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After leaving Monkey Mia, we had a quick stop at Hamelin Pool, to check out some ancient cyanobacteria that were the first "living things" on the planet - the stromatolites. These ones at Hamelin are relatively young, only about 6000 years old. It was cool to see something so old that was still living, even though Lee was slightly bored because the rocks didn't "do" anything. Lea assured him that at high tide, they farted (she had read the sign saying that they give off bubbles of oxygen, visible when covered in water), and that seemed to satisfy him.
We drove on to Kalbarri, passing through the Kalbarri National Park, which was a carpet of wildflowers a couple of months ago. We got to see some remnants, and vowed to return one year to see the full-blown show.
Set up camp with Steve, Lisa and Torah, and we spent a couple of days checking out the sights. We did a couple of walks in the National Park, checking out Nature's Window, and Z Bend Gorge. We were thankful of the continuing wind at this point, as the walks would've been stiflingly hot without it. We also took a drive down the coast a bit to check out the rugged cliffs and rockpools, and saw an amazing sight - 10 dolphins surfing a massive wave.
Our favourite part of our visit to Kalbarri though would have to be the Seahorse Sanctuary. It was set up in 2000 by a husband-and-wife team of marine biologists, who breed seahorses for the aquarium trade in order to protect wild populations, and the sanctuary is the first of its kind in the world. We spent a good couple of hours there learning about the process, and just sitting and watching the tanks of hundreds of seahorses - aptly described by the owners as "living lava lamps".
At the end of our stay in Kalbarri, we sadly farewelled Steve, Lisa and Torah for the last time, as they have to make tracks in order to be home by Christmas. We had such a great time travelling with them (2 months in all), and we're looking forward to catching up with them at Chateau Morgan when we make it round to Melbourne!
L & L
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