Monkey Mia and a long drive back to Perth

We left Hoppys farm early in the morning to avoid the main heat of the day. We headed south down the main highway to Monkey Mia. Monkey Mia is on the Shark Bay penninsula which is a world heritage site, due to the high salinity waters, the incredible marine life and some strange limestone cyanobacteria formations (stromolites (sp?) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolites). The route down was pretty uneventful until we reached the Overlander road house. A road house is a service station in the middle of nowhere for weary travellers to fill up and buy ice cream (they also offer accomodation and other sources of nourishment). When we arrived there hoping to have a picnic the ground was covered with hundreds (no exagerration) of dead budgies, cockaoos and other colourful bird life. I found out this morning on the news that as the temperatures had got so hot the previous day the birds descended on the road house to find shade and water, but even with the shade and water at the road house the heat was too much for most of the birds and they were falling out of the sky due to heat exhaustion (http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/gallery/0,21592,5036919-5013959,00.html warning these photos are pretty horrible). A really strange site and quit earie - needless to say we decided it was a bit wierd picnicing next to lots of dead birds and carried on.

We stopped for lunch at the Telegraph station which opened in 1884 as a booster station to service the west coast communities. This is a strange little community consisting of a caravan park some picnic benches, a shop and a 'museum'. The owner of the shop was a rather mad beardered long haired aging hippy who insisted that it was too hot for a walk to see the stromolites (more later) and that we should drive. Couldn't help thinking how isolated they must be there and wondering how people survived there in the 1880's! We walked the 700m through the shell quarry (all buildings were build out of the this strange shingle stone as there is no wood or other types of stone) to the stromolites. Stromolites are like coral - they are formed by cyanobacteria that trap bits of sand and mud and build up calcium deposites. They were some of the first life forms on the planet and hav only survived there due to the high salinity water - very odd.

Next we drove on to Monkey Mia arrving with enough time for a walk on the beach and a pizza. the next morning we went to the dolphin interaction area and watched the dolphins being fed. Quite a unique experience to stand in knee deep water and watch dolphins swim round your ankles. They are all wld dolphins who have learnt how to get an easy meal at the expense of tourists!

Then onwards on the 700km drive back to Perth - following the route we had taken up north. Today we've hired our camper van which is our home for the next 2 weeks. Tomorrow morning we head south to the (hopefully cooler) green wine regions and the tall forests.