Saturday, August 20, 2011

#13. Aussie Road Trip

It's always time for a road trip. And this year, it was time for a road trip, Western Australia style. Hamish moved to Perth for work earlier this year, so it seemed like a good opportunity to check out some new places across the ditch and catch up with the boy at the same time. We didn't have a plan, other than drive north and see what could be found along the way. (Warning: This post has a *high geological content*).

View Australia in a larger map



The first stop was The Pinnacles at Nambung National Park - weird and somewhat phallic-looking limestone formations.

And some big and impressive limestone cliffs.

And some weird fossilised corals.

And some more impressive cliffs along the edge of the river through Kalbarri National Park.

Fossilised ripples were common, as was this fossilised brain(-like) thing. We also saw some fossilised arthropod footprints which I neglected to photograph.

But I did snap this wedge-tailed eagle munching on some kangaroo roadkill while driving up to Shark Bay

where we set up camp in this amazing spot with stunning views.

No geological trip to Western Australia would be complete with a visit to the stromatolites at Shark Bay. These are basically living rocks and, to most people, are probably about exciting to look at as dead rocks. But to two geeks, this was pretty cool. In fact, it was the main reason we drove all that way to Shark Bay and was totally worth it!

We found more stromatolites and their thrombolite cousins at Lake Thetis.

No trip to Australia would be complete without seeing lots of weird wildlife. We definitely found our share (but thankfully no snakes - the benefit of going in the winter).


There was a sleepy lizard, complete with ticks in the corner of its mouth,

a very fuzzy emu running away at great speed,

a hawk on a grass tree,

a fuzzy kangaroo running away,

a yellow spoonbill,

and the elusive echidna that insisted on digging holes around our tent but not coming out to play in the daylight!

And of course, the resident geologist!

A fantastic holiday! Definitely a part of the world I'd like to visit again and a lad I'd like to see more of!