Really ancient stuff - stromatolites and Kalbarri National Park

September 1^st & 2^nd

Up early and headed to Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites. Here is your Science lesson from Stephen the Science teacher who was in heaven at this spot……..Stromatolites are cool and not just in a science, nerdy way but truly amazing! Firstly, they are amongst some of the earliest organisms to have existed on earth, estimated to have been around about 3.5 billion years ago. When you consider that the earth is only estimated to be 4.5 billion years old and spent a significant part of the first billion years as a blob of molten rock, this means that this life on earth developed pretty early in the piece. Secondly, we think of oxygen as some sort of pure, clean giver of life but the reality is, earth’s early atmosphere was pretty much void of oxygen. In fact, the oxygen that humans and all other animals depend on was actually produced by the same micro-organisms that produced stromatolites. So think about that - the oxygen we breathe is the waste product of these ancient organisms.  Here ends the Science lesson.

From here we continued south along the North West Coastal Rd to Kalbarri National Park (so glad we bought the $44 WA Parks Pass – it has been real value for money given the number of NPs we have visited). Again, there were loads of amazing wildflowers. Different ones to what we have seen to date. The most striking ones here are long, wispy silver bushes interspersed with numerous yellow flowers. With the wind blowing the silver ones look like a shimmering sea.

Kalbarri NP is one of WA’s most well-known parks. It surrounds the lower reaches of the Murchison River which has cut an 80km gorge through the red and white banded 400 million year old sandstone of the area creating a number of wonderful formations. Nature is incredible in the way it can carve the landscape. The Park also includes a coastal section showcasing the soaring cliffs (some over 100m high) along the Indian Ocean.

Within the river section of Kalbarri NP there are two specific areas to visit – the Z Bend and The Loop plus a number of lookouts. On the way into the Park we stood atop the Ross Graham Lookout and got a feel for the beauty of the place. We then drove to The Loop with its natural rock arch ‘Nature’s Window’, which frames the upstream view of the Murchison with red rock. 

Not far away, the Z Bend provides phenomenal views of the river 150m below and is so named as at that point the river snakes in a Z through the valley.

While these examples of natural beauty are quite spectacular, the thing that struck us most in Kalbarri NP were the ancient tracks of the Eurypterid - a giant 2m long scorpion like creature. Around 400 million years ago, life was venturing out of the oceans for the first time. Some of these early creatures walked across the mud flats of this area, preserving their footprints for eternity. And there was no fanfare – just a sign telling you a little bit about it. The tracks were discovered in 1995 by Australian palaeontologist Dr Ken McNamara and Briton Nigel Trewin. The discovery of the tracks upset classic evolutionary theory that plants and herbivores were earth’s first colonisers. We saw a number of these footprints/tracks here – what an amazing and special thing to see the footsteps of some of the first creatures that walked the earth.

That night we stayed in Kalbarri the town – another coastal holiday destination. It reminded us of The Entrance on NSW Central Coast before it got as commercial as it is now. It was REALLY cold in Kalbarri and we were reluctant to leave our hotel room but we braved the cold for dinner out which is always a treat when we’ve been camping for a while and cooking our own meals.

I went for a run the next morning – sunny but freezing. From one extreme to the other!! A few days ago we were snorkelling and swimming and trying to stay out of the sun and this morning it was six degrees in Kalbarri. Before heading off we watched the pelicans being fed on the foreshore and then drove back into Kalbarri NP – the coastal section this time. We weren’t too keen to get out of the car and walk in the freezing wind on the cliffs but we did manage a few more lookouts to see things such as Island Rock (a sea stack), the Natural Bridge and Mushroom Rock, cliff faces (Red Bluff) and some whales from a distance.

At Port Gregory, about 65km south of Kalbarri, we saw a bizarre pink lake on the side of the road. There are a number of pink lakes in WA. The pink colour is a result of green alga bacteria (Dunaliella salina) becoming trapped in the salt granules of the lakes. Once the lake water reaches a salinity level greater than that of sea water and the temperature is high enough and adequate light conditions are provided, the alga begins to accumulate the red pigment beta carotene. It was really a bubble gum pink colour – very different.

From this interesting side stop, we continued on to our most southerly destination in WA this trip – Geraldton. This would be our last coastal stop before heading inland and east towards the other coast. We stayed in an apartment here on the beach but it was way too cold for swimming. This was purely a provision shopping and washing stop. We even got take away Indian for dinner from the #1 restaurant in all of Geraldton (according to Trip Advisor) and we must agree it was pretty darn good food.