Perth to Exmouth Trip - Day 3-4 Kalbarri to Ningaloo

Day 3 with Red Earth Safari trip to Exmouth started the same way as Day 2...6:30 breakfast and 7:00 departure. We headed to Kalbarri National Park. Kalbarri is a large national park and has many features including the overlooks to the ocean that we visited on Day 2 and also rivers and gorges. The contours and colors of the rocks are beautiful.
Those who wanted to do a bit of abseiling (repelling) had the opportunity. It was a beautiful spot (pictured left). Since I had repelled before, I passed and decided to spend the extra money in Exmouth although I was surprised at how reasonable it was. Those of us who watched tried to take pictures as people came down that were more than just butt shots.
After repelling, we had time to explore down along the river. I wandered up the river a bit. The layers of the sandstone made a fun climbing area with different tiers of rock to conquer. We then followed the trail around to the Z-bend with some decent hiking up and down...it was great to stretch my legs out on a real walk (not just a casual 10 min stroll). The Z-bend is a zig-zag section of the Murchinson River that was formed by fractures in the sandstone. The river actually changes course in a pattern that looks like a "Z".
It was a beautiful spot...one I would LOVE to return to Kalbarri and spend some more time hiking around.
It was a great morning hike.

We passed tracks embedded in the rocks on the trail.

Eurypterid tracks (labled) and picture on plaque.

They were left by an extinct half meter long amphibious ancestor of a modern day scorpion called an eurypterid. Man...I would NOT want to come into contact with a living one of these guys!
Further down the trail, we ran into a couple of wild wallaby eating their lunch.  We also spotted quite a few reasonably sized spiders (1-2cm body) on huge webs. They were interesting to look at.  They were much larger than most spiders that would casually be around in the US or Europe but fairly small by Australian standards. :)

One of the main tourist destinations is called Natures Window. The window is completely natural opening in the rock. The rippled surfaces were caused by waves moving over the tidal flats when this land was covered with water. It is breathtaking and SO worth the stop.
It would not be a good spot if there are hordes of tourists because the area would be cramped and you would have to wait in line forever to get a clear picture of the window. We were very lucky and it was quite deserted. Everyone had time to take a picture. Breathtaking!!

We drove the 4 hours up to the Shark Bay peninsula after lunch. The region is a World Heritage Area.  One section at the tip is cordened off by a electric fence for something called Project Eden. They removed all of the feral animals (including foxes and cats) and reintroduced native species that were on the brink of extension. We were told to get out and go see what the deterrent is at the road (because they can not extend the fence across the roadway). Everyone was hesitant. I jumped out and walked up. I could see a cattle grate across the physical road. As I approached a VERY loud barking sound came out of a speaker. I jumped. :)

At the end of the road is Shell Beach. Shell Beach is comprised entirely of little white cockle shells.
It is 120 km long and the shells can be up to 10m deep! The outlet to the ocean is small and therefore the tidal flux is the only way fresh water is introduced creating extra salinated water which the mollusks love. Thanks to the World Heritage status, the beach is protected and you are not to remove shells so that this natural wonder can be enjoyed. We had time to enjoy the beach. It was fascinating and beautiful. I have to say...not really a barefoot beach...only for the strong :)

We also went to the Eagle Bluff overlook. Apparently, in the spring and summer there can be hundreds of sharks in the waters below the cliff. We did not see any. It was still a pretty place.

As we were driving back to town we did see several wild kangaroo and emu. It is fun to see emu wondering around. Our accommodation was another backpackers place on the beach. I was pleasantly surprised at all of the places we stayed. Bay Lodge Backpackers in Denham was literally across the street from the beach.

