Disappointed with Denham

We were up early and getting ready for Hamish’s school lesson but also packing up the van at the same time.  We had a big drive ahead of us of about 375km so wanted to get on the road at a reasonable time.  Ian and Gwen were also moving on to Denham so we had agreed to travel together so we didn’t want to hold them up.  I think we got on the road just after 9am which wasn’t too bad at all.  The drive back out to the main highway felt like it took forever but once we were on the highway it was nice.  We crossed over the Murchison River and admired the free camp there.  I started to think that maybe we should have free camped there for the night but just down the road we stopped for a toilet break and with the number of flies that hit us there we were glad we hadn’t.

Crazy Kayla.

Crazy Hamish.

The drive to Denham felt like it was never going to end, even with stops for morning tea, fuel and lunch.  It wasn’t like we could get out and socialise with Ian and Gwen as the flies just drove us inside the caravan.  For lunch we didn’t even get out of our car as they were that bad.  Eventually we rolled into Denham and found our caravan park.  I must admit that I thought the town would have been a bit bigger but it wasn’t big at all.  What is there seems very spread out.  At least getting into the caravan site was simple as they are nice big sites with plenty of room.  When we looked around you could understand why as there were heaps of fishing boats on sites and some of them looked very large. 

The drive to Denham.

Jason went and said hello to Darren and Peta who had also arrived earlier that day whilst Kayla and I ducked out to the shops to grab some supplies.  That was interesting as I couldn’t even find where I could park at the IGA as it also doubled as a servo so it isn’t like you could park out the front.  Eventually I just parked across the road.  When I returned I sat down and joined Ian and Gwen for happy hour before Jason came back and we retreated to the van to do dinner and showers.  Peta and Darren had invited us down there for drinks after dinner so once all showers were done we headed down there for a few more drinks.  I must be showing my age or maybe it was the long drive but I was wrecked by the time we headed home to bed.

The next day we still had to get up early to do Hamish’s school lesson so it was a bit of a bad idea staying up so late the night before, even though it was a great time.  We decided to head straight out to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins with Ian and Gwen.  On checking in we were told that the best time to be there was at 7am.  That certainly wasn’t going to happen for us as Hamish didn’t finish his lesson until 8:30am but even if he didn’t have school, I don’t think there is any way we were going to be getting up at 6am to be ready and get there by 7am.

When we arrived the kids ran ahead and of course found the gift shop of all things and wanted to buy everything in there.  We made our way down to the beach but there weren’t any dolphins so we took a few photos of the pelicans and decided to make our way up to the coffee shop instead for some morning tea.  Just as we were making our way up we spotted some dolphins so decided to go back down and check them out.  They weren’t doing much so we again thought let’s go and have some cake and coffee.  That is when they announced they were going to do the feeding, so into the water we lined up.

Checking out their new toys.

Kayla and her friends.

Some of the locals.

The kids got over it pretty fast as the lady did a lot of talking and the dolphins were just swimming around.  I guess this is like the fifth time they have done it on the trip and they have already pretty much heard all the same information over and over again.  I have to admit I was just standing back and really not getting into it.  Eventually it got too much for the kids and they started to get a bit noisy so we took them up to the coffee shop.  We had also already fed dolphins in Tin Can Bay so thought we should step aside and let others have the opportunity.

Getting all set for the feeding.

Kayla's friends wanted to come with her.

The wonderful view from the coffee shop.

Ian and Gwen came up and joined us and we all had some delicious food from the café whilst admiring the view out over the water.  Then we walked around the grounds checking out the resorts facilities.  I personally think the tag resort is a bit overrated really and whilst it was nice I am glad we didn’t stay there nor did we feel any desire to move out there.  It cost us $17 as a family just to come in so we could see what the place is like and see the dolphins so we had planned to make the most of the resort facilities but in the end we didn’t think it was worth it.

The front entrance, the bricks are all shells.

From there we went straight out to the Ocean Park Aquarium to see the shark feeding.  I don’t know what I was expecting here but all the reviews on wiki camps had my expectations set quite high.  The café overlooking the water was spectacular and I thought we could enjoy lunch there after checking out the aquarium.  Well it wasn’t what I thought where we could just wonder through in our own time, instead it is like a tour where the very knowledgeable marine biologist gave a great and informative talk about all the animals they had in their tanks.  Honestly she was a great wealth of knowledge and I would have loved to have heard it all, but it just wasn’t captivating for two young kids who just wanted to run around and look at everything.

Hamish was happy, he found Nemo.

Hello there stingray.

So trying to keep them still so you could hear what the guide was saying was really hard and I understand it would have been boring for them.  They obviously loved when she fed the fish and different things but they didn’t care much for all the details.  A lot of their tanks were low too so easy for the kids could put their fingers in.  Of course due to the fish/sharks/eels/sea snakes in there they asked that you don’t.  So another big thing you had to be careful of.  It just makes it all very tiring work and you don’t feel like you can fully enjoy it as you would love to be hearing the stories and learning about it all.  Still we did get to hear a fair bit, it wasn’t like they were being naughty, just could stand around a tank for 15 minutes, they want to run around and see everything.

Finally it came to the shark feeding where we all went outside to the main pool area and there were some big sharks in there.  Again it was good and we would have loved to get into it more but the kids got over it after about ten minutes once the sharks were no longer interested in the food.  So off Hamish went back to check out the tanks again and that is where I just about lost it and gave up on the whole thing.  So I went off and took him back inside and of course he wanted the ice-cream we had promised at the start but only if he was good, so of course they didn’t get their ice-cream which led to a big meltdown by both of them.  So we quickly bundled them up into the car and left.

