Little Lagoon, Denham

I've learned another new word. Birrida. It's a word used in the Shark Bay area for a shallow rounded depression or salt clay pan between sand dunes.

After sea levels rose several thousand years ago some of the birridas were inundated. Today we saw a beautiful example near Denham at Shark Bay. It's called Little Lagoon and is connected to the sea by a short mangrove-lined inlet.

Little Lagoon, Denham

White Mangroves line the inlet to Little Lagoon, Denham

Mangrove pneumatophores

White Mangroves

But it was extremely disappointing to see the damage being done by vehicles on the beach and along the inlet. In Victoria we're not allowed to drive on the beaches thankfully so we don't see this type of condoned vandalism.

Nicholson Point, Denham

Inlet to Little Lagoon, Denham

Hamelin Pool

A visit to the Hamelin Pool area of Shark Bay is almost like stepping back in time. A time 3.5 billion years ago when oxygen levels in our atmosphere was extremely low. The stromatolites, built very very slowly by living organisms, developed because the shallow water in the pool is twice as saline as sea water because of sandbars, and the water evaporates quickly. And they gave us the oxygen we depend on today. No wonder this is a World Heritage area.

Stamatolites at Hamelin Pool, a World Heritage area.

The boardwalk viewing platform

Damage to the foreshore by carts and vehicles associated with the wool industry is still evident.

The dunes are also interesting because this is a shelly beach composed almost entirely of the shells of Fragum erugatum, small (6mm) marine cockles, and the dunes are as well. Older shells in have been compressed into a conglomerate rock called coquina (a great word for Scrabble) that in the past was harvested, sawn into blocks for building purposes. The worksite is also heritage listed.

The shelly beach

Shelly sand dune

Shelly rock quarry

The foreshore area is extremely harsh but still the plants manage to survive. These are all flowering within metres of the high tide mark.

Hamelin Pool

Something chose the highest vegetation to build its nest in.

Roadside flowers, Northampton, WA

On the road north to Shark Bay we stopped to look at some roadside vegetation just north of Northampton.

Sandstone, WA

Sandstone is a small town on the road between Leinster and Mt Magnet. The main street has a neat square that celebrates their gold mining and sheep station history and someone has had a brilliant idea to establish a few old cars as installations. It looks great and I reckon they should extend the installations as a real tourist attraction.

Flat battery