Shark Bay is a World Heritage Site on the western coast of Australia, and we are going to visit.

Entering Shark Bay World Heritage Site

Shark Bay is an area, not just one place.   We are driving on the World Heritage Drive.

World Heritage Drive is quite long.   We will here a few days

First stop is Hamelin Pool to see the only remaining Telegraph Repeater Station, established in 1884.

Hamelin Pool.    Mrs. Lillian O’Donahue helped NASA in 1964 from this station

We like the gas or petrol pump here also.

Old gas pump

Inside the telegraph station, there was a sign explaining the evolution of communication:  from dot dash to dot com.   On 1964 the first Gemini space capsule was to be traced across Australia, but there was a temporary problem with the phone line.   Mrs. Lillian O’Donohue using the Morse code link, spent 4 hours relaying important information through Hamelin Pool until the phone line was fixed.

Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station of 1884 with petrol pump and telephone booth

NASA gave her a special award for her help.   Next we went to see the stromatolites.   Walking along this boardwalk,

Great viewing boardwalk

we read the explanations of stromatolite and also looked at them growing in the water.

Natural growing stromatolites

Many growing stromatolites

Hamelin Pool is one of a few places on earth where living marine stromatolites exist.   The rocky looking lumps in the water are the oldest and simplest forms of life on earth dating back 3.5 billion years.   The water at Hamelin Pool is twice as saline as usual sea water, due to sea grass banks situated across the bay’s entrance and rapid evaporation from the shallow water.

Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool

At Eagle Bluff we looked into the shallow water of Shark  Bay Marine Park and saw Cowtailed stingray.   They were visible and we saw them move but photos were not successful.   Walking along the boardwalk on the edge of the cliff, we saw Nervous Shark.   This photo shows one of the shark.

Nervous Shark

We saw more than 3 of them, but again, photos were not great.   Seeing the sharks and stingray in the ocean was wonderful!   Part of the coastline was rocky and really beautiful.

Love the rocky coastline

These islands are now important bird breeding colonies.

Island primarily breeding area for birds

Further along the World Heritage Drive, we stopped at Little Lagoon.

Little Lagoon

The lagoon is almost a perfect circle in shape.   This was once a land-locked birrida (gypsum pan) that was inundated by the sea several thousand years ago.   Linked to the sea by a small tidal channel, Little Lagoon is a natural nursery for several species of fish.   Also when we were here, a man was having a problem getting his dog, Smiley, in the truck to go home.   Smiley wanted to play and swim.   We hope Smiley and his human got home without much trouble.   Next time we will tell you about a special beach at Shark Bay World Heritage Site.