Heavenly Beverley : Sometimes Stormy Shark Bay...

Our last morning epitomised the flavour of our stay in Denham. Beautiful, if somewhat chilly dawn, a calm sea, and a leash-free beach at the base of the caravan park with myriad smells and sights. Stella and Pip, let off the lead and joyfully careering around, approached an older man with two Boston (or similar) Terriers, both tethered. He stiffened and tightened his grip so I approached to haul away an enthusiastically hyper-excited Stella.

"She's friendly"...
"They're all friendly until they attack..."
"You know you this is a dog-friendly beach and you could let them off..."
"They'd tear your dog limb from limb. That's their immediate form of defence now...to attack..."

So why did this irritable (and deaf, so I had to repeat myself) old codger bring his unhappy dogs onto a beach that allows for leash-free play? He could have walked them anywhere. The foreshore has a lovely path, a beautiful outlook and a fascinating history. This I know because we have walked the length of the foreshore ourselves. He chose to come to the beach instead and dampen the spirits of other dogs and owners. His sense of entitlement overrode all others on the beach and damned the torpedoes...

And that is another contradiction that has tempered our stay here in Denham. Glorious location with several caravan parks. We chose to stay at Denham Seaside, primarily due to the lure of the dog beach. Although there were lots of guests, the sites were roomy, the facilities were excellent and the owners, the Johnson family had the reputation of Mandalay in Busselton, prior to taking ownership of this park in Denham.

What the staff and management couldn't control was behaviour. The grumpy old git on the beach. Fish waste being chucked on the ground instead of being taken away. Badly behaved children throwing sand. Parents who were too apathetic to check the rules of the playground equipment. Maybe I'm over popular locations.

And due to its popularity, Denham Seaside was expensive. As was the local IGA, which was crowded with absolutely no social distancing measures. I understand that transport coats add to prices but a dollar and fifty cents more for each litre of lactose-free milk seemed a bit rich to me. On the upside, the local Cellarbrations liquor outlet offered similar prices to elsewhere and Kellee sang the praises of Denham as a local.

The Shark Bay Cafe was wonderful with attentive and welcoming staff, great food and coffee, reasonable prices and a sunny courtyard where the dogs were treated as well as their human companions.

Of the two pubs in town, we bought beer and wine from one and allowed ourselves a glass of wine each at the other. Nine dollars for a standard glass of ho-hum vino was a tad steep, even though the beer garden was pleasant.

Yet the Discovery Centre and its displays were stunning. We watched "Fire On The Water", an absolutely brilliant documentary on the sinking of the Sydney and Kormoran. Using only narrative and stills of the wrecks, this feature was so much more powerful than if they had shown a recreation of the battle. Be warned - the final view of random boots of the seafloor took my breath away.

The Little Shop, run by Mahalia, an elderly lady who also provides weather information, was another delight to visit. We spent a very pleasant half-hour there, buying Immy's Christmas gift and chatting about her life in Shark Bay. We were later amused by the lack of minimum temperature reports on the official weather channels. I suspect Mahalia doesn't often rise early enough to read the thermometer!

We also thoroughly enjoyed Little Lagoon, three kilometres out of town, which provided us with a magical (and leash-free) playground for both the dogs and us. Connected to the ocean by a narrow channel, Little Lagoon has still and shallow water, good fishing, covered BBQs and loos, sandy shores and plenty of room for everybody, both on two or four legs.

Denham is a fabulous holiday destination, a long way from anywhere. We had a spectacular site overlooking Shark Bay across to Dirk Hartog Island and even Useless Loop's giant salt pile. The sea's changing hues provided us with a beautiful vista.

Even so, we were not sorry to leave. We found that the constant wind was a trial. Lighting around the caravan park and to the beach was not sufficient for me to feel entirely sure-footed. Plus, we still had to walk down slopes and stairs to access the beach, difficult after dark.

I'm really glad I took Michael to Shark Bay. In spite of being born in Perth, he had never been to this particular part of Western Australia. Thank you, Denham, for the memories.