundreds of cormorants darkened the shore of a nearby island. When they flew off, it was the sky that blackened. We returned over the

next few days hoping to see any of the so-called "big five", dugongs, sharks, dolphins, turtles and rays. MONKEY MIA On day two, Monkey Mia and its famous dolphins beckoned

earlyish. By 8.30am we were in time for the second of, generally, three feeding times...here, dolphins make the rules, not humans. There are about 3000 dolphins in the bay and up to 13 from

three generations come in to eat or look. Just five are fed. The remainder come in when it suits, for sightseeing of their own, as we humans wade knee-deep at the shore, clicking cameras and

listening to their stories and habits from DEC rangers. I was lucky enough to be chosen to feed one - a thrill. Fish are limited to three per feeding session and we were told this comprised

a small part of their daily diet. The sessions are in the mornings and people are not allowed to touch them, despite the fact they come in very close. The wild dolphins have been visiting

the beach since the early 1960s and some 1000 of the bay's population have been studied extensively. LITTLE LAGOON On the way back to Denham we stopped at Little Lagoon, where

ecological change in the Shark Bay area is obvious . . . at least after you've read the signs. The lagoon was once a birrida - there are many in the heritage area - shallow rounded

depressions formed "thousands of years ago between parallel sand dunes. This one became a lagoon about 4000 years ago after sea levels rose. Today it is connected to the sea by a

channel with remnant mangroves from an earlier period." There was enough "grey" time left for another attraction, the Ocean Park Aquarium, where you can see many of the fish

that make Shark Bay home. It has a series of ponds from small for the turtles, rock lobsters and stone fish, to bigger ones for blue band groper, rankin cod, mulloway, and then sharks in the

biggest. The guides know their marine matters and after an hour or so we'd learnt about the life cycles of many different species, how to recognise wrasse and the relative intelligence

of octopus and squid. Octopus were said to be more intelligent. We didn't wait for a tour; we started with one guide and finished with a second. Another good idea. The aquarium, 10km

out of Denham, is powered by one of WA's biggest solar-powered installations. Next morning, the bay was misty and the water still - special in a town that can be very windy. It was

breathtakingly beautiful. Then, it was back to Eagle Bluff and the boardwalk, where we were rewarded with another shark. DUGONG SPOTTING Another few kilometres away, Fowlers Camp revealed

the only dugong of the holiday. It is estimated Shark Bay is home to some 10,000-12,000 dugongs, a significant percentage of the world's population. The bay's protected inlets and

plentiful seagrass, which dugongs eat, are a perfect habitat. Shark Bay is a meeting point of different climate regions, and a transition zone between the temperate vegetation of WA's

South West and desert vegetation of the north and east. The cliffs at Fowlers Bay are a great vantage point to see some of the biodiversity. There are mangroves, the seagrass banks are close

and a highlight was flowers in rocks, seemingly clinging to life. Our last day started with another long stroll along the beach, then back to town through bush and more wildflowers, to join

the daily queue at the newsagent for the papers. Mid-20C, low wind. Perfect. It was also our last visit to Eagle Bluff to see one of the "big five" - our reward, a giant shovel

nosed ray. WORLD HERITAGE STATUS Later we visited the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery & Visitor Centre. Some of its eye-catching displays explain why the bay qualified for World

Heritage status. Old photos, other memorabilia, oral histories and other interactive displays are also absorbing and comprehensive. They cover Aboriginal history, early white history,

including Dutchman Dirk Hartog's visit in 1616, Willem de Vlamingh in 1697 William Dampier in 1699, and French explorers, particularly Nicolas Baudin and his botanist Francois Peron,

1801-1803, the islands in the area, wildlife, flora, heritage criteria, Project Eden. It's impressive and a ticket gets you entry for a couple of days. It may take more than one visit

to take it all in, particularly understanding stromatolites and the worldwide significance of those in Hamelin Pool. They are living examples of the earliest forms from which life began on

Earth. Hamelin Pool is more than 90km from Denham and best seen on the way into or out of the park. GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM THEWEST.COM.AU IN YOUR INBOX. Sign up for our emails