We arrived early enough to walk through town...to be fair...it was not a big town. I played with sunset pictures more...trying to get the pinks and oranges to really pop in my pictures. It was a great trip for playing with sunsets. :)

Day 4 - We were on the boardwalk at Monkey Mia by 7:00am. Monkey Mia is known for its population of wild dolphins. People have been interacting with the dolphins since the 1960's. In the early days, anyone could go to the beach and feed the dolphins. They population decreased and started to become diseased and lazy (dependent on the food) until the Department of Environment and Conservation stepped in. The DEC started limiting the amount of physical contact and food the dolphins received. The population currently is large and healthy.
A limited number of dolphins are fed 3 fish per session (encompassing less than 15% of the daily diet) a maximum of 3 times a day before noon if the dolphins appear. Anywhere from 0 to 25 dolphins come in to the beach on any one day or time. Apparently, at Easter there were 700 people and 1 dolphin.
We saw a couple of dolphins swimming from under a pier almost as soon as we walked up. We were invited to walk onto the beach and into the COLD water up to mid-calf deep. They gave a 20 minute presentation about the dolphins. Several dolphins some played in the distance, some swam around to show off the young calfs, some of the older dolphins in the program swam up and down looking at the crowd (several hundred people). It was interesting.
They picked 3 people at random per dolphin to feed them one fish each. Nobody from our group was selected. We decided that they should offer "rent a kid" services because most of the people selected were either older adults or had kids.

After the dolphins were fed, they swam away. We had time to walk around the area. A wild emu was also walking around town. :) It made me smile. I love this country!
The second dolphin interaction started about 10 minutes before we had to leave. Less than 20 people were there. We could not stay which was sad because even without a kid we had a fighting chance of being selected to feed one of the dolphins.

Stramatolite Pool

Our last stop on the penninsula was to see the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool. The stromatolites evolved 3.5 billion years ago. They were one of the first structures on earth that produced oxygen and led to the development of plant and animal life and there are only a couple places on earth where they still exist. If you look close enough, you can see bubbles from the oxygen production. It was amazing to look at these creatures that have been around for billions of years. Our guide told me that he had some geologists that came to WA just for the stromatolites. Apparently they ran out of the van when they stopped. :)

Lunch was not far from the stramatolites in a small "village". The picnic bench was under a thatched structure that was labeled "Post Office".  I thought it was funny.

After lunch we commenced a long drive up to the sheep station that we were visiting for the night. Along the way we traveled on the 2nd longest straight road in Australia (the longest straight road in the wold is east of Perth on the Nullabor Plain - 146km (90 miles) without any curves or bends). Along the way we saw several small Road Trains. Road trains are a truck that pulls several semi trailers behind (at least 2 but generally 3 or more). They are typical way of transportation of goods across Australia.

The Warroora sheep station was MUCH more modern that the one we stayed in 10 years ago.  We stayed in the shearer's & stockman's quarters.  It had twin share rooms, communal kitchen, outdoor tables and fire pit. There were lots of shreiks about spiders. I don't know what the reaction would have been in the other place. The cabins, sheltered picnic area, and cooking facilities were a surprise to me...I expected it to be much more rustic.
Our tour guide beat a path to get there so that we could make it to the station to meet up with the guys who work there. They loaded us in the "high class" working truck transportation and drove us through some of the property. It was fun!! We saw some wild kangaroo and lots of sheep. The kangaroo were quite close...it still amazes me how they move and use their muscled tail.
The property includes a beach that faces the Ningaloo waters. The beach was amazing...so beautiful and unspoiled. The most amazing place so far to watch a sunset. These people work incredibly hard but what an amazing place to get to relax after a hard days work! We played on the beach until after sunset. The water was warm for the first time.

That night after dinner (yummy roast chicken with potatoes and sweet corn), we sat around a fire and roasted marshmallows (Australian marshmallows taste different - sweeter and they also have multi-flavored marshmallows in the packages)and talked. It was a very pleasant evening.
I could not sleep (started with cold feet) and so I went back out to the fire.  It was a beautiful night, unfortunately with a bright half moon.  My camera and I tried to hide the moon behind a tree and capture the southern cross.  Yep...back in this increadible place on a beautiful starry night under the southern sky. :)

I saw the moon set on Day 4 and the sunrise of Day 5.