Shells and stromatolites in Shark Bay

---

Day 54 – Wednesday 22^nd August – Francois Peron National Park to Kalbarri

It was blowy and trying hard to rain when we woke up this morning at 6.30. But as soon as we ventured out of the tent we could see that it would brighten up and indeed the dew/rain on the tent had dried out by the time we packed up at 8am.

Driving back along the sandy track one of the warning lights came on in the car (traction control). It’s one of the lights that mean you have to get your car checked by a Toyota dealer ASAP. Hmmm. We didn’t feel it would be dangerous to drive another few hundred kms to the nearest dealer in Geraldton, so we booked an appointment with the service department for tomorrow afternoon.

On the way out of Shark Bay we stopped at Eagle Bluff for a view of the bay and then at Shell Beach, which is one of only two beaches in the world that is made from millions and millions of tiny shells of the same type (Coquina). The white shells made a stark contrast to the turquoise sea and blue sky and it was another beautiful spot. From there we drove around 30km to Hamelin Pool. Hamelin Pool is famous for being an old telegraph stations when the intercontinental telegraph cables were established in the 19^th century. Hamelin Pool has two other claims to fame – it is the location of the shell stone quarry blocks used to build historic buildings in Shark Bay and the home of the life-forming fossils stromatolites (over squillions of years stromatolites have been responsible for increasing the percentage of oxygen in the air making it possible for life to evolve on land. At least I think that’s a concise explanation of the role of the stomatolites). Anyway, they look like a cross between a rock and a black cauliflower – very unspectacular for such an important life form.

At Hamelin Pool we had a quick picnic in the campgrounds then continued on our merry way towards Kalbarri, another 300km or so south of Shark Bay. We had booked a spot in the Anchorage campground as camping is not allowed in the National Park and arrived there at around 5pm. As we have been driving south the temperatures have slowly been dropping – no more high twenties but low to mid-twenties. Still better than Melbourne and mostly better than a European summer!!

Unfortunately the famous Finlay’s Fish BBQ was closed so we had to make do with fish and chips from a different shop. We enjoyed bassa, emperor and snapper and some excellent chips on the windy beach at Kalbarri just after sunset. It was only our second takeaway meal of fish and chips during the trip and it tasted pretty good!

---