Things to do in Shark Bay, Western Australia
The best things to do in Shark Bay, Western Australia, include Dirk Hartog Island tours, floating at Shell Beach, seeing the Hamelin Bay stromatolites and wildlife cruises from Monkey Mia.
Shark Bay on the west coast of Australia is fairly remote, but it hosts some extraordinary attractions and experiences. The area’s name comes courtesy of William Dampier, who became the first Englishman to set foot in Australia back in 1699. No prizes for guessing where the name comes from – it’s the sharks. There is, however, plenty of other more friendly wildlife in the region.
Things to do in Shark Bay, Western Australia: Dolphin-feeding
The most famous example is the dolphins of Monkey Mia, which come up to the beach to be hand-fed every morning. The feedings take place at the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort. For some, this is the sole reason to visit Shark Bay.
But there are plenty of other things to do in Shark Bay, Western Australia. These included nature cruises from Monkey Mia.
Perfect Nature Cruises and Wildsights offers wildlife cruises around Shark Bay from Monkey Mia. Dolphins and dugongs are usually fairly easy to spot.
Things to do in Shark Bay, Western Australia: Francois Peron National Park
Wildsights also offers 4WD tours into Francois Peron National Park. These tours take in deserted beaches, evocative acacia scrub, saltwater lagoons such as Big Lagoon and plenty of red dirt. Reptiles and birds provide the wildlife hit, while guides also point out traditional uses for plants.
You can visit Francois Peron National Park under your own steam, but you’ll need a high clearance 4WD vehicle for the vast majority of it, including Cape Peron. With a 2WD vehicle, you can get as far as the Peron Homestead Precinct. Here, the Peron Homestead and shearing sheds are now museum pieces, delving into the National Park’s past as a sprawling sheep station.
Denham attractions: Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery Centre
The main town in Shark Bay is Denham, and it’s little more than a trumped-up village. The foreshore is enticing, though, with a playground and picnic tables. There’s parkland all along Knight Terrace, and fishing boats depart from the jetties.
Some of the best things to do in Shark Bay congregate in Denham. These include the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery Centre and Ocean Park.
The Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery Centre delves into the reasons why Shark Bay is World Heritage-listed. And there are several. It does a really good job at looking at the factors that make the ecology here so distinctive, and will whet your appetite for visiting other parts of Shark Bay.
Denham attractions: Ocean Park
Ocean Park is an aquarium 8km to the south of the town centre. It is famed for its shark-feeding sessions, which take place every hour. But you can also see rays, rescued turtles and potentially deadly sea snakes. Ocean Park also runs diving trips around Steep Point, the most westerly part of the Australian mainland. There’s a good chance of seeing turtles, cuttlefish, stingrays, dolphins and sharks of the non-dangerous variety.
Ocean Park also runs PADI diving courses, sunset wildlife cruises and humpback whale-watching cruises. 4WD tours of Dirk Hartog Island are also an option, but unfortunately they don’t go as far as Inscription Point. This was where the first evidence of European discovery of Australia was found. Dutch sailor Dirk Hartog left a pewter plate hammered to a post here in 1616.
The full day tour does visit Inscription Point, but involves a flight, and costs a prohibitively expensive $3,000.
Things to do in Shark Bay, WA: Dirk Hartog Island via Steep Point
The other way to reach Inscription Point is driving your own 4WD vehicle and taking the barge from Steep Point. You can also stay at the Dirk Hartog Island Eco Lodge, which offers tours.
The other key attractions of Shark Bay are between the Overland Roadhouse on Highway 1 and Denham. First up are the stromatolites of Hamelin Pool. These look like black rocks spreading out into the shallow water, but they’re actually examples of the oldest living organisms on earth. A boardwalk with helpful interpretative signage stretches over the top.
Things to do in Shark Bay, WA: Shell Beach
The other highlight is Shell Beach, which is formed from billions of tiny, crushed cockle shells. The white colour contrasts spectacularly with the blues and greens of the water. And, should you choose to go for a swim, the high salinity of the water makes it easy to float – rather like on the Dead Sea in the Middle East.
More Western Australia travel
What is there to do in Cocklebiddy on the Nullarbor?
Stay by the water at Mindarie Marina in Perth.
Walk from Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse to Sugarloaf Rock.
Go hot air ballooning over the Avon Valley from Northam.