Living Fossils, tall trees, bounty of the sea, ocean sunset

Continuing the adventures of Southern Western Australia (WA) with Dave:

SUNDAY 26 July (Day 1) continued: Perth to Dunsborough

After Dave and I finished playing in the circus of sculptures and walking the waterside walkways of Mandurah, we continued south to Lake Clifton.

Lake Clifton is “one of the few places in the world where ‘living rocks’ (microbialites) grow. It is the largest ‘lake-bound’ microbialite reef in the southern hemisphere”.

I wasn’t actually sure what to expect of these prehistoric creatures. I had read about them while planning my aborted trip to Northern WA, so I was stoked that there was a place I could catch them again. Apparently, these small creatures are somewhat like coral? “As the microorganisms photosynthesise, calcium carbonate is drawn out of the lime-enriched lake water to form rocklike material”. So, that should explain why, when we walked down the wooden jetty into the lake, it appeared we were really just looking at lots of rocks under the water! LOL (laugh out loud).


It was a beautiful lake though! Through the clear water, we could see baby fish (no idea what species) swimming along. We also noticed that the shape of the “living rocks” changed as the water depth increased. In the shallows, the rocks appeared to be flattened on top; which makes sense, as they wouldn’t be able to grow ABOVE the water level. In the deep area the “rock” appeared rounded and bubble like.

I LOVE the picture Dave took of me with the rounded rocks stretching behind me, like beautiful stepping stones leading into the reflection of sky and clouds.

We stopped briefly at the Tuart Forest. Apparently large expanses of these native forests have disappeared, they can only be found in a few places of this southern area. I am afraid to say, though, that I really didn’t notice a massive difference in flora composition from any other area of bush land! I know! How horrible a naturalist am I? Part of the problem is that the trees here (generally all some sort of species of eucalyptus (aka gum tree)) are tall enough to great a screen through which you cannot see far. So, picking out the even taller Tuart variety was near impossible. The other problem was – well, it’s the only place on our entire one week tour that the rain actually. We did get out of the car and walk around a bit, but we really couldn’t tell if there was supposed to be a trail we stuck to or if we were supposed to just wander. It’s really too bad, as the water began to fall (in decent sized drops) just as we got off track and found a very tall giant indeed. I would have loved to wander some more… as the area is supposed to be home to quite a few birds. But, I imagine the birds were hunkered down as well. So – we got back in the car and headed south again…. Just as the sun came out!

The day was getting fairly late, so we didn’t bother stopping in Bunbury. When we arrived in Busselton

we headed straight through town and to the jetty. We had both really been looking forward to the underwater viewing experience at the end of the jetty. An old, REALLY long wharf has been fitted out with a viewing enclosure beneath the waves. Supposedly a person can see fish, invertebrates, and the occasional sea lion move within their watery habitat. Unfortunately, the managers of the wharf had chosen this winter to upgrade the jetty – apparently it was becoming a bit dilapidated and dangerous. So, no underwater views for us. Instead, we were able to get a good view of the weather out to sea and watch some of the locals fish.




One lady was nice enough to answer a few of my questions – such as, what kind of crab is that. She looked at me a bit funny when I didn’t know it was a blue crab and she looked at me even more funny when I asked if I could take a picture – LOL! I would have liked to snap many pictures, capturing the bright blue coloration under the front appendages and the purplish tint on the tips. However, I didn’t want to push the women’s patience – I had already started drawing a crowd of tourists! When we left, the women went to measure her catch; on our way back down the wharf I asked – the crab was large enough to keep, it would be dinner.

As we made our way back to the car, we passed other people that were line fishing. One person had apparently forgotten to throw their catch back in…. I got a FANTASTIC picture of this remarkable fish…. Note the turquoise color on the head spine and the electric blue spots running down the top and bottom of the fish. As I finished my photo ops, a buy came wandering down the jetty with a pole. I asked what fish this was and why it was on the dock (I felt REALLY bad for the thing, struggling for air). He said it was a throw back, but for the life of me I CANNOT remember the name of this fish! I was greatly relieved when the guy toed the poor thing back into the water.

Dave and I ended our explorations in Dunsborough. We had an overpriced motel room for our anniversary night. Before getting all dolled up and going out to a Thai restaurant, we used our remaining daylight to make a quick run up to the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse. Unfortunately, the grounds were closed for the day and the sun was setting – so we didn’t have time to explore the trails or lighthouse.

Instead, we headed back down the road and took a detour to Sugarloaf Rock. Here, we were able to watch the crashing waves as well as see the lighthouse over the hills. Dave took this fantastic picture of Sugarloaf at sunset.

It’s funny, we probably wouldn’t have taken the time to note Sugarloaf on the map, except I had found a beautiful card at the Busselton Jetty souvenier shop. It had such lovely colors that I HAD to buy it for someone (Dave’s grandma just got my belated mailing last week). Since we had bought the card, I made a point of trying to see it – why by the card if we weren’t going to? I was pleased we were able to find it on this evening, as we wouldn’t have had time to come back – our trip really was too much of a whirlwind tour of an area that could be luxuriated in for weeks on end.