World Heritage Site #41: Shark Bay
From the World Heritage inscription:
At the most westerly point of the Australian continent, Shark Bay, with its islands and the land surrounding it, has three exceptional natural features: its vast sea-grass beds, which are the largest (4,800 km2) and richest in the world; its dugong (‘sea cow’) population; and its stromatolites (colonies of algae which form hard, dome-shaped deposits and are among the oldest forms of life on earth). Shark Bay is also home to five species of endangered mammals.
While I was able to visit Kakadu and Purnululu during the right time of year, I probably visited Shark Bay at the wrong time of year. It would have been much better to vist during the Australian summer. Nonetheless I got to see the one thing I really wanted to see at Shark Bay…..stromatolites!
Here is the podcast episode on stromatolites I shot in Hamilne Pool:
That's another place in Australia I want to visit when/if I return. I feel like it's worth the trip to the west coast just for that.