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. 

The most westerly point of Australia’s mainland and other cool stuff

August 30^th & 31^st

We had heard nothing about this area so our decision to visit Steep Point was a rather whimsical one, based purely on the desire to be able to say we stood on the most westerly point of mainland Australia having the most northerly and the most easterly already under our belts. Regardless of our reason to visit, it quickly became apparent that this was an excellent decision as this was one of the most magnificent spots we had seen on our adventure.

We drove that morning from Wooramel Station to the Useless Loop Rd (great name!!). There was 100km of pretty decent dirt road then 30km of amazing, challenging and fun driving through sand dunes, past huge sand blows that made us think we were in the Sahara Desert, turquoise blue water from a distance and then up close as the track wound its way along the water front taking us to Shelter Bay to camp for the night. This was an idyllic – right on the water with views to Dirk Hartog Island (remember your primary school history lessons). Spent the afternoon doing a bit of fishing, a bit of swimming and a bit of walking on the beach and rocks. We fell asleep with the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.

Next morning – bit more fishing and swimming then off to stand on the most westerly point of Australia’s mainland. At Steep Point was the obligatory ‘Most westerly point….’ sign but what we didn’t expect to find in front of the sign was a photo pole (complete with instructions) strategically positioned to ensure no-one missed out on their photo opportunity once they had driven all this way! We stood up there for ages being buffeted by the wind and watching a few whales cavorting in the distance. It was a grey day which kind of seemed appropriate weather to be in this rugged place. It was a huge swell and standing there watching the enormous waves crash against the 30m cliffs was really quite a spectacle.

We dragged ourselves away from Steep Point and drove down the west coast of this point of land. Our breath was constantly taken away by the rugged and amazing coastline and the stark contrast between the white foam of the crashing waves, the redness of the sheer cliffs and the green and yellow of the bushes and wildflowers just back from the cliffs.

One of the features of this coastline is a series of blow holes. Given the size of the swell on the day we were there, the blow holes put on a spectacular display. With each new wave that pounded the coast, sea spray shot forth from these holes with a force and noise that was awesome and a little bit scary at the same time.

We completed the coastal circuit, got back onto the Useless Loop Rd and our accommodation for the night was at Hamelin Bay Station Stay (www.hamelinstationstay.com.au). The Station was a working station for many years and the previous owners had a vision to provide travellers with a place to stop and rest and experience a little of what it was like to live on a working sheep station. They oversaw the restoration of the original shearer’s quarters and ensured that all new buildings were built of local rock and corrugated iron in keeping with the aesthetics of the other station buildings. The Station has recently been bought by a non-profit, private conservation group called Bush Heritage Australia that protects millions of hectares of ecologically important land (www.bushheritage.org.au). Hamelin Station is an area of outstanding conservation value and Bush Heritage’s over-arching aim for the Station is to protect the natural biodiversity and its underlying ecological value.

Ran into a number of people we had crossed paths with before on this trip. Interesting how people pop up over again – guess everyone is doing the tourist trail and while we try to avoid the road more travelled, in some parts you have no choice but to stay in spots that everyone else does.

Afternoon walk to the lake for a spot of bird watching and also explored the old shearers shed on site. We stayed tonight in the refurbished Shearer’s quarters. 

Artesian bore baths and a machinery graveyard

August 29^th

Quite a long drive south today, all on tar along the North West Coastal Road. We’ve started a new audio book - ‘Orange is the New Black’ (the book that the TV series is based on – quite loosely it would seem) so the long stretches with not much to see aren’t too bad (and WA certainly has a lot of long stretches with not much to see!).

We stopped in at Carnarvon (home of the lunchbox banana!!) for lunch – no bananas but a great meal of fresh fish and chips at the local seafood co-op. Did some grocery shopping (including some lunchbox bananas) and also bought a cool carry bag for our new hose. Carnarvon seems quite a nice place from our brief stop – they have lovely parks along with waterfront with great spots to sit and admire the water view.

Our home for the evening was Wooramel Station. The options for accommodation along the road are a bit far and few between. Many people with camper trailers and caravans are content to just pull over into a rest stop for the evening but that isn’t as appealing to us in a tent. There are a couple of roadhouses on this stretch of the road but by all reports they aren’t much chop. While in Carnarvon, we picked up a flyer for Wooramel Station, rang ahead and discovered they still had available camp sites. It seems to be a really busy time for tourists in this part of WA and a couple of times we have had to go to Plan B as the first choice option wasn’t available. It would seem that every other person over 60 in Australia has bought a caravan and is travelling around and around the country. The ‘Grey Nomad’ phenomenon is alive and well and holding up traffic on the highways and byways.

Random caterpillar

Wooramel Station is a working station that dabbles in the tourist trade but is actually making a good fist of the tourist component of things. The natural environment helps and the station is situated on the wide banks of the Wooramel River (dry). Camping is amongst magnificent river gums and they have a natural artesian bore which they have made into a couple of hot spa baths for the visitors to soak in. Great place for beer o’clock tonight although we really felt that we were the youngest people there by about 15 years!!

The other point of interest here is their machinery ‘graveyard’. This is a patch of ground behind the hanger (yes they had a light aircraft) that contained the remains of 100 years worth of farm equipment. A fascinating array of abandoned vehicles ranging from horse drawn wagons through to modern 4WD. There was also an interesting collection of kitchen appliances that showed the evolution of these devices over time. As well as these easily recognisable objects was a vast array of other machinery and equipment whose purpose was impossible to discern and probably long since forgotten.

Coral Bay Whale Watching - not!!

August 27^th - 28^th 

So we didn’t really go very far once we left Cape Range National Park. One day during our stay there we visited the lighthouse and from way up on the top of the point we could see about five whales doing their thing. They looked great from up there so we got all inspired to do a whale watching boat trip in order to get up close and personal. We booked into one at Coral Bay, about 220km south of Exmouth, so on leaving Ned’s Camp we popped into Exmouth to buy some fresh prawns for lunch and then made our way south to Coral Bay.

We had been to Coral Bay a while back when we flew to Ningaloo to swim with the whale sharks and really loved our time there so were pleased to be back. Unlike Exmouth, nothing much has changed here – it is just a small village with a few caravan parks, a pub, a tavern, some restaurants and the beautiful bay itself – crystal clear blue water and white sand. You can just wade into the bay and be snorkelling and seeing fabulous fish and coral just metres from the shore.

 Drone shots of Coral Bay

We joined up with our whale watching tour and set off in anticipation past the reef into the open water with stories of all the whales they have been seeing over the last week and how yesterday there was a mother swimming with her calves quite close to shore.  It was quite windy and once past the reef, the water was quiet choppy but we were all eager for a wonderful afternoon of seeing these magnificent creatures up in the wild. So much for that!! Four hours later we arrived back at Coral Bay very dispirited and a bit queasy and windblown from the swell, having seen not a single whale for our trouble. Oh well – that is nature I guess but we were disappointed.  The fact that the operators were very apologetic and said we were the first group this season not to sight any whales was little consolation!! We did see a huge lace monitor on our return to the land which was pretty cool.

We stayed in Coral Bay that evening in a cabin at one of the caravan parks (bit expensive) and enjoyed some beach walks, snorkelling and fish feeding on the beach the next day along with some necessary housekeeping such as doing the washing after five days under canvas. 

 Another drone shot

It was really windy and quite cold while we were there - good for drying washing but not so pleasant for a beach stay so we hit the road again bound for the most westerly point of the Australian mainland.