Day 74: Carnarvon to Denham

We woke up to overcast skies and from the weather report we knew it was a matter of time. We managed to go 200km before it started so that was pretty good.

We stopped at a lookout for morning tea and then continued on to Hamelin Pool (where we had lunch), home of the stromatolites. We walked out on a wooden jetty to view these but the tide was a bit high so they were difficult to see. If you are interested in what they are, read the paragraph at the end of this blog.

Also of interest at Hamelin Pool was a Shell Quarry where blocks of shell material have been dug out and used as building materials.

We arrived at Denham at about 3pm and setup in the pouring RAIN. We were however soon snug and dry.

Although it was raining, Denham is a very pretty little town and we should be able to fill in our couple of days here quite easily. This will include a visit to Monkey Mia.

Shell Quarry

Shell bricks up close with mortar in between

Walkway to view stromatolites - tides not good for photos.

STROMATOLITES: "These ancient structures are examples of what life on Earth was like 3.5 billion years ago and are considered living fossils. Cyanobacteria were some of the first living creatures on Earth and stromatolites are formed by these organisms. How? The cyanobacteria bond together and produce a sticky gel – trapping sediments and sand together and gradually building up layers. As the sediment accumulates, it forms flat algal mats or hardens to form stromatolites, which have an outer layer of living cyanobacteria. At first glance these don’t even seem to be living. Each structure is actually a very slow growing microbial colony that may grow less than 1mm per year"