We left Ningaloo and the North West Cape late in the day. Bullara Station Stay was a convenient destination because it was just 90 km south of Exmouth. We had enjoyed our time at Lara Station in Queensland and figured another Station visit was worth a try. We were not disappointed and ended up spending 3 nights there in the shearers' quarters (a/con, exclusive access to a well-equipped kitchen and lovely dining and lounge room and gorgeous grassed garden garlanded by bougainvillea). We were determined to slow our rate of travel because we were now on the mid west coast of the continent, where we had most wanted to be. From here we would travel into Shark Bay but for now we relaxed, taking short walks through the nearby bushland along the “Tin Can” and the “Old Windmill” homestead tracks.

I had the good fortune of getting close to a Chiming Wedgebill for the first time. A couple of other memorable features of Bullara Station were the morning coffee-tea and scones in the homestead grounds, the long table dinner where we ate a delicious lasagne, based on the station beef, and an outdoor shower assembled out of assorted pipe work and old sheets of iron, under a tank stand. In fact there was an incredible array of other practical but artistic pieces of hand crafted metal work (gates, taps, latches, signage etc) scattered around the place. This assortment was created by a variety of people who stayed long enough to try their hand at welding or blacksmithing. The Station boundary extended northward about 20 km to the bottom edge of Exmouth Gulf and included red sand dunes and a high diversity of desert shrubs. At the time, a muster was in progress and the yards were full of cattle. While at Bullara Station I was able to borrow two hydraulic jacks and switched the back wheels on the Tesla to help prevent excessive wear on the outer edge of the left rear tyre. The station owners have developed the accommodation sideline of their business to the extent that one wonders why they bother with the cattle!

Next stop Carnarvon which was full of surprises.  Driving in, we could have been arriving in Mackay…the road was lined with plantations of pawpaws, bananas, mangoes and tropical vegetable crops.  Suddenly the landscape seemed lush and agricultural, a massive contrast with the largely sparsely vegetated desert that we'd been travelling through since Barcaldine.  This irrigated food bowl relies on groundwater and the Gascoyne river, 800 km in length and the second longest in WA.  The fertile  floodplain provided the early supply of fruit and vegetables for the Perth region. We were nervous about our accommodation prospects, as this was the first night of the school holidays, but were fortunate to get a room at the motel which had a Tesla destination charger.  A quick visit to the local carwash was a highlight. 

The old satellite tracking facility at Carnarvon was another surprise. There is now a museum and various transceiver dishes in situ, thanks primarily to a dedicated group of enthusiastic volunteers. The museum documents the key role played by this facility in tracking several manned and non-manned missions into space. There are various interactive displays, a life size replica of the Apollo moon lander and a flight cabin simulator of a Space Shuttle launch. One of the best space museums I have seen and all relevant to the actual facility.

Next morning we unearthed the interpretive centre at One Mile Jetty (with great cafe), which is not always highlighted in the tourist literature to the extent it deserves.   The centre documents the shameful local history of the Lock Hospitals established in the early 1900's on Bernier and Dorre islands, about 50 km offshore from Carnarvon.  Around 800 aboriginal men, women and children from all round the state, suspected of suffering from venereal diseases, were forcibly shipped to the islands, where they were housed in appalling conditions and subjected to various experimental medical treatments.  The male residents were effectively conscripted as unpaid labour to construct the necessary buildings.  Non-aboriginal people never received this treatment. Over 200 people never returned, with the causes of their deaths never given.  Often whole families relocated to Carnarvon to await the return of their loved ones to no avail.  This history has apparently only recently been acknowledged and remains a source of anguish for aboriginal people of WA.  

The jetty, originally one mile in length (until 340m of it was swept away by cyclone Seroja in April 2021) was built in the late 1890’s.  The tramway along the jetty expedited the export of wool and livestock from the Gascoyne River region.  It is in need of substantial costly restoration if it is to be preserved. The WW2 sinking of the HMAS Sydney II is also documented at One Mile Jetty.  We later encountered further memorialisation of the fatal encounter between the Sydney and the German vessel Kormoran, disguised as a merchant ship, at Geraldton and in Denman at Shark Bay.  

After not much more than a day in Carnarvon we drove on to one of a handful few places on the planet where there are live stromatolites thriving in hyper saline conditions, at Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay. Stromatolites were the first evidence of life on earth and are created by cyanobacteria and a process of sediment accretion. 

