Beach camps

After our 3 nights at Bottle Bay we thought we’d move on to another area of this national park, so followed the track across the gypsum claypans and through more sand to Herald Bight on the east side of Cape Peron NP.  This was yet another gorgeous beach sheltered by red cliffs.  Here it’s legal to camp right on the beach – in fact there’s no choice, it’s all beach.  There appeared to be only one or two other campers in the whole area.

Some fishermen wandered along later in the afternoon and caught a nice haul of whiting and mullet.  Phil’s been hoping for the last couple of months that someone would take pity on us (not being into fishing) and give us a freshly caught fish for dinner and today his wish came true.  These blokes actually scaled, filleted and trimmed the fish for us!  So we had a nice little feed of fish in our beautiful, sandy beach campsite.

 

Phil keen to try his fish-cooking skills (and a very good job he did)

It was one of the most peaceful places we’ve camped due to its remoteness and lack of people!  We did get some rain, just enough to enjoy the sound at night.  We went for a couple of walks right along the beach – there’s always something to explore when there are rocks, cliffs and shells.  Have you ever played ‘catchy’ with a tennis ball in deep sand?  That was fun (and challenging).

We had 2 nights and 2 full days at Herald Bight then headed south through the park to the old Peron Homestead.  It used to be a sheep station before it ceased operation and became a national park.  There’s an artesian bore and a hot tub for the public to use, so having not showered for a few days we took advantage and had a dip.  It was very hot, you couldn’t stay in for too long, but very pleasant.

That night we camped at one of the bush camps the shire of Shark Bay operates south of Denham.  Campers are only allowed to stay one night, for $10, and must get a permit first from the visitor centre in town.  It was great; having a 4WD meant getting off the beaten track, up a rocky hill and down towards a lovely little bay where we camped. We love these quiet bush camps, so much nicer than caravan parks.

Our bush camp by Shark Bay