Geraldton-Shark Bay

4.05

Left Geraldton early, hopping to arrive in Shark Bay for the sunset and knowing I wanted to stop at a few places on the way.

So, was I thinking going strait to the Bay. There were a national park with some gorge I could go to on the way, but I didn’t wanted to, being the same kind of the thing I’ll see later in the Kimberlyes and being a detour. Guess who went to that direction anyway?? Yay, you have it right. Maybe one day I’ll learn to use my brain the right way… I did had some nice view when I arrived at Kalbarri, but it was it. 150km extras with maybe ten on the coast, not sure it was worth it. At least I has a little something out of it…

Back on the main road, and I finally arrived at the bay, but still 150km to arrive at destination, Monkey Mia, which is on the north part of it. The area is listed as World Heritage. 

There is a few things to see on the way, so I made some stops. 

First there is the Hamelin Pool, at the base of the bay. The sand and see grass bank there make it extremely salty by restricting water flow. It’s also very hot and exposed. Most plant and animals can’t survive here.

There is two different stops by the pool, the first one being to see the microbial mats and stromatolites. Here they are among the most diverse in the world and show us what marine ecosystems would have looked like three billion years ago. 

The other one is Shell beach. The other thing that can live in the pool are the Frangum cockle. They are white shells that can be found other places around the world, but due to the salinity here, they tend to stay small. They make up for that in number. There is so many of them that they have piled up and cemented into stone. This shell stone was used for building. When you are on the beach, it’s covered in shell, never seen something like this!!

After shell beach, I’ve done a few stopped at divers lookout before arriving at Benham, the town of the bay. I stayed there for the sunset since it is on the west coast and then drove to Monkey Mia on the other side of the bay. 

Kalbarri

Don't know the name of those trees, but like them!!

Microbial mat and tromalites

Shells beach