Day 120 - South of Denham

Yes, you guessed it.  It was windy again today but, dishevelled but undaunted, we vowed to fill up our last day at Denham and make the most of the beautiful blue sky and a temperature of around 28 degrees.

The last direction for us to go was south. First on the list was Eagle Bluff, on the western side of the Peron Peninsula and about 15km from Denham.  It is a rocky headland, resisting the vagaries of time, wind and water and standing sentinel like over turquoise bays to its north and south.  From its top you can see the distinct line of the sea bottom with, and without sea grass.  It is reputedly the place to see sharks, dolphins, turtles, dugongs etc from the cliff top.  We saw not a one, probably because it is winter and the animals have sought warmer climes.

040814 Looking south from Eagle Bluff

040814 An island off Eagle Bluff

040814 Looking north from Eagle Bluff

040814 Pied Cormorants on the shore of the island off Eagle Bluff

040814 Eagle Bluff from the south

Fowler's Camp did not excite so we headed off to Whalebone.  Whalebone was a repeat of  Eagle Bluff in many respects as was our next port of call, Goulet Bluff.

040814 Fowlers Camp, the only place we saw mangroves in Shark Bay

040814 Whalebone

040814 A gold nugget on the Whalebone cliff top

We had begun to notice a subtle change though.  There seemed to be more white sand along the beaches.  Our stop for a cuppa on the beach below Goulet Bluff provided an explanation.  There were thousands of small white shells mixed with the sand.

040814  Goulet Bluff with its white beach of sand and shells

The true significance of this was revealed at our final stop at Shell Beach.  This 15km beach is made up of tiny Fragum Cockle shells.  They thrive in the hypersaline waters of L'Haridon Bight. Out from its shores is an underwater structure of accumulated sand and seagrass called the Faure Sill, which allows the sea water in but restricts its exit.  The sea water is evaporated due to the high temperature, strong winds and dry weather ie little rain and no freshwater entering, so a salt rich environment results - twice as salty as seawater.  The cockles have, over the years, accumulated to such an extent that the beach is many metres thick with the shells and in some places they extend for 15metres in depth and become compacted and concreted with the mildly acid water reacting with the calcium carbonate of the shells. The resultant limestone is called Coquina. The Coquina is mined in blocks which are used in building.

040814 Shell Beach from a long distance

040814 Shell Beach - up very close

040814 Shell Beach wide and white - note the undulations in the beach

040814 Shell Beach looking west

040814 Shell Beach looking east - the fence is to keep feral animals
out of Peron Peninsula. Block mining is at the top

040814 A Fragum Cockle Shell

For the golfers among you, we dropped into the Boolbardie Country Club in Denham and took a couple of shots of their golf course. No explanation is necessary.

040814 The 15th fairway and men's tee, with the clubhouse in the distance

040814 The 5th fairway and "green"