Refer to this Bush Heritage link. There are more stromatolites at Hamelin Pool than anywhere else, just one of the reasons why Shark Bay generally is a proclaimed World Heritage Area. There is a parallel story of another organism that tolerates hyper saline conditions and thrives in Hamelin Pool. It’s the bivalve Fragum erugatum or shell stone, which was the primary building material used in many places in small townships and on stations during the earlier colonial days around Shark Bay. Over time the shells buildup as a beach (in some places to a depth of 10 metres), are compressed under their own weight and bind together to create thick layers of light rock that can be sawn into large blocks to use for building walls or other structures. The nearby camp ground (the historic telegraph station) we stayed at is just behind such an old shell stone quarry and the stromatolites.  It was very cramped and after an overnight stay, we took off to the north west for the western side of Shark Bay (Ocean Aquarium, Denham, Frances Peron NP and Monkey Mia). This excursion to Shark Bay mostly followed sealed roads and we had identified places to charge the car, even a Tesla destination charger at the Ocean Aquarium.

The aquarium was set up as a research establishment to help find a solution to depletion of pink snapper fish stocks but now also offers an informative look at the unique reefs and the sea life of Shark Bay. It’s a modest, unpretentious aquarium but they have a great hour long tour and use some nice reflections and interactions with individual fish, none of which apparently spend much time in captivity. The small town of Denham (most westerly in Australia) was also a treat with its Discovery Centre and scenic seaside setting. The Discovery Centre is one of several WA Museum facilities spread across the State and, like the others we have visited, was really well done. Unfortunately, the Frances Peron NP was definitely 4WD terrain but to compensate you are surrounded by mostly natural scenery and vegetation wherever you are around Shark Bay. We were able to take side tracks and access beautiful cliff and beach sites with few other people around.

We soon got to appreciate the ageless, rocky desert coastlines and unique nature of Shark Bay, which is largely protected. On our way out we did one of our few free camp nights at a site of our choice at Goulet Bluff and really enjoyed the night sky, isolation, diverse flowering native vegetation, and sounds of the ocean nearby. There are several wildlife refuge projects underway and a feral proof fence set up across the base of the peninsula. The small and medium sized mammals under protection in the area include the Sharp Bay Bandicoot, Boodie, Rufous Hare-wallaby, Banded Hare-wallaby,  Brush-tailed Mulgara, Woylie, Chuditch, Heath Mouse, Shark Bay Mouse, Desert Mouse, and Greater Stick-nest Rat. Finally, the Monkey Mia dolphin feeding was low key with well behaved dolphins (3) and people (100+), only a few of whom were allowed to offer fish to the dolphins. Accommodation is restricted to one very large camping ground, which is well organised and they helped us out with their 3 phase outlet.

Kalbarri National Park was our next destination and like Shark Bay and Ningaloo it had a good reputation. Once again we were not to be disappointed. At this point we needed to organise the replacement of our worn rear tyres in Geraldton and wanted a base somewhere for at least 4 days (unfortunately the wheel alignment had to wait until Perth). We were able to get a camp ground cabin in the coastal town of Kalbarri, which is surrounded by the National Park and at the mouth of the Murchison River. The upstream Murchison gorge provides the spectacular scenery of the National Park. About 70% of the buildings in Kalbarri were damaged by 170 kph winds from cyclone Seroja in April 2021. Damage was apparent everywhere and repairs have been delayed because of COVID and lack of trades people as well as insurance disputes. Nevertheless, the town was full with families enjoying the school holidays. It’s an unpretentious small holiday township surrounded by relatively unspoilt natural beauty of the coastline, estuary and surrounding hinterland. Kids were all through the Caravan Park, ripping past, playing cricket and making noise but it was all healthy fun.

We enjoyed a long beach walk, a long cliff-top walk and even longer, 9 km gorge walk (The Loop) beside the Murchison River. Much wider gorges and more leisurely walking than the Karijini Gorges but with some graphic warnings about dehydration risks. Fortunately, we did the walk late in the day with plenty of cloud and had several closeup encounters with Wallaroos, Yellow-rumped and Chestnut-rumped Thornbills. On a coastal cliff top before dusk we watched a group of about 5 whales including at least two calves breaching as they headed south a kilometre or so offshore. We finally left our comfortable cabin for Geraldton and an appointment with Tyrepower but not before dropping by at the Hutt Lagoon (pink lake), near Port Gregory and, by pure chance, having a game of tennis at Horrocks, another even smaller coastal holiday spot.

In 1839, Sir George Grey and his exploring party were the first Europeans to see the mouth of the Murchison River and hinterland. The group had been stranded on the coastline after loss of the their long boats through a series of accidents but undertook a successful overland trek to return safely back to Perth. Grey valued the knowledge of indigenous inhabitants, which served him well in finding a route back to Perth. Across the whole region there were traditional trading pathways already in use and existing networks of social, cultural and materials exchange between peoples. Grey's 1841 Journals depicting the extent of traditional land use, agriculture and permanent settlements by the Nanda People from around Kalbarri, were important in the success of a Native Title Claim in 2018, after a 24 year legal process.