Francois Peron National Park - Gregories campground(5n) 29 May – 3 Jun
We got to Denham as planned at roughly midday with a quick toilet stop and refuel before heading up the peninsula and into the park. The rain had stopped by this time and we were feeling confident that we would be making camp sometime between 1 and 2pm. Sites cannot be prebooked in Francois Peron and it is a ‘first in’ scenario – we had selected South Gregories or Gregories campgrounds as our destination and wanted to get in before the hordes as the upcoming weekend was a long one in WA and we didn’t know what to expect. By all accounts we expected it to be busy as everywhere else had been. The fact that the track is 4WD only takes care of the hire campers and less adventurous (although not all).
We hadn’t checked the road conditions although we knew from previous experience that the road was very sandy in parts. After stopping at the park entry to pay our camping fees ($40/night for the 4 of us) we crossed our fingers that there would be a spot for us – not the best system in the world admittedly as we did not have a back-up plan. Next stop was at the homestead where there was some signage regarding how not to get bogged and reminding all to reduce tyre pressure. They also provided handy air compressors for the pump-up on exiting.
After reducing our tyre pressures to 18PSI we set off. The road switched between corrugations and softish sand and undulating red sand dunes. Then we hit the edge of a clay pan – slightly slippery after the rain. It was after the clay pan that things started to get…exciting. On leaving the clay pan the track became very soft, with deep sand and we came across a KIA AWD bogged up to its gunwales. Two people were digging and covered in sand, while two, more elderly passengers tried to shelter from the sun on the side of the road.
Bogged KIA
Andy’s good Samaritan got the better of him and a little further on we stopped, grabbed our recovery boards and trekked back to help. They had been stuck and digging for hours and had cleared sand so they could see daylight under their (hire!!) car. We placed the boards under the rear wheels and the driver gunned it in reverse all the way back to the clay pan where his passengers could catch up, he could turn around and hopefully get out without any more drama.
We walked back to our vehicle feeling buoyant and a little smug. Out of the scrub appeared two young backpackers on foot – they had got their vehicle bogged down a side track and were awaiting rescue by a truck.
We piled into our car….and went nowhere. Now WE were bogged. We tried the boards and were able to get out but as soon as we stopped to retrieve them, we were bogged again. The sand was so soft that the boards were being buried 30-50cm in the sand – that’s a lot of digging. A few cars came past, and we watched them bounce around as they hurtled through the soft sand – we just couldn’t get the momentum from a standing start. Help came from a vehicle heading in the opposite direction.
Our saviour offered the use of his boards to build a “ramp’, so after a little digging 2 boards were placed in front of each rear wheel and a single board in front of each of the forward wheels - and it was agreed that Andy would drive on until some firmer ground could be found to stop while Jemma and I would dig out our boards and catch them up. The first attempt was a success…until Andy misheard my GO GO GO for NO NO NO and stopped…bogged again. Our helper kindly helped us rebuild the ramp – this time Andy kept going and we were out.
The roads in Francois Peron were mostly sandy tracks like this.
Jem and I then spent close to half an hour locating and digging our boards out of the sand and walking on to find where Andy had stopped – probably 500m up the track. It had taken us close to an hour to go about 1km. And it was getting later, and we still had about 20km to get to our campground. The track was really soft in parts but we managed to get to South Gregories without any further incident. We decided to push on to Gregories campground (another 4km) after seeing South Gregories was empty, knowing we could fall back if we needed to.
Gregorie’s turned out to have all 6 camp sites free and available and we drove around 3 times to assess and choose the best one for our needs. After speaking to some other travellers we discovered that even the Big Lagoon campground wasn’t full - the forecast for the long weekend wasn’t amazing with some rain forecast for each day that we were here.
Gregories camp set up - sunrise
Screen house in use at Gregories - used for fly-free dining and an office space for Andy's work calls
The first 3 days were spent in a pretty similar way - school session in the morning - another picnic shelter being perfect for this. Once school was out we’d take the sandy 8km (15 minute drive) 4WD trek to Skipjack Point to watch the wildlife. We saw dolphins, sharks and rays every day from this amazing lookout. All up I reckon we spent 6-7 hours looking out. The highlight was seeing a mother and calf dugong swimming slowly past the point! The colours of Francois Peron national park are spectacular - paprika coloured cliffs, white sand, blue skies and azure water. One if the days we walked the 1.5km to Cape Peron along the top of the sand dunes - watching sharks hunting in the shallows. It’s called shark bay for a very good reason.
