26 October - Francois Peron National Park, Shark Bay World Heritage Area

26 October 2016 – 192 913

Francois Peron National Park, Shark Bay World Heritage Area

This morning we had a slow start to the day. Today’s destination was Francois Peron National Park.

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/francois-peron 

https://www.sharkbay.org/place/francois-peron-national-park/

First stop was the tyre pressure point, the national parks provides tyre gauges on the way in and out for lowering and increasing tyre pressure.  We lowered our tyres to 20psi for the soft sand ahead.  Next stop, after some very soft sand was the beach at Herald Bluff.  This is an isolated beach for quiet and private beach camping – unfortunately the water is still cold.  

Next we headed across the birrida (salt clay pan) and onto the soft sand roads again to Cape Peron. 

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/cape-peron-francois-peron https://www.sharkbay.org/place/francois-peron-national-park/cape-peron-skipjack-point/ Here we had a picnic lunch with the most amazing views (possibly the best of the trip so far).  After lunch we did the Wanamalu Trail from Cape Peron to Skipjack Point. https://trailswa.com.au/trails/wanamalu-trail-cape-peron-shark-bay This trail is names with the local aboriginal word for cormorant – which we saw hundreds of on the beach.  The walk was about 3km through soft red desert sand and took about an hour and a half.  We saw beautiful wildflowers, sharks, manta rays, dolphins and turtles both on the walk and from the lookouts at Skipjack Point.  In this part of the world the desert does really extend all the way down to the beach – very different to the East Coast of Australia. 

On the way back out of the park we reinflated our tyres and went to the Peron Heritage Precinct. 

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/peron-homestead-precinct 

https://www.sharkbay.org/place/francois-peron-national-park/peron-heritage-precinct/

I enjoyed looking through the remains of the former sheep station, including the shearing sheds and shearer’s quarters.  We finished the day with a soak in the Artesian Spa – 40 degrees – hard to get in but I feel amazing afterwards and my skin certainly likes it.