Dolphins and Emus and Sharks, Oh My!

Well it's time to start heading back to Perth, but not without a dozen or so stops along the way!

Carnarvon, Shark's Bay and a brief stop to gain some vertical elevation at a horizontal feature

First stop on the way down south is Carnarvon. We did spend a fair amount of time in the town on the way up, picking up George, so we decided to skip the town and just head straight to the blowholes. The blowholes are an impressive site on the coast, about 50km outside of the town centre. They occur on the coast on a set of limestone where the abrasive force of the ocean has worked its way through the cliffs as small passageways and now provide eruptive exits for the water hitting the cliffs as the waves pummel the coast. For maximum effect, aim to go during big swell and low(ish) tide - be aware though that these cliffs can be dangerous in big swell, and between the churning waters and jagged cliffs are not somewhere you want to end up.

After a night with the flies (and this time also massive hornets) at the Overland Roadhouse, we started making our way into Shark's Bay - unfortunately check in for most campsites ends at about 1800 and we weren't going to make it in time all the way in. About 2.5 hours from the highway, we arrive at Monkey Mia, perfectly timed for the third dolphin feeding of the day. This occurs up to three times a day and is carefully controlled by park rangers (only 500g per serving for specific dolphins) and has been going on for more than 50 years. The longest a single dolphin has been coming to the beach is 38 years, called Notch, introduced by her mother and now bringing a calf of her own. There is lots of research that also occurs at Monkey Mia around the dolphins, sharks, rays, dugongs and whales depending on the season.

There's only one campground in the reserve area, not unreasonably priced at $16 pppn, but they had a very reasonable deal for $20 pppn including a pub dinner and a drink. Monkey Mia is still very popular even in the off season and we met some very nice fellow travellers here. During the summer, there are plenty of overly-inquisitive emus wandering around the place looking for food and water in the harsh summer months. Feeding should be actively discouraged, and make sure all your food is packed up securely and out of site.

The next day, Zoe went to all three feedings in hopes of getting chosen, but to no prevail. So she consoled herself with an ice cream and off we set for Kalbarri via the Sharks Bay World Heritage Trail. Sharks Bay is one of only a couple hundred Natural World Heritage sites in the world, defined by four criteria:

1. An area of outstanding natural beauty - self explanatory
2. Hosts an outstanding example representing major stages of Earth's history, including the record of life and significant on-going geological processes - stromatolites at Hamelin Pool are rock like carbonate structures built by cyano-bacteria colonies on the surface, similar to the first forms of life on earth 3.5 billion years ago
3. Hosts an outstanding example representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution of ecological processes - transition zone between major ecological ecosystems (terrestrial and marine), with many endemic species and others living at the extremes of their ranges
4. Contains the most significant natural habitats for the conservation of biological diversity, including threatened species of outstanding value from the point of view of science or conservation - Shark's Bay is the home of many critically endangered plants, mammals, reptiles, birds and fish, several of which are endemic to the area. 

On top of being an outstanding example of a Natural World Heritage site, Shark Bay is also home to at least 100 species of reptiles and amphibian, 240 birds, 320 fish, 80 coral, 218 bivalves and 820 species of plant, at least 70 of which are also endemic to the area. So you will can't help but experience some incredible natural observation whilst there.

Leaving Monkey Mia, there are plenty of stops along the 'World Heritage Drive' back to the highway. There is the incredible Francois Peron National Park, unfortunately a high clearance 4x4 is required to access most of the park, so Claire wasn't quite up to the task that day. Our first stop of the day, was a beautiful lookout at the top of Eagle Bluff overlooking a bay where you can observe (best with binoculars) a large number of wildlife. We saw a good number of sharks, rays and even the dolphin pod swimming across the bay (being pursued what looked like a large number of small sharks). Luckily we had a friendly Canadian with a set of binoculars to confirm or deny our suspicions of what certain blobs were.

Three dolphins, 2 calves and lots of smaller dark patches chasing

My cockles are already warm

Next stop on the way out was Shell Beach. A unique beach made up of billions of cockle shells of a particular species that has been able to proliferate unchecked by its natural predator due to the high salinity conditions of the ocean around this area. 

Final stop on the way out were the stromatalites at Hamelin Pool. This is one of only two places in the world where living stromatalites exist and provide a modern day analogue to the earliest form of life from ~3.5 billion years ago. These were critical to the development of the Earth's atmosphere as they released oxygen as they photosynthesised. The pictures is probably slightly less than exciting for those outside of a geo background but hey.

Once we were out of the Shark Bay area there were two quick stops: the Tropic of Capricorn, and a bit of beach driving. Unfortunately, no super exciting outside footage as the GoPro is still deciding to play dead. And then we were on our way to Kalbarri, Geraldton and beyond.

Now just imagine it was 3500 Ma, a lot hotter and a lot less oxygen

Disclaimer: the actual Tropic of Capricorn is likely quite a ways back up the road, as it's moving north at a rate of ~0.47 arcseconds (~15m) per year and I don't know when this sign was installed.

Until the next time.