Carnarvon to Denham, Western Australia
A long driving day: from Carnarvon to Denham via the westernmost point in Australia takes a good ten hours of driving. Along the way, we see some life forms that haven't changed much in 3 billion years--the cyanobacteria stromatolites in Hamelin Pool--and see yet more wildflowers.
Drive. Do the Winnebago shuffle to the Overlander Roadhouse. Pretty easy driving.
Hamelin Pools. Neat boardwalk over the stromatolites, which are the secretions of the cyanobacteria. These critters were living 3 billion years ago; even before Earth's atmostphere had oxygen. They use photosynthesis to convert sunlight and carbon dioxide to sugars and other useful stuff, and the waste product is oxygen. After two billion years, there was enough oxygen in the atmosphere that other things could use it... and then plants and animals evolved. Now, these bacteria only exist in the wild in two places: western Australia and the Bahamas, where they survive in warm hypersaline pools.
The stromatolites look like lava rocks, but some look like mats.
After that, we drove out to Steep Point, the westernmost point in Australia. It's a long three hour drive off the pavement, the last hour down a narrow sandy track. Plenty of things to see; the wildflowers really don't let up at all. Saw a new banksia bush (Banksia hookeriana, I think) that was much taller and much more in flower than the one we saw earlier. Also saw heaps of purple daisies, and a curious showy bush that looks like Xanthostemon, but I'm not sure. There was also a stumpy lizard on the road.
And... we had to drive again in the dark. This time, we didn't hit any kangaroos, but I think we killed three rabbits. The rabbits were everywhere, we saw a good four dozen of them, as well as a good dozen or so kangaroos.
It was just a long driving day. I'm tired.
Weird Wildlife Sighting
Cyanobacteria and that stumpy lizard.