Day 19 Shark Bay

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 28^th.

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 24^th 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.