We arrived in Carnarvon on Sunday 28th August for a couple of nights. It is a quiet town surrounded by fruit plantations. Not only do they have lots of fresh fruit, but they also sell home made preserves and relishes, chocolate coated bananas and mangoes and flavoured ice creams. We went to a farmers stall and bought some lovely bananas, beans and cucumber. The bananas were 5 for $3 and they were lovely. I don't know if the prices have gone down on the east coast yet, but bananas are still pretty expensive in the supermarkets over here. The most we seen them for was $18.99 a kilo.
We went for train ride out on to the One Mile Jetty. It was a bit ricketty but the driver went pretty slow and I was glad when we got back to solid land.
We were relaxing back at camp in the afternoon and who should show up but Terry and Sue who we befriended ages ago on the Gibb River Road. So once again we had "Sundowner" drinks with them.
We headed out of Carnarvon on Tuesday and headed south towards Shark Bay. We decided to stay at Hamelin Pool which is at the south of Shark Bay. From there we could do a day trip up to Denham and Monkey Mia. On the way the wildflowers once again were incredible. They seem to be getting more colourful as we head south. It is like someone has got a bucket full of all mixed seeds and just thrown them to the wind for them to germinate wherever they land.
We stopped at White Bluff lookout which is on the eastern side of Shark Bay. It looks out over the sand flats towards Shark Bay. Someone has made a gnome village at the lookout and it appears that people add garden gnomes to it at different times.
Hamelin Pool is one of only a few places on earth where living marine stromatolites (the oldest living organisms on the planet) exist.The water at Hamelin Pool is twice as salty as usual sea water due to sea grass banks situated across the bays entrance and rapid evaporation from the shallow water. Stromatolites are composed of bacteria and algae, and animals that feed on these substances cannot tolerate such salty conditions. As a result stromatolites grow here undisturbed.
The caravan park at Hamelin Pool used to be an old telegraph station and consequently there is a lot of old buildings and machinery around the area
The beach at Hamelin Pool is made up of millions of small cockle shells which are up to 10 metres deep. These shells have set hard and in the past were used to make blocks to build some of the older buildings in the Shark Bay area. They are still used to maintain these old buildings and are still quarried when needed.
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| Blocks made from small shells |
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| Quarry where they get shell blocks |
It is now Wednesday and today we are going for a drive up to Monkey Mia and Denham. We stopped at a lookout on the way and took a photo of the Denham Channel looking over towards Shark Bay salt works.
Then on to Monkey Mia. Monkey Mia beach is actually part of the Monkey Mia Resort and we had to pay $6 each to spend any time at the resort. Apparently the dolpins had been in for 2 feeds already and the ranger was unsure if they would come in again. But we went in anyway. We took some photos from the jetty and could see the dolphins further out in the bay. After wandering through the shop for a while we came back outside and the dolphins had come into the beach chasing small fish. So we did get some photos.
We then went back to to Denham, stopping at a couple of places to take some photos of Dirk Hartog Island
Next we went to the Ocean Beach Aquarium. Ocean Beach Aquarium is an open air interactive aquarium containing big tanks with moray eels, turtles, rays, snapper, sharks, barramundi, lion fish, squid, lobster, cod and many other reef fish. We were there for a couple of hours and it was a very informative display.
Next we went to Eagle Bluff where we walked along the boardwalk and were able to see sharks and rays down in the water.
We stopped into a couple of free camp sites along Shark Bay to have a look.
Then to Shell Beach which was a bit disappointing as I expected there to be big shells like Eighty Mile Beach but no, the shells were tiny little things which have been crushed into shell grit.
The next day we just hung around camp and who should show up in the camp but Terry and Sue. Are they stalking us? They are staying at the Homestead up the road for a few nights. Ray helped a few people do some repairs to their trailer and to their car. The good samaritan he is. One of the fellows he helped gave him a packet of fish and it was lovely. In the afternoon we saw a male emu and 8 little chicks. The female emu doesn't raise the babies, that is up to Dad. Ray followed them and took some photos.
During the early hours of Friday morning it rained a couple of times. This is the first rain we have had in 4 months. On our way to Kalbarri it rained on and off all the way sometimes very heavily. I know you are getting sick of me saying this but more brilliant wildflowers. banksia, grevilleas and bottle brushes everywhere and as far back from the road as the eye could see.
After setting up at Kalbarri we drove out to the Rainbow Jungle, which is a parrot breeding centre. Not only Australian parrots but South American ones also. All of the parrots have been bred in captivity and the cages they have are very large and they can fly freely.
The next day, Saturday we decided to go out to Kalbarri National Park. We went to a lookout where you looked down on the Murchson River and then Ray walked out to an area called Natures Window which framed a beautiful view of the river.
In the afternoon we went for a drive out to the Kalbarri Coastal Cliffs. The coastline is very rugged and the sea was quite rough so it made for some good photos.
Next stop is Geraldton where we are getting a couple of things fixed on the van.