Spectacular contrasts in Francois Peron
The beach at Gregories - we didn't swim here as for most of the time the water was pretty murky and full of weed due to on-shore winds
Playing on the beach
Gregories sunset. We had it all while here - howling winds, beautiful sunrises and sunsets and crazy rainstorms.
James loves to walk along the beach
School in session in the picnic shelter 
Lunch on the beach - this has become a bit of a "thing"
There were couple of weird wildlife standouts at this campground; the lemon coloured crabs and face drinking moths. The crabs had holes down on the beach as well as up I the camp ground, we could hear them snipping and clicking and scuttling around at night. Their shiny carapaces reflected lights at night. The moths were enormous and came whirring in your face with their proboscis extended, seemingly trying for any moisture. Jemma said they kept licking her skin!
A face-drinking moth (or Motthew) as we called them
On our fourth day the rains came. The forecast had been predicting between 5-20mm to 10-40mm - we didn’t know what to think. We made the call to hunker down and spend it in the picnic shelter if needed. It turned out to be needed - much needed! We opted to pass on our daily trip to Skipjack and headed over to the shelter.
Beach walks and funny nose-shaped shells
Catching practice
Jemma excavated a set of stairs out of the compacted sand to make it easier for us to get to the beach
Sheltering from a rain storm
And did it rain! The shelter proved to be ineffective as the wind was driving the rain in horizontally. It was all very exciting. At least it wasn’t cold. Andy fashioned a wind-break/sail from our tarp which did stop some of the driving rain from reaching us on the far side of the shelter. We were committed to the day in the shelter. The rain continued on and off all day, with the forecast predicting the heaviest falls between 5-6pm. At one point in the afternoon the rain eased and I suggested an early dinner while we still had daylight - I cooked up a batch of cheats spag Bol (cook the pasta in the sauce all in one pot). It was a good decision as the rain closed in again as the light faded and we all rushed to a very early bed.
It looks like mud but is the paprika coloured sand all over my wet feet - just think about how you clean these feet before getting into a ground tent in the rain - impossible! Our tents were full of this by the end of 5 nights. Most of our gear had this gritty sand all over it.
Rain clouds on the horizon 
Serious weather on its way
Going to bed at 6pm was another good choice as it meant we all got a few hours rest before the crazy of that night began. The rain fell in earnest from 11pm-1am. Scary, heavy rain. The heaviest we have ever experienced while camping. And it just didn’t seem to let up. When the rain eased the wind got up, lashing our tents and allowing water to get in under the fly. Jemma and I almost abandoned the tent altogether, planning to spend the rest of the night in the car - although our hasty packing up meant it was jammed full of sandy, gritty, wet camping gear and everything we were trying to keep dry.
We lasted the night in the tent and I got up before sunrise to see more rainclouds on the horizon, but the camp was dry. Under any other conditions the campground would have been a lake but the sand just drained it all away. The wind had dried all our gear. Now we were in a race to pack up before the next cloudburst.
Riding out the rainy day - tarp sail to the left, raincoats on, and handball in play
We did it, but it was a mess. The roof bag was full of water so none of our soft gear - clothes or bedding could go up there. We pivoted our packing regime and just jammed it all in the best we could - sand and all.
After 5 nights in the wild of Francois Peron National Park we were making for the relative luxury of Monkey Mia resort about 25km to the east of Denham. We got out of the park OK - although we really weren’t sure what to expect road-wise after all that rain. After a brief stop at Peron Homestead at the entry/exit to air up and look around we headed to Denham for a late, well deserved breakfast, fuel and grocery top up.
The amazing colours of Francois Peron
Monkey Mia (3n) 3,4,5 June
Monkey Mia is also within the Shark Bay World heritage area - Shark Bay was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1991 because it meets four World Heritage criteria relating to natural values—ecosystems representing evolutionary history; on-going ecological and biological processes; exceptional natural beauty; and wildlife refuges.
Hello dolphins. As we weren't completely sure we would go to Monkey Mia, we hadn't built this up massively for the kids. They both love dolphins (who doesn't?) and we did not want to create an expectation by hyping it up (Andy is not a fan, but conceded that it might be OK), so they were both delighted to arrive at a resort with a full-blown dolphin theme!
Initially we had only booked for 2 nights, allowing just one day to meet the famous dolphins and enjoy the resort life. We were also waiting to hear back about our next potential stop at Gnaraloo Station - waiting for the road to reopen after all that crazy rain!
Burger night at Monkey Mia - the facilities were great.
