 |
| Sneaking up on a wedge tail eagle at Point Peron |
For years I have been a somewhat frustrated holiday-maker.
In the short time one can travel in other countries on working holidays, it has been difficult to emerge fully in to the local culture and get to
know the people that live there. Travelling became a procession of visits to
the major tourist destinations ticking them off the list one by one. Those lists
were acquired from a brochure or a top ten web-site every man and his dog has
in his possession and passes by the real world with the real people in them.
Being able to spend the time here in Shark Bay is a luxury not many people get to experience. We have met a lot of locals and getting to know them was easy. We are now on first name terms with 30% of the town, know the greengrocer by name and have been stopped in the main street of Denham by locals to have a chat. This is the ultimate country inclusive tradition I believe.
Some of the places where we've had “smoko” - even though none of us smoke - are just simply breath-taking. For morning
tea we stopped at Sheila’s Bluff. A stunning red semi-circled bay North of
Bottle bay. The story goes that two local young men were collecting firewood on top of the cliff (in the old days one could still light camp fires in this area). They threw the sticks they had collected over the edge of the cliff so they didn't have to carry them down. Sheila the dog wrongly jumped
after a stick causing her to fly towards the treacherous terrain below. As you can see in the photo it is quite a drop.
Sheila dodged several big boulders on the way down, tumbled and rolled a couple
of times and ended up laying completely winded on the beach. After the initial
shock of seeing their dog disappear over the cliff edge and after making sure
the dog was ok they cracked up laughing and named the rock Sheila’s Bluff. Apparently
Sheila spent the rest of the day quietly under the ute.
At South Gregories we stopped for lunch at a goat cave carved out at the high tide mark. Inside there are several stages of geological evolution going on if you are interested or you can just enjoy the turquoise sea water lapping at the little white beach in front of you while eating your sandwich.
Even cleaning the toilet is exciting in these parts. We were told about a redback spider trapping big bugs, lizards and even small snakes in its web that is amazingly strong and sticky.
Keep an eye out for these redbacks. We have "removed" several from the toilets at Gregories and Bottle Bay campsites. One such beautiful insect had made its home on the handle of the toilet brush. According to Wikipedia, historically humans were bitten in their genetalia as redbacks were hiding in the outdoor dunny. It must have been like dangling a carrot in front of those little spidy's fangs. These days indoor plumbing and better facilities has solved that problem. Makes you look twice right?
If you are bitten, symptoms usually include nausea, vomiting, chest or abdominal pain, agitation, generalised sweating and high blood pressure. For first aid treatment of redback spider bites Wikipedia recommends applying ice and taking Panadol against the pain. Keeping still helps prevent the poison from spreading through your body. If pain persists a hospital assessment may be needed. If I was bitten I would be banging the door of the hospital down immediately. Never mind the Panadol.
Another amazing fact I found about redbacks is that during a horrific sexual cannibalistic ritual, the beautiful red striped female eats the all black male spider genitals first. One last amorous act by the male before turning into crunchy spider food. It must be said that redbacks do not engage in long term relationships
 |
| Herald Bight - one of the camp sights visited during an excursion into the park |
Being able to spend the time here in Shark Bay is a luxury not many people get to experience. We have met a lot of locals and getting to know them was easy. We are now on first name terms with 30% of the town, know the greengrocer by name and have been stopped in the main street of Denham by locals to have a chat. This is the ultimate country inclusive tradition I believe.
 |
| A camouflaged bearded dragon |
As volunteers for DPaW (Department of Parks and Wildlife) both Julie and I have had the pleasure to travel into the
national park with some of the DPaW staff. These guys have a wealth of experience in the
job that they know well. Every time we
are out in the park something unexpected happens. There will be a lizard
sitting on a branch or a sea eagle flying overhead. We have seen a dugong just
five metres off the beach and helped a sea snake swim back out to sea. There is
a wild life avalanche in Francois Peron National Park - all shown to us with expert commentary ocker Ozzy Attenborough style.
 |
| A white breasted sea eagle flying overhead |
 |
| Sheila's Bluff |
At South Gregories we stopped for lunch at a goat cave carved out at the high tide mark. Inside there are several stages of geological evolution going on if you are interested or you can just enjoy the turquoise sea water lapping at the little white beach in front of you while eating your sandwich.
 |
| The snorkelling is great at Gregories reef. |
Even cleaning the toilet is exciting in these parts. We were told about a redback spider trapping big bugs, lizards and even small snakes in its web that is amazingly strong and sticky.
