One Mile Jetty & Shark Bay - 6th September, 2007

This morning we packed up our gear and drove into Carnarvon to have a look around then to the 1 Mile Jetty which, as the name implies, is one mile long and has rails down the length of it since it was once used as a way of loading ships. Now, it is all but in fallen down, well not quite because they run a tourist ‘train’ down it to almost the end then back again after they’ve had a look around or you can choose to walk down to the end and back again which is what we did. In 1897 the jetty began being used to export wool and livestock produced in the region to Fremantle and essential goods for the town were imported using state shipping. In 1904 the head of the jetty was added and in 1912 the jetty head was widened to cope with increased traffic including passengers. Carnarvon was the first port worldwide to load live stock on board ships for transport to markets. The jetty transport system and diesel loco on the tramway ceased in 1966 when road train transport commenced and the jetty deteriorated until 1998 when the community banded together to save it. The jetty is being progressively preserved and has been listed with state and national heritage trusts. Anyway, now that the history lesson is over – we had to wear our jumpers to walk along the jetty since there was a cold wind blowing. Not used to that idea at all!! BRrrrr!! Still it was a good walk except we had to watch where our feet went since despite the claim that it is being preserved, the jetty had a lot of splintery, loose boards with gaps between on occasions. We also had to watch for the train coming along the tracks also and move to one side. About a third of the walk is over a sandy mangrove dotted shore and then shallow water gradually getting deeper until it is quite deep with pieces of seagrass floating around on the surface. There were some signs of the inevitable wildlife that such a place must contain – we saw a few crabs disappearing into one of the many holes scattered in among the plants and a water bird or two also in the sandy section and then when we were up at t he head of the jetty there were some fisherman and one had caught a reasonable sized shovel-nosed shark which he had already cut the fins off etc so I did not take a photo. Some of the guys were using lures and others were using bait but both looked the same: like small silver fish (little mullets I suppose) One guy had a big fish on his line with a lure a few times but couldn’t keep it on the hook and lost it. While we were looking out at the sea at the end of the pier there appeared a sea turtle which stayed on the surface long enough to catch a few breaths and then disappeared again. A little while later, it or another appeared and then three more of various sizes; it was great to see them in their natural environment and so close like that.
After our walk back we had a coffee and something to eat and read all the information they had surrounding the rotunda which told us a lot about the area we were about to enter which is Shark Bay which is a World Heritage Area. It is where the dolphins come to shore and are fed at Monkey Mia and is made up of a Shark Bay Marine Park which is 748,735 hectares in size and covers 1500kms of coastline, which is the largest marine embayment in Australia and Francois Peron National Park also which covers 52,500 hectares of the northern most tip of the Peron Peninsula. This is an extremely important area due to it having the largest number of seagrass species in the world which is a vital habitat and nutrition for marine life including turtles, dugongs, and many others. Also there are some islands that are cat and fox free habitats for some endangered species of mala, hare wallabies, bandicoots and a native marsupial mouse.
We had a good run to Denham where we are based while checking out this area and booked a cruise on an 18 metre catamaran for tomorrow morning to hopefully see dolphins, turtles, and maybe even dugongs! Should be fun! The flower photo was taken on the roadside up to a lookout we went up to along the way. I thought they were very pretty and unusual.
Guess which bus we saw at the jetty and then at the first roadhouse as we drove past? Yeah, you got it – the Gold Bus Ballarat. We just can’t shake ‘em! I wonder whether they are - in Monkey Mia or Denham? We’ll keep you posted......