To Denham and Shark Bay

Leaving Quobba in the rain we realised that it is going to get cooler as we head south. We picked up a some more delicious local fruit and veggie before we left Carnarvon. The countryside was flat with the familiar stunted shrubs (no trees) and not many changes so was quite monotonous and the rain didn’t help us but is much appreciated by the farmers as it has been extremely dry in WA. I didn’t realise that there is so much flat land in Australia.
After making good time we decided not to stay at the freebie we planned on and to get closer to Shark Bay so I booked into the Hamelin Pools CP just after the turn off to Denham. We came to a sign saying Hamelin Station and turned in.As we got closer I realised we had taken the wrong turn.
When we rounded the corner we saw a lovely new building and some sheds etc, lots of birds and there was a very relaxing feeling. We were in the wrong place but Jake showed us around anyway. He was a traveller himself but he and his wife have been here for over a year setting up and managing the new tourist operation. He was extremely enthusiastic about the property and loved to talk.
We were so impressed with him and the place that we decided to stay here instead. There was a new building which housed a huge kitchen, an open fire and a great outdoor sitting area as well as a huge brand new abolition block which is the best one I have seen on this trip. He also explained the size of the property which is a working sheep, goat and cattle station. It is 60 kms from one side to the other and the highway runs right through the place. He said it was quite an interesting task stopping the road trains to allow the sheep to cross. There are many paddocks, each about 30,000 acres in size!!
Just after we pulled up another QLD car pulled up and they also had taken the wrong turn and also decided to stay and they live at the Gold Coast at Worongary!! Small world. Jake took us all on a bird watching tour which he was passionate about. It is a bird watchers paradise with a large dam as well as lots of habitat for wrens. We saw some beautiful blue wrens as well as lots of other birds. The landscape consists of stunted twisted trees, red soil and there was lots of wattle out so it was very pretty. That evening we had a happy hour by the open fire as it was a cold night which was lots of fun.

The next day we headed to Hamelin Pools to see the Stromatolites which are a very ancient form of life that was the start of life on earth and very exciting for geologists.
They are layered limestone rocks built by single celled cynobacteria which trap and bind sediments. Some build craggy towers and others build flat spongy mats depending on the water level. Cynobacteria first appeared on earth when oxygen was scarce. As these colonies expanded they released more and more oxygen into the atmosphere eventually raising the oxygen levels to 20% which led the way for air breathing life forms to evolve.
The Stomatolites here are only about 3000 years old but is a very interesting study. They only appear where the water is very salty and this occurs at Hamelin Pools as a huge sand bar prevents the tide from flushing the out the water.
There is a large boardwalk over the sea so visitors can view this unusual phenomina.

Then we went on to Shell beach which is made up of millions of small white Coquina shells which only occur in very salty water. There are so many shells they have compacted to form Coquina limestone
which was cut into blocks to use for building. The shells appear around the area and are used for paths in the town (and on the station) and are also made into shell grit. It will never run out as new shells are always being deposited.

We arrived in Denham and checked into our CP. We could see the turquoise sea from our site. Denham is a very pretty, small fishing and tourist town in the World Heritage Shark Bay.
Shark Bay is where the first recorded white man, the Dutch trading ship's captain Dirk Hartog, landed in 1699 and Dirk Hartog Island is named after him.