Day 2 - Lake Thetis

Good morning everyone....

The kids had waken up earlier than us. When I woke up, I went to check them up and saw them playing with the animals in the farm again.

I was surprised to see they bond well with each other in such a short time.

I think the sheep likes the boys is because they always take little something to feed them every time they met.

It's no kidding, those sheep would walk near to the boys whenever they saw them.....like they are good buddy.

Must because of the foods that make the sheep so like the boys...haha...

I forgot to bring foods, so they don't like me.Well, who cares. 

After taking a simple breakfast, which basically consist of eggs + bread + orange juice, we took off at around 9am. Husband said it would be a long outing so we better did it before daytime would become extremely hot several days later, according to the weather forecast.

The place we were heading to is called Cervantes, about 200km north of Swan Valley. There are quite some attraction  nearby the area. Husband estimated the driving time is around 2 hours. Gosh, quite a ride then.

At around 11am, we reached our 1st destination, Lobster Shack. The place provides a close up encounter with the most valued species fishery in Australia, the Western Rock Lobster. The visitors can watch how the lobsters are brought in from the wild by large fleet of modern boats, processed in the factory and packaged up to be sent LIVE to destinations all over the world.

The visitors can order & taste the fresh lobster served by their restaurant too. Frankly speaking, I would love to try it, but I was still quite full for anything. Everybody said the same too.

Unfortunately, the tour would be started only at 12.30 noon. Furthermore, the girl in the shop told us we won't be able to see the whole process but only part of it on that day. That had spoilt our mood. Since we didn't want to wait 1.5 hour long for it anyway, we just drove away.

Sigh, the timing was simply not right for us to come here.

Then we drove off to the 2nd destination...

It's Lake Thetis we were heading to. From far, the lake looks nothing special. But once husband told us about the lake's background, then it becomes something very special.  

A short walk to the lake side....

But not too long later, husband took the lead to sway from the boardwalk, William and I followed his suit. Luckily there wasn't anyone there to shhooo us. 

These looks like coral...weird plant in weird place. 

Back to the lake....it's estimated the lake became isolated from the sea about 4800 years ago when sea levels dropped and coastal dunes formed around the lake. The only loss of water comes from evaporation.

Lake Thetis is a saline lake (1.5X saltier than sea water). The water level fluctuate around average sea level but doesn't appear to reflect tidal variations. The lake levels follow trends more closely related to the rainfall in the area. 

The circumference of the lake is only 1.2 km, but is one of only a few places in the world with living marine stromatolites, or 'Living Fossils'.

Those rocky lumps are called stromatolites. The microbes that build stromatolites are a species that similar to those found in 3500, the earliest record of life on earth. 

Stromatolite communities grow as the layer of bacteria on their surface deposit calcium, cementing sediment into bulbous structures.

Blister mats of cyanobacteria can also be found growing on the margins of the lake in the flood zone. These mats are sensitive and easily disturbed. 

The stromatolites are easily accessible during the drier months when the water level is at its lowest.

The boys have no interest in stromatolites. To them, this lake side is no any difference than a normal beach. 

Just when I was concentrating reading the explanation at the lake side, I was shocked when I saw what William was doing over there.....

"Son, come back to the shore QUICK !! Those rocks are precious, definitely not a playground". Gosh, I hope he didn't ruin any of those jewels. 

After 20 minutes or so, we walked back to the car park area, just couldn't stand the glaring sun for too long.

Another distinct view of the lake area is those short, half-dried plant. 

I would be half-dried too under the hot sun, but the cool wind had saved me and kept me moving....  

From here, we ended this short yet educative visit.