From Coral Bay to Denham

I

11/6/2018

With heavy hearts, we say goodbye to Coral Bay. We have another long day of driving ahead of us, covering 500 km. We continue down the coast towards Denham in the south. There isn't much excitement expected on this day. Our tires have held up so far, and we hope it stays that way.

The landscape changes - sometimes monotonous and bleak, sometimes deep red earth, sometimes salt lakes, and then fresher green and wildflowers. The roads always go straight ahead, and you can say that it continues beyond the horizon. In between, there are also areas used for agriculture. We pass large banana plantations and other fruit cultivation areas.

We now pass the southern Tropic of Capricorn (23° South) for the second time on our tour and leave the geographical tropics again.

Along our way lies Hamelin Pool. The attraction here is stromatolites, which we naturally want to see. They are the oldest organisms on Earth and look more like rocks - nothing special. But without them, there would be no higher order life on our planet. It's interesting to know that.

The next stop is Shell Beach. It is a wide beach made up of billions of tiny white shells. They have accumulated to a 10 m high layer. The contrast between the white shell beach and the turquoise blue sea is fantastic. The temperature is a pleasant 25°C, but I am almost "blown away by the wind."

We arrive at our accommodation, "Oceanside Village," around 5:00 PM. These are small holiday cottages right by the sea. Here, too, it storms in the afternoons and evenings to such an extent that we cannot fully enjoy it.