Andy made use of the spacious camp kitchen and power to do some work while the kids and I headed to the beach for the world famous dolphin feeding interaction. The dolphins come into the shallows near the jetty in small numbers, on their own terms, to be fed a limited number of fish each by volunteers. The whole experience is overseen and managed by Parks and Wildlife to minimise the impact on the dolphins.
1,800 of the Monkey Mia dolphins have names, and are identified by their different scars and shapes of their dorsal fins. The Monkey Mia dolphins are amongst the most researched dolphin groups in the world. The interaction model has changed over the years; in a bygone era anyone and everyone could feed the dolphins whatever they liked and lots of people got bitten (surprise!). The predictable result was an increased dependence on humans for food, and the dolphins were neglecting their calves - with the infant mortality rate climbing to 70% compared with the ‘wild’ dolphin mortality rate of 30%. With careful management the Monkey Mia dolphins now experience the same infant mortality rate as the wild population.
Cheeky dolphin coming in for some free fish. They get a very limited number each, and there is a minimum time between interactions to allow the mothers to suckle their calves. They can only suckle in deep water so the mama dolphins need time to swim back out and nurse their babies. So sweet. Several of the dolphins had calves - so cute.
Even away from the feeding area the dolphins are often in very close to shore. They also famously hunt along the shore line and the advice is to stay away from them especially when they're exhibiting this behaviour as fish tend to hide behind peoples legs. If you are in the water and the dolphins are hunting you are meant to get out to avoid collisions and bites. But people are stupid and would run down the beach and into the water to get a picture. This kind of stuff really annoys me, and makes Andy livid, and is the reason he didn't really want to go in the first place.
I have mixed feelings about the “interaction experience” itself, more to do with poor human behaviour than anything else. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, but it is disappointing that people will do the exact opposite of what they're being asked to do, or not to do.
You do get to see dolphins in ankle deep water, with their beautiful smiley faces up close.
The plan for the remainder of the day was loose, so we pumped up the SUP. By the time we got it pumped up the wind had picked up making it difficult to manage. I did drag the kids along the shoreline for a little bit but it was hard going and there was a sharp line of shells and rocks in the shallows making it tricky (poor little old me, I know). James and Jem played on it for a while.
Playing on the SUP
Sand bar in Shark Bay - we did see a guy catch a little baby lemon shark. So many sharks here : )
On the second morning I got up early and headed to the beach with the paddle board for the sunrise - it was a beautiful morning, with dolphins in the bay.
Sunrise from the SUP in Monkey Mia - so glad I did this! It was so calm and quiet.
While the kids and I were on the beach both mornings for the dolphin experience we quickly gave up on the second day due to poor human behaviour affecting everyone’s experience.
As the road to Gnaraloo was still closed we opted to stay a third night at Monkey Mia. We had a spot in the unpowered camping area, along with a gazillion backpackers and motor homes. It was surprisingly civilised with the campground being very quiet after dark. I was also able to book us on a morning wildlife cruise.
Perfect Nature Cruises aboard the Aristocat II catamaran took us on a breath taking trip around the bay. Skipper Jade was a fantastic guide with loads of local knowledge to share. They are a family owned business and have initiated an environmental crusade to save the crucial seagrass meadows that support the entire food chain in the Shark Bay Area. Repeat extreme heat events over the last 7 years or so have seen significant reductions in the seagrass meadows. The water temperature is not regulated by oceanic currents and swings from 14C in winter to 32C in summer. Prolonged temperatures above 30C allow deadly fungus to grow and kill the sea grass.
The cruise also gave us wonderful views of the eastern coast of Francois Peron National park, as well as sighting some marine life; green sea turtles, a loggerhead turtle, dugongs, a sea snake and of course dolphins. The dolphins accompanied us back into the bay showing off, riding the bow of the boat, and looking like they were having the best time.
Monkey Bar for dinner under a frangipani tree - felt very fancy
And a heated pool where we spent hours every afternoon!
Quite possibly the thing I will remember most from our stay here were the night dolphins. After dinner at the Monkey Bar the kids went down to the beach while Andy and I were finishing our beers. They came back pretty quickly, and with great excitement telling us that there were dolphins going up and down the beach hunting, with a pelican escort. All you had to do was spot the pelican, and just in front there were dolphins swimming up and down the beach hunting in the shallows. We were less than a metre from these amazing mammals doing their extraordinary thing! The night dolphins were a real highlight and even more special that it was just our little family on the beach to see it.
The Shark Bay area was a real adventure and highlight with lots of wildlife encounters and a few firsts - including dugongs!!
But, after 3 nights of high living the road to Gnaraloo Station had reopened and it was time to move on. Carnarvon and Gnaraloo here we come.
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