On the way out of the Francios Peron National park we visited an old historic wool farm which had the old shearing sheds and grounds for visitors to visit. the land is all now owned by the national parks but was a large wool farm for many generations. Whilst walking around Holly spotted a snake. This was the first snake that we have seen on our trip so far it was a baby so we were on the look out for the mummy snake. The old homestead has a hot pool with springs from the artesian basin but this was closed for maintenance. There were photos of ladies swimming at the pool in the 1940s.

an old wool press

old wool bales

the old wool classing table

Inside the wool sheds – catching pens…here are a couple of lambs!

Next we headed into Denham for fresh bread a lunch stop. We stopped to look at the old Pearlers restaurant as suggested by our friend Tim. The restaurant was closed but the old building was made from amazing shelly rock. By chance we saw Tim at the front of his house only a couple of doors up the road. Tim had built the restaurant in 1977 and he and his wife ran the restaurant for many years. Tim again regaled us with stories and had the children listening intently, Tim showed us around his home that he also built back in the early 1980s it was an amazing home filled with treasure and a lifetime of stories. We were enjoying the stories and ended up spending almost two hours at his home.

The old pearlers restaurant building.

Inside the restaurant

Bricks made from shell rock

Tim suggested we visit Hamelin Pool and camp here as this is the location of the historic shell rock quarry and the telegraph station.

Tim and his wife Maggie outside their home that Tim built.

Tim had some shell rock that he cut off for the children

Tims ute tool box – very unique.

Tim telling stories to the children

Inside Tims house he presented us with his book.

The Spanish style court yard.

Tim house.

Aaron and holly watching the sharks

watch your finger Bianca turtles can bite.

Shark at the aquarium

The shark jumped for his afternoon tea

This Turtle was at the park for recuperation after loosing a fin.

Bianca Loved the Turtles

There were lots of tropical fish too.

We called into the Ocean Park aquarium – this was excellent – we had a tour guide who was a marine biologist and he gave a very informative talk about each of the various breed of fish, rays, turtles and sharks at the aquarium. It was a great experience to hear all about the fish and sharks we hope to see whilst snorkeling in and around the Ningaloo Reef over the next few weeks.

Turtle smiles

Shark at the aquarium

On the way to Hamelin Pool we visited Shelly Beach an amazing beach made out of millions I should say billions of tiny little shells. The shells are approximately 10metres deep and still more washing onto shore. They are from the very salty pool which is the perfect environment for these small cockles and they breed in masses apparently 1000 per square metre. We arrived at Shelly Beach for the sunset which was amazing.

Someone had written this in the shells on the beach

The shells

Playing in the shells

sunset over shelly beach

a kiss in the shadows

The beach is very wide 150m of shells before reaching the water estimated 10 metres deep.

Andrew enjoying the view

Holly on shelly beach

Kids on shelly beach

millions of shells

This was also written on the beach

Camping at Hamelin Pool was a bit rough and rugged…which we can handle. We got a site on the grass…it was dark when we set up. Trish the camp over was really friendly and she made a good coffee in the morning.

The next day after we packed camp we walked to the nearby shell rock quarry…this unique rock was formed from the shelly beach shells solidifying with limestone in-between and forming a rock. And we visited the Telegraph Station (located in the camp grounds) which was the point used to connect Northern WA to southern WA in early 1900s. It was an interesting museum with some cool old antiques and a large amount of information about morse code the original communication language.

On the way out of Hamelin Pool we visited more Stromatalites which were one the coast and really very beautiful. There was a deck to walk along and view the formations but the location if nothing else was really beautiful.

at the shell rock quarry

old telephone booth

a Stromatalite

the Stromatolites

On the boardwalk