A nearly semi-circular drive of 350km around Shark Bay.

Wattle

We disturbed a few Wedge-tailed eagles on roadkill. They flew away and then circled for a while.

Wooramel Roadhouse – no towns and two roadhouses between Carnarvon and Denham (Shark Bay).

Wooramel and Gladstone Scenic Lookout with views over the low lying coastline with Shark Bay’s most extensive mangrove community. The North West Coastal Highway runs parallel to the Wooramel Coast.

Lookout from the top of the jump-up. More similar to outside Coober Pedy than anywhere else in WA we have seen.

I am hoping this means everything might be cheaper.

Old Overland Telegraph Station at Hamelin Pool (1884) that linked Perth and Roebourne.

Hamelin Pool –  Stromatolites are living fossils and the oldest living lifeforms on our planet. They form by layers of sediments sandwiched between microbial lifeforms.

We couldn’t get any closer as the beach is closed off and the boardwalk was damaged by Cyclone Seroja in 2021 and not repaired.

Black-headed cormorants enjoying the break from the tourists.

Shell Block quarry at Hamelin Pool on the Boolagarda Walk

Daisy on the beach and…

..butterfly on the daisy (Meadow Argus?)

Shell Beach has huge mounds up to 10 metres deep of the Shark Bay cockle (Fragum erugatum), a burrowing mollusc enclosed in tiny bivalve shells. It is found only in WA and burrows into the sea floor in relatively shallow areas of Shark Bay. High salinity and wave action cause these to be concentrated around 60km of coastline at the southern end of Shark Bay. Shellebrate good times… come on!

The entire beach is just one species of shell as it is the only one than can live in the high salinity.

The saline water is twice as salty as seawater

Project Eden predator-proof fence to protect the entire peninsula.

Shell Beach from the west

Ashby’s banksia

Desert kurrajongs are found on Peron Peninsula – their most western occurrence.

More zebra finches active in the late afternoon

Eagle Bluff Lookout and Boardwalk – view across the bay to one of Australia’s oddest place names – Useless Loop. A Frenchman on Nicolas Baudin’s expedition of 1801-1803 gave it the name “Havre Inutile”, or Useless Harbour, because a large sandbar blocked off any boat from entering, thus making it useless.

Looking north from Eagle Bluff

We had a bite to eat at Shark Bay Hotel in Denham – the most westerly hotel in Australia.

The hotel has sections built from shell blocks quarried locally. The Shell Block Quarry still operates only for building restoration. The hotel may need to shell out for some new columns soon.

I stand and applaud.