At Monkey Mia (850 kilometres or 530 miles north of Perth), wild dolphins have been dropping by for generations, garnering international fame. But Monkey Mia and the wider Shark Bay region have more than friendly mammals to offer. World Heritage-listed for its natural assets, this is a wild, arid landscape of massive skies and stiff ocean breezes. Striking ochre sand dunes dive into turquoise waters, emus splash in the shallows and dugongs raise babies in swaying seagrass. The world’s oldest living culture thrives, as do stromatolites, some of the world’s oldest living lifeforms. There’s European history here too, being the site of Australia’s first European landing in 1616, and even today, modern explorers will find much to discover about Monkey Mia and Shark Bay.