Protecting the northern tip of Peron Peninsula is Francois Peron National Park, an impressive area of acacia cloaked red dunes and arid shrubland surrounded by turquoise water. Most of the park is a four-wheel-drivers paradise, offering remote camping sites and access to beaches and fishing spots. The National Park is named after Francois Peron, a French naturalist who came to Western Australia to assist with mapping the land in the early 1800's, after the French claimed W.A in 1722. Peron Homestead, which is situated just in front of the National Park, was an active sheep station until taken over by the government and turned into a national park in 1993. So off we go to check it all out!
To begin with we visit the homestead and follow the Station Life walk trail which educates you about the history of the property when it was a working sheep station. We also learn about an ongoing W.A conservation project, Project Eden, which is actually based in this national park. It is working towards returning to Shark Bay the native species that have become extinct due to predation and habitat destruction as a result of feral animals. The main offenders have been feral foxes, rabbits, goats and cats. The project is already experiencing success with the recovery of many species. 
The 'Hot Tub' is fed naturally from the hot artesian waters. This water provided the original vital water supply for the station's stock.
Only Linda was brave enough to test the very hot water. 
Wandering through the shearing sheds.
Could we follow these directions when cutting the boys hair???
Now we continue further into the National Park. The track is narrow and has deep soft sand in places. This is the first 4WD we have taken where they provide you with tyre deflators and then reinflators at the beginning of the track...how lovely! The track takes you though bushland and also birridas/salt pans. These salt pans look inviting but are dangerous for those who are tempted to go off the track as it is very easy to get hopelessly bogged.
Despite arriving at the end of the wildflower season, we do still manage to see some and get a taste of what it must look like in full flower.
We could not decide what the cormorants and seagulls were doing. There was actually a very long line of the birds standing in single file. Were they waiting to catch a cab????
This was taken on a walk that we embarked on between Cape Peron and Skipjack Point. We enjoyed watching the pods of dolphins swimming by. We were lucky to watch a dolphin catch a fish that he coralled into the shallow waters. We must admit that we did not really think too carefully about this walk. The distance should not have been a problem. It was a 3 km round trip, nothing difficult about that, however it was the middle of the day, we were walking on soft soft sand which was incredibly hot under the soles of our thongs and we were carrying only 2 litres of water between us, which the kids drank in the first 15 minutes????? At the time we could not work out why the kids were not very happy!!!!!
So we eventually give in to the inevitable, after walking about 700 metres, and return to the car. 
Back at the beginning once more, with the luxury of not having to use our own compressor to pump up the tyres, we head back to Denham to pack and get ready to move on.
Tomorrow we will sadly say farewell to Shark Bay and make the drive to Kalbarri. We still have a few places to see here, the Discovery Centre, Shell Beach, Hamelin and the stromatolites. Would you believe that the list of all the things we really want to see again and those we did not get the opportunity to see on this trip, is far longer than the list of things we had when we left Melbourne on the 5th September?!?!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment