The road down was again coastal scrub , few trees , but still wildflowers , the occasional salt lake and a lookout on top of a small ridge at the start of a very long section of straight road - gun barrel straight !! Some of the truckies coming the other way were hunched over the steering wheel, looking really bored with it . We met lots of demountable accommodation dongers - 6 trucks today and there were at least 8 yesterday , and we saw a lot more driving past Carnarvon - another mining village no doubt .
Views from the lookout weren't bad - we were a bit south of Gladstone Beach - not the east coast version !! You could get 360 degree views out to Shark Bay over salt lakes & claypans .
Continuing on , we reached the turn off to shark Bay , next to the Overland Roadhouse . All the literature we had been reading , kept mentioning the fact you can get information on The World Heritage Drive . Apparently you can , in the form of a sign you can read in an information bay across the road !!
We headed off to Hamelin Station - only 29 klms down the road , found it , turned in and checked in. Set up , and the temperature again was in the mid 30's , we had lunch and headed to Hamelin Pool - the home to many Stromatolites ( whole worlds of bacteria that seem to thrive right here in the very salty waters ) . Arriving at the carpark it was 36 degrees , we jumped out of the ute into an oven !! It was swelteringly hot - the heat was coming out of the ground and going straight through you . We persevered , thinking that the wind off the water will be cooler - it was , but you still had to walk 400m to get there first !! We walked a little quicker to get there sooner !!
There is a walkway to keep you up & away from them , so you don't pollute them ( seems a bit strange - not polluting bacteria ?? ) We reached the beach to find it is all small shells - a particular kind that also thrive here in the extra salty water .
What we thought originally were rocks and also looked like an old bitumen road , were actually bacterial mats , some coloured orange were actually dead ones - they had been too far out of the water .
The timber walkway was ours , everybody else had succumbed to the heat and left , we found a seat and sat for a little bit , trying to take it all in .
The tide was out , so we could see them out of the water , they stretched up & down the beach on both sides of us , there was plenty of small fish swimming in & out and around them . The heat finally got to us , so we headed back to the ute for a blast of full throttle air-conditioning , to cool us off . There is an old Telegraph Station / shop & caravan park here as well - we made the right choice to stay where we are though !!
There is also a quarry where they used to cut blocks of shell out and use it for building blocks , they are the same size as Besser Bricks .
There were also some wildflowers still out - we missed all the yellow everlasting daisies by a couple of weeks . Here is one little blue one . Look closely and you can see Daffy Duck !!
That's it for today - too hot !! Time for a beer & salsa !!
Todays map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.khVEtFfyBv88&usp=sharing
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