Shark feeding time.

She was not letting go.

On the way back to the caravan we called into the bakery as it was already 2pm and we hadn’t had lunch.  We had been warned it was expensive and not friendly but obviously we were going to learn this lesson ourselves.  The pies were reasonably priced but I felt the cream buns were quite expensive and the lady serving us was far from friendly.  So I just grabbed what I wanted and jumped back in the car.  I decided to whip up some lunch for the kids and I as it was going to be too expensive to buy lunch there, but I did get Jason a pie.  I think by then we were all tired and just worn out but the kids seemed to get a second burst of energy.  I can’t even blame the cream bun as they hardly ate any.

Maybe we need to slow down a bit more after a big day in the car driving and just take it easier, especially when we are all tired.  If we don’t get to see everything then so be it and just prioritise things.  Not to mention if there is something that needs the kids to be more focused, do that in the morning rather than the afternoon.  The rest of the afternoon passed in a harassed blur it felt.  Jason went out to get some fuel and find out about the National Park whilst I tried to do some school with Hamish which proved hard to get him back to the van until his friend went out fishing.

So it was decided we would have an earlier, quieter night as we all needed it.  Mind you by the time we finished off a bit more school and I caught up on the blog and a few other jobs it really didn’t feel like we got into bed all that much earlier.  At least the kids went to bed at a reasonable time.  We even packed away our awning as the wind was starting to pick up and I really didn’t want that keeping us awake at night. 

The next day we were up at our normal time and getting ready as we had planned to drive out into the Francois Perron National Park with Peta and Darren.  I think it was a good day to go out as the smell from the dredging was really bad that morning.  It honestly smelt like rotten eggs.  I really felt for the caravan park that they were dumping it out the front of them.  Still it really made it hard to sit outside van.  Normally it was only in the evenings that you smelt it but this morning it was shocking. 

I was a bit nervous about the 4WDing as it was meant to be quite sandy and I wasn’t sure if the scenery and outlooks were really going to be worth the long and slow drive.  We had decided we would just get to the big lagoon and then head back to the station for a swim in the hot artesian tub.  Before we left we did a bit of school and then packed enough food to feed a small army.  Honestly you would think that we had planned to go out for an entire day.  We then drove down and met Peta and Darren at their caravan.

So off we headed into the National Park, obviously the first 6km was easy going as it was accessible to 2WD vehicles but soon enough we came across the air compressor station where you had to let your tyres right down.  Thankfully Jason knows all this stuff and what to do so I just stood around looking quite useless really.  I even wondered if we were going to get out of the sand where we had stopped.   Of course I had nothing to worry about and the drive in was certainly a learning experience for us both.  The track is only wide enough for one car in most places so you have to watch the road ahead and pull over in one of the pull in areas if you see someone coming. 

Honestly the sand was worse in other parts.

Long road in.

Nearly there.

We did a few little fishtails due to the deep ruts and soft red sand but otherwise Jason handled it so well, so much better than his passenger.  Big Lagoon was certainly pretty but the water was freezing and of course as per usual the flies were ever so friendly.  There were two campers in there and I was impressed that they had both managed to get in towing a trailer; one even had a Jayco Outback Pop-top.  The kids all enjoyed playing in the sand and splashing around in the water whilst we had some morning tea.  From there we headed back out.  Peta and Darren had decided to continue on but we called it quits while we were ahead and headed back to the old station.   Whilst the majority of the road was good some parts were quite sandy and you really slowed down but we managed to do it all without getting bogged.   We definitely wouldn’t have done it without Peta and Darren as we don’t have any recovery gear whereas they have everything.

Hamish posing for a photo.

Big Lagoon.

Back at the old station we enjoyed a nice lunch at their picnic tables before hopping in the hot tub.  It looked just like a big trough and I was glad that no one else was in it as it really wasn’t that big and I didn’t have to worry about the kids splashing too much.  After a while though it did get a bit too warm so we hopped out and headed back into town.  We stopped off for a few photos overlooking Little Lagoon and then we realised Kayla was asleep so we were very excited and headed straight back to the caravan for a much needed rest whilst she slept.

Nice little hot tub.

Jason and the kids enjoying the break.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with a bit of school and starting to pack up the caravan in preparation for us to leave the next day.  Then we had an early dinner and headed down the main street with Peta and Darren to see the start of their local festival.  Apparently there is a big fishing competition on this weekend so they had some art performance on followed by a band at the local pub.  Well the art performance was interesting, by that I mean I didn’t understand it and the kids were totally bored but still that is just our family, nothing against their performance.  From there we hot footed it to the pub as the wind was blowing heaps and it was so cold. 

The arts performance.

Trying some WA beer.

Jason and I had planned to have a few drinks and then make our way home at a reasonable time.  Well we did manage to get home before midnight so I guess it wasn’t all that bad really.  It was a good night and the kids ran themselves ragged and Kayla and Sarah were asleep before we left.  Mind you the area was setup in their carpark, so the kids were so grotty when we left, so much for having a shower before we headed down.

The view from up top of the caravan park.

Denham was an interesting town but we both agreed that if we had our time again we wouldn’t drive all the way in and back out again, we just didn’t feel it was worth it as we have seen a lot of it before.  Maybe it was also because it was another place everyone talked up so much and you get there and end up asking why!