Keep an eye out for these redbacks. We have "removed" several from the toilets at Gregories and Bottle Bay campsites. One such beautiful insect had made its home on the handle of the toilet brush. According to Wikipedia, historically humans were bitten in their genetalia as redbacks were hiding in the outdoor dunny. It must have been like dangling a carrot in front of those little spidy's fangs. These days indoor plumbing and better facilities has solved that problem. Makes you look twice right?
 |
| This friendly redback spider lives in our toilet at the homestead. |
If you are bitten, symptoms usually include nausea, vomiting, chest or abdominal pain, agitation, generalised sweating and high blood pressure. For first aid treatment of redback spider bites Wikipedia recommends applying ice and taking Panadol against the pain. Keeping still helps prevent the poison from spreading through your body. If pain persists a hospital assessment may be needed. If I was bitten I would be banging the door of the hospital down immediately. Never mind the Panadol.
Another amazing fact I found about redbacks is that during a horrific sexual cannibalistic ritual, the beautiful red striped female eats the all black male spider genitals first. One last amorous act by the male before turning into crunchy spider food. It must be said that redbacks do not engage in long term relationships
 |
| The colours of Skipjack Point. |
A couple of times now we have been able to walk the 1500 metre trail
between Cape Peron and Skipjack Point. A truly remarkable spot, with great sweeping views over the beach and ocean. There has to
be one of the largest colony of cormorants (otherwise known as shags) queuing up along the beach we have ever
seen. A huge wedge tail eagle was spotted by Julie on top of a low scrub. (see Julie's photo at the beginning of this blog).
From the boardwalk - a vantage point high above the sea at Skipjack Point - on a quiet wind-free day you can see many rays, dolphins, dugongs and sharks.
 |
| The largest row of cormorants we have ever seen at Cape Peron. |
From the boardwalk - a vantage point high above the sea at Skipjack Point - on a quiet wind-free day you can see many rays, dolphins, dugongs and sharks.
 |
| A dugong coming up for air in Shark Bay. |
We have had many chats with the rangers around the homestead, have been invited into peoples homes for cuppa's and loved the DPaW Christmas party. We would like to thank all DPaW staff for the time they have taken to show us around Francois Peron National Park and making us feel welcome.
Grey bits
Who is Francois Peron you may ask or you may not? Francois was a French scientist who came out to Terra Australis as Australia was known then on an ill-fated expedition on the ships the "Naturaliste" and the "Geographe" in 1800. The death toll reaching 40 due to scurvy, fever and dysentery on this voyage The two ships were separated for a long time and the expeditions into the peninsular were lost and late returning on three occasions. Francois Peron, whilst earning the wrath of his captain for getting lost, collected around 2500 zoological, for that time unknown species, and his enthusiasm and excitement about the peninsular wild life I share with him. Maybe he wasn't lost at all and just enjoyed the soft glowing low scrubby hills covered in flowers and strange animals. Unfortunately Francois contracted Tuberculosis and died when he was 35.
 |
| Francois Peron never had a chance to become a semi-grey nomad. |
If you like to read more about Francois Peron go to: http://www.sharkbay.org.au/assets/documents/factsheets/francois-peron-v2.pdf
You can read more about redback spiders at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider
 |
| A Perennial Tar Vine or Commicarpus Australis at Cape Peron |
No comments:
Post a Comment