A beautiful stop along the road.
German friends.
The truck overheats....
and we picnic in the bush, as Damien repairs the truck.
Stromolites, one of the earliest life forms.
Shell Beach.
We forgot to close the back door and the truck filled up with road dust.
The cliff overlooking Shark Bay.
Wednesday,
September 28th.
Today
we got ready and left by 7:00. The first stop was about an hour south
at a sign that marked the Tropic of Capricorn. Then we continued on
our long drive. We stopped at a roadhouse for a toilet stop and then
shortly after that we stopped at a local organic fruit farm that
Damien knew about where the family grow bananas, mangoes, paw paw,
papaya and jack fruit. They also sell frozen mango on a stick covered
with chocolate. I had one of them. Then we continued for a couple of
hours. I was in the front again and enjoying the view out the window
and Damien's music. We stopped at a really nice lookout where we
could see the vast emptiness for a long way. It is amazing how little
is out here and how empty the land is. We haven't even seen hydro
wires or telephones either for most of the trip. Most of the towns
here are so isolated that they get there power from windmills. We
could see a small group of emus off in the distance.
We
stopped off at another roadhouse and then we turned off the highway
onto the road to Shark Bay. Damien
said we would stop in about a half hour for lunch but right after
that the engine alarm came on and we had to stop to refill the
radiator, so Damien announced we would have our picnic lunch right
there in the middle of nowhere. The flies couldn't believe their
luck!
Shortly
after that we arrived at Hamelin Bay, where we visited the World
Heritage sight of the stromolites. These are a very ancient life form
that has existed for about 35 billion years. They are colonies of
different kinds of bacteria that live in the water. They eventually
form into rocks with their waste. They were the first life forms to
use water and give off oxygen molecules. They are responsible for
creating the oxygen rich atmosphere on earth that has allowed life as
we know it to flourish. They used to be common around the world but
now only exist in a couple of places. They thrive here because the
water is extra salty and the climate is extreme. None of their
predators can live here or like the salinity. There was also a colony
of pied cormorants there.
Then
we drove further and Damien turned off the highway and went overland
off roading until we wound up at Shell Beach. It was beautiful and
white and consisted of millions of small white shells apparently up
to 5 metres deep! The beach is really long too.
The
last stop for the day was at Eagle Bluff, which is on a small hill
with a good view of Shark Bay. Unfortunately it was really windy and
cool so none of us felt like hanging out and looking for the wildlife
that thrives in the bay, like lemon sharks, dougong (cousins of the
manatee) and turtles that feed on the sea grass.
Then
we drove to Denham and our hostel, Bay Lodge, for the night. Again we
had multi share rooms. I was in a room with the same ten people only
this time it is a suite with a room for six and another for four. My
bed was really soft and saggy, so I hauled it out into the sitting
room and put it on the floor behind the couch. That way it is better
for my back and I won't wake anyone when I get up in the middle of
the night.
Damien
made us an excellent peanut satay chicken dinner and he baked a cake
for Chelsea who had her 24th birthday today.
Tourist
note: I overheard Sheena talking to another tourist yesterday about a
t-shirt he was wearing from the river float tour in Laos. I did this
tour in 2011. She was asking if it was open or not. Apparently the
river is a sacred site for the local people but, with the tourists
drinking alcohol at the riderside bars, floating and drowning in the
river they thought it was cursed. As a result they were not using the
river in their traditional ways. Therefore the river float expedition
was closed but, then everyone realized how much the community had
come to rely on the income it generated and they needed the money so
it has been reopened and their culture has been adversely affected
forever.
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