Shark Bay World Heritage Area

IN PREPARATION

The Shark Bay region represents a meeting point of three major climatic regions. It contains plant species that are unique and considered new to science, five of Australia’s 26 species of endangered Australian mammals, as well as 35 percent of Australian bird species and abundant marine flora and fauna.

It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991.

Stromatalites

Shell Beach

Nanga Bay

Coastal Tracks

The first of the coastal tracks is Goulet Bluff, about 8 kilometres west of Shell Beach and on the southern side of the peninsula. There are numerous tracks around Goulet Bluff with most of then trending to the west along the coast of Peron Peninsula. Two tracks lead out to the sealed Shark Bay Road.

The next set of coastal tracks is at the signposted Scenic Lookout. Again, there are numerous tracks at this point that lead to the beach.

Four kilometres north of the Lookout three tracks, about a kilometre apart, lead into the coast.

Two kilometres north is the track into Whalebone Campground, right on the coast. Numerous tracks lead to Fowlers Camp about four kilometres to the north-west. The campsites at Fowlers Camp are protected from southerly winds by a large hill.

A further four kilometres to the north-west along Shark Bay Road is the turnoff to Eagle Bluff and Eagle Bluff Campsite.

Before Denham there are four more tracks into the coast. The first of these leads back south to Eagle Bluff.

Denham

The small town of Denham is perched on the west side of Peron Pensinsula, just below the Francois Peron National Park. It is a service town for a fishing fleet and hordes of tourists in the season.

Monkey Mia

Monkey Mia is a small tourist resort on the opposite side of Peron Peninsula to Denham, 26 klometres distant.

The main attraction is the opportunity to see a family of bottlenose dolphins that have been interacting daily with people since the 1960s.

Dolphins have been visiting Monkey Mia since before European settlement. Each morning since the 1980s tourists have flocked to the beach to see wild bottlenose dolphins swim to the shore to be hand fed.

The dolphin interaction at Monkey Mia is one of the most reliable meeting places in the world. It is one of the only places in the world where the dolphins come of their own accord, almost 365 days of the year. It is the only place in Australia where dolphins visit daily, not seasonally, and is one of the reasons researchers from across the world come to Monkey Mia to study dolphins.

Return to Coral Coast – Kalbarri to Exmouth.

Go to Francois Peron National Park.

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