DAY 89 – SHELL BEACH AND DENHAM TODAY….

We only had a 100kms to go today so we weren’t in that big of a hurry to leave Hamelin Pool.  Steve, Ian and Barb decided to go for another walk down to see the stromatolites again before we left.  Kathy and I both caught up with our grandchildren, and John had a few little jobs he wanted to do to their van before they left.  

We left the caravan park around 9.40am heading towards Denham, although we had two stops we wanted to make before getting there.  

 

Wildflowers - scenery along the road today

First glimpses of the ocean - lovely scenic drive

Lots of Paddy Melons again..... we haven't seen these since we were in the middle of the NT.

Our first port of call was to stop off and check out Shell Beach.  What an abundance of wildflowers were growing in this area also.

This beach is made up entirely of  tiny Fragum Cockle shells.  There can be over 4000 Fragum Cockle shells living in one square metre.  It is quite a pretty beach, and the water is crystal clear.   This is also where we started noticing all the beautiful wild flowers and of course I had to photograph quite a few of them.

We probably spent a good hour on this beach,  just shifting the shells through our hands, paddling our feet in the cold crystal clear hypersaline waters.

Beautiful white shell beach

The beach is covered in these little shells.  No sand at all.

Ian and Kathy on Shell Beach

Celebrating life on Shell Beach

Handfuls of white Fragum Cockle shells

Amazing the number of these shells and yet there is no sand, 

 

Crystal clear waters of Shell Beac

We were also quite amused at a group of Chinese tourists who were obviously enjoying our wide open spaces, and crystal clear waters, as they were posing for photos in the water.  They didn’t seem to mind that their dresses were getting wet whilst they were having their photos taken.  

From Shell Beach, we had one more stop to check out before getting to Denham.  Steve had spent some time on google maps the night before and had come across this lookout that actually looked quite interesting.  

Off the highway we headed to check out the sight.  We were in for a pleasant surprise as the lookout was beautiful, not only has the magical coloured of the ocean but the vibrant colours of the many wild flowers that were growing here also. 

  It was a bit of a photographer’s paradise.   We were pretty happy that we had taken the time to drive in here and have a look.

 

We arrived in Denham around lunch time.  The Blue Dolphin Caravan Park is an ideal location to stay as it is right in the heart of Denham, being walking distance to both the beach and the main town.  It is a pity this caravan park is so run down.  We were pretty disappointed in in. 

It cost a fortune to stay there $45 a night, and the sites were tiny,  and the park was untidy and very run down, with the ladies shower door, completely collapsed to the point that they had strapping on the door so that you could close it.  

 

Broken fences, loose cables and unkept gardens

Long grass - just a general mess

Behind us we had broken fences, and loose cables laying all over the ground.  The camp kitchen was really none existent, and the BBQ looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for weeks. 

The laundry had three washing machines but only one of them worked properly, and it also housed a rusty fridge, and had a toaster and kettle in there.  The clothes lines were falling down, and there were signs everywhere telling us not to waste water and only have a three minute shower.  I thought this was all a bit rich, considering that they were charging us top dollar to stay there.  The Manager was not a particularly friendly bloke and he obviously didn’t care for the park too much.  It almost seemed like it was a noose around his neck.  Wouldn’t really recommend this park to anyone.  

In the afternoon, Steve and I went for a drive to check out Denham.  We drove down to the water front and went for walks out along the jetties of Denham.  One of the fascinating things about the water front at Denham is that they have cut out a big channel into the water for the boats to sail in and out of.  It seems that the ocean floor might also be made of Coquina as there is distinct lines where the channel has been carved out.  It really looked quite impressive. 

Awesome kids playground in Denham

From the water front, Steve headed across the road to pick up a few postcards to send to the kids back home.  Whilst Steve went to the post office to get some stamps, I wandered down a little along the water front to take some photos of the wonderful children’s playground that they have set up here.  It reminded me very much of a few of the children’s playgrounds we had seen in the Scandinavian countries when we were there the previous year.  

How true

I met Steve at the newsagency then where we bought some postcards to send home.  As we had just bought some stamps, I decided to write a couple of the cards and post them whilst we were there.  Once we had done that we were ready to head off and do some more exploring.  

Little Lagoon

Steve was keen to check out some fishing spots, and I was keen to go and check out “Little Lagoon”.  From the brochures it looked amazing, and it was every bit as amazing in real life also.

It was quite huge and the colours of turquoise and deepest blue.  We took a few photos and then started heading back towards town, heading down any dirt road we could find.  We found a couple of really good dirt tracks that took us into some small estuaries where the fishing looked like it might have been good.  

Steve was keen to check out some fishing spots, and I was keen to go and check out “Little Lagoon”.  From the brochures it looked amazing, and it was every bit as amazing in real life also.

 It was quite huge and the colours of turquoise and deepest blue.  We took a few photos and then started heading back towards town, heading down any dirt road we could find.  We found a couple of really good dirt tracks that took us into some small estuaries where the fishing looked like it might have been good.  

This total area is alive with wildflowers at the moment, and is really quite stunning.  Of course we had to stop so that I could take some photos of some of the flowers.  The photos really do not do it justice.  

Wild Emus

As we headed back into town, we had went in search of the historial building in town made out of the Coquina bricks.  It was now an upmarket restaurant.

 We took our time driving through town and I was able to take a few photos as we drove along.  We drove further up the Esplanade to Netta's Beach where we stopped for a while and watched a kite surfer skim along the water.  We have had a wonderful afternoon out exploring together.  

By now it was almost sunset, so we headed back to the caravan park, but not before we caught sight of a couple of emus hanging out on the side of the road.  There seems to be quite a few wild emus around this area.  As we pulled back into the caravan park we noticed a heap of these birds just hanging around outside the manager's office.  I am thinking that he feeds them regularly..

The meeting place for our meals this stop, happens to be Barb and John’s place as our place is way too small and although Ian and Kathy have the best site size wise, it was way too windy at their place.  

We had a lovely time over dinner, but most of us were keen to head back to our vans where it was nice and warm.