27. Wild flowers and passive fauna; ancient mariners and even more ancient Stromatalites.  


At the time of our visit to Denham the town was in party mood with the Shark Bay Rendezvous Festival to commemorate and celebrate the landing of Louis de Freycinet and his stowaway wife Rose on the coast of Shark Bay 200 years ago.  Rose became the second woman to circumnavigate the world. 
The coastline had been visited by French, Dutch and Spanish explorers for over 400 years, some reducing the weight of their ships by nailing unwanted pewter plates to trees, others by leaving entire ships on reefs and shores. 
There are some brutally savage stories of ship wrecks and survival.

An old pearler built in 1929 and still going strong.

The Old Pearler built in 1974 and thought to be the only restaurant in the world built from shell blocks.
Don's parent's dined here 25 years ago.
The cutting of the blocks features further down this blog. 

Sail in parade. Cardboard Ships.
Most of the town got involved in the celebrations with exception of the grocery shops who scoffed that they were too busy with the influx of tourists to be bothered dressing up as the other shop keepers did.

Faux French Poodle Parade.
One entry, a true French Poodle groomed to perfection, didn't win as it looked too much like the real thing.

Tuning fork possibly left by early explorers.  

Putting the best foot forward for sunset.

The drive from Denham to Monkey Mia revealed some signs we hadn't seen before. 

Fowl play when they are not foraging for food. 

Easter eggs abound in the undergrowth.

Unfortunately there were no warning signs for Emu.
We came to a complete stop for these birds who were standing their ground in the middle of the road near the body of one of their number recently killed by a car. 

Monkey Mia, famous for dolphins of which we saw from the jetty a couple being fed.  We opted for a sail on the Shotover, advertised as Australia's fastest cruising sailing catamaran.  A morning and sunset sail were included in the package. 
The day was ideal, giving us the chance to see, but not necessarily photograph dugongs, turtles, dolphins and a sea snake.  For the first time in weeks we enjoyed the wind.  

Red sky at night, sailor's delight. 

Our cat heading about to be secured to the mooring for the night.
Unsecured cats kill in excess of one million birds every day across Australia.
The dolphin in the foreground is enjoying supper without competition.  

Pelicans and dolphins competing for supper. 

Moonrise over Monkey Mia.

South of Denham is Eagle Bluff, again noted for the clear water and impressive coastline. 

Beautiful clear water once more, highlighting rays, sharks and dolphins. 

A boardwalk has been built at the top of the coastal slope.
The addition of a slippery dip from the boardwalk would be a tremendous drawcard. 

One of the locals out to welcome us.

Bobtail or Shingleback Goanna.
They have a blue tongue, but this one wouldn't oblige. 

Once in the dappled shade, blending in brilliantly. 

Shell Beach is at the southern end of Shark Bay near the Stromatolites. 
The beach is made of billions of tiny cockle shells, up to 10m deep and stretching over 70kms. 

Shells by the bucket load. 

Shell Service Centre. 

Compressed shells have in the past made great insulated building blocks.

The Old Pearler Restaurant as noted earlier probably originated in this quarry. 

Stromatolites:  some of the world's oldest living organisms live in Hamelin Pool, at the southern end of Shark Bay.  One of the few places they still exist in the world.  They have little competition due the harsh environment, with the water being over twice as salty as the ocean, and summer air temperatures exceeding 45C, being exposed during low tide and underwater at high tide.  

Boardwalk into the prehistoric times. 

Old timers sun baking.
There are many forms of Stromatolites. 

There was a surprising tranquility in the area considering the amount of time they had been sharing close confines. 

They grow at the rate of 0.3mm per year.
The blurriness of this photo is due to a sudden growth spurt as the photo was taken. 

Stromatalites are considered living fossils.
So too some of the grey nomads we have met!

Akin to the Knights of the Round Table.
The seagull is trying to work out where the rest of his mates are.

Hamelin Outback Station Stay, where we stayed for one night is owned by Bush Heritage Australia, a national not for profit organisation who buy and manage high strategic conservation areas.
Started in 1991 they now have 38 conservation reserves protecting six million hectares of Australia.

All preserved but not in use. 

Click went the shears. 

One of the advantages of travelling without a set program was displayed at Galena Bridge on the banks of the Murchison River. We had stopped for a cuppa in the van at 10am, and being so impressed with the setting, didn't leave for 22 hours.

 Relaxing river view.

Official bird emblem of Western Australia with trainees. 

Carrol enjoying a quiet read alongside the Murchison River 

Banded Plover enjoying a quiet reed alongside the Murchison River.

A park ranger informed us the reason for the diversity of the wildflowers in this area of WA comes from the fact that wildflowers grow in poor soil, and the area around Kalbarri is the poorest of the poor.
It is no wonder the flowers are wild!

Luke 12:27 NIV

"Consider how the wild flowers grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these"

Wildflowers hiding, and growing from the rocks stepped over by hundreds of folk heading along this track.  

Persistence!

Kalbarri National Park, 570kms north of Perth, features deep gorges and bush walks, meaning there are far more international tourists all spending a few days experiencing a certain degree of remoteness.
Even more interesting than the landscape was watching these folk dressed for an afternoon at the theatre rather than the Australian heat and flies.

The famous Nature's Window which often features in Western Australian tourist promotions.
Rock windows were popular before the advent of aluminium windows. 

Just 20kms from the Indian Ocean. 

Moving south to the settlement of Kalbarri, we coincided with school holidays and hordes of families from Perth and surrounds, where we realised we had been somewhat removed from so much

noise that goes with exuberation of holidays.  All is good though as we dodge the bikes and balls.

Impressive lookout over Kalbarri.
Western Australia is spending big on such infrastructure to attract tourism and has recently announced a massive international advertising campaign as the Australian Road Trip destination.  

Fishermen off Kalbarri inadvertently doing their best to re-enact one of the many shipwrecks along this coastline. 

Happy fishing, travelling and living.
Regards, Don and Carrol.