Sunrise at Shelter Bay woke us early in the tents…

Klaus was up and trying his hand at some more fishing with no success… no fish for brekkie!

A few had not slept perfectly last night as surprisingly the ocean swell made quite a loud noise even though it was a bay with no waves per se… the thought of an inundation into the tent made some a little nervous 😊…and the overnight temperature dropped quite significantly so it was a little cold…

While we were having brekkie on the beach we saw the barge come across from Dirk Hartog Island – you can take your cars across to the island and there is an eco-resort that people can stay in….

We took our time enjoying the beautiful location. Trev flew the drone and the pictures were great showing just how clear the water was and the remote location of our campsite.

There were no “big things” in the water apart from 2 manta rays that were a long way out… disappointingly no dugongs or turtles…

Sharon, Trev and I did some early swimming and snorkelling… Gordie and Kerry also jumped in a bit later…. the water was crystal clear and warm.

Everyone started to pack up slowly and the tide which was rising quickly was coming perilously close to the Titan… Branch noted that Gordie was furiously wiping down the driver’s side running board…. Had an inundation occurred??

Just as he went around to the seaward side, a rush of seawater came up and went right under the Titan, over the wheels and Branch was becoming very concerned that the Titan would not be able to exit the beach quickly enough….

The Loveday tent had water lap at the entrance, so we quickly put it down, the camp was packed up and we started on the drive back to Denham, everyone making it off the beach with no further issues…

The drive along the bay side of the peninsulas was much sandier and close to the water’s edge – a real contrast from the cliffs, rocks and open ocean views of yesterday…

We drove past the ranger’s station, and then past a private property with a beautiful old stone house on it that looked like it was being restored…. And ideallic location but so stark and remote!

As we drove over one small sandhill the road veered towards the beach and as we came over the rise we saw that the tide was still coming in and the road was half covered in seawater… Matt’s GoPro images say it all!!

We carefully navigated along the now partially covered road – at some points it was difficult to determine if we were on the right track, however we were and we reached higher ground….there were some people waiting to come across after us… Gordie could just get past them…

The Princess was bringing up the rear slowly as she was VERY reluctant to get her feet wet….

The journey became a bit slower as we caught up to some fishos also driving out… they were fairly rude and did not do the courteous thing of pulling over to let faster vehicles go… which was a little annoying – we had to have patience… and enjoy the views of spectacular rolling sandhills and the blue waters of the bay….

Gordie found a few “old mates” to have a chat to along the way….

Then at one point he managed to get past the fishos and we could not see him for dust….. 😊

We drove back past the salt mine area across the long roadway between the 2 parts of the bay and decided to wait til we arrived at the sealed road to re-inflate our tyres….

A road train leaving the salt mine was driving slowly along – and thankfully at a wide section where it was easy to pass…

Finally reaching the tar we saw Gordie there inflating his tyres with the fishos doing the same…. Not much was said as we all got the Thumpermax’s working on the tyre pressures…

The Hunters and Wells went straight back to Denham, but we did the short 15 km trip to the Stromatolites ay Hamlin Pool so that the Weiss and Bowyer clans could take a look as they had not been there before.

Disappointingly the walkway out over the pool was in disrepair and the beach entirely fenced off… add that to the full tide and the stromatolites were just dark shapes under water in the distance… There was an information guide there who let us know that there were plans to restore the walkway which was great to hear… Trev and I were pleased that we had seen them on our first Wild Adventure in 2017….

We drove the hour-long trip back to Denham and got sorted out, unpacking and cleaning before heading out to dinner at “The Old Pearler” – a restaurant on the foreshore at Denham. The building was made with blocks from the “shell sand” at Shell Beach – a really unique construction.

Dinner was delicious with Kerry and I opting for Crayfish Mornay – Trev’s snapper looked amazing too!