From Kalbarri we headed north along a dry and desolate landscape to Shark Bay. We fuelled up at the Overlander Roadhouse, and headed towards Denham, the service town on Peron Peninsula. Our destination for the evening was Big Lagoon, a camp-site in the Francois Peron National Park. The best part about the camp, was it was about 12 kilometres down a sandy track - and DPAW had installed a tyre station so you could quickly let down and pump up your tyres!
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| Letting down the tyres at the DPAW tyre station! Brilliant idea. |
The vegetation in Francois Peron National Park is much more prolific than the surrounding countryside, due to a large vermin proof fence across the peninsula, and a very active baiting and trapping program being carried out. Called Project Eden, the aim is to return the country to what it was before Europeans came to stay. The project has re-introduced native animals that have become extinct in the area due to predators such as feral cats and foxes, and it is working to protect the vegetation and other small animals from overgrazing and damage caused be feral goats. It seems to be doing a pretty good job - but I fear this country will never be able to return to what it was before. We wondered if Francois Peron were to return here, whether he would find the same thousand plant and animal specimens he did on his first visit here back in 1801.
But as impressive as Project Eden is, no one comes to the Peron Peninsula to just visit Francois Peron National Park. No, just down the road is Monkey Mia and the famous wild dolphins that come in daily to interact with the people that come from around the world to feed them.
