Day 27- Tuesday, 9 Feb - Hamelin Bay

From dawn already we hear the gunfire.   And we both hear and see the helicopters.  An organised killing is taking place and will last till the end of the week.  Goats do not belong in a National Park.

Therefore, we cannot see the gorges of the Murchison River as intended.  Hiking would by the way have been impossible.  The temperature is said to be more than 55*C.

Morning beer and ham-cheese toasty at "Billabong Roadhouse", at the edge of a most deserted and dry area.  "Billabong" means waterhole.  There was a settler, who for weeks was looking for water and at the end, having found none, named the place Billabong.

Fuel at Overlander Roadhouse, another Baghdad-Cafe like place.  Next filling station in 125 kms.

Hamelin Bay campsite is an interesting place with a an old Telegraph Station that dates back to 1884, on the Perth-Roebourne telegraph line.  Now a privately owned museum, which houses a small aquarium with the World's only living Stromatolites "in captivity".  They do indeed produce small bubbles every 8 minutes.

The heat is such, that an airconditioned room is a must and due to an impressive amount of flies, we need a net - like everybody else.   We had been warned, but I didn't expect this.

The main reason for visiting Hamelin Pool is to see the Stromatolites also called "living stones".  

The living microbes that build Stromatolites in the highly saline waters of Hamelin Pool are similar to the earliest dorms of life dating back 3.000 million years.

The nearby quarry (on the beach) has provided compact shell blocks for use in the building of station (farm) homesteads, civic buildings and the Old Pearler restaurant in Denham.