Stromatolites and Thrombolites

I don't know how many people get excited about going to Western Australia to see the oldest creatures on Earth, but I did. I read that they are among the first forms of life on the planet. Basically, only the Earth itself is older than these formations. Stromatolites and thrombolites are ancient prokaryotes, Cyanobacteria, which inhabited the Earth about 2.5 to 3.8 billion years ago, during Archean, and can be seen now in this "rocky" small piles about 30-40 cm wide and 20 cm tall in shallow salty/fresh lake water or close to it. These mounds that look like loaves of bread contain billions of Cyanobacteria as well as calcium carbonate and sediments. What I think is fascinating about the stromatolites and thrombolites is that the Cyanobacteria, when in abundant numbers on Earth, produced so much oxygen as metabolic byproduct that all the oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere and became toxic to these first forms of life. It destroyed most of them. This was how life expanded on the planet, as the process was so slow that the oxygen allowed the aerobic forms of life to develop and thrive. The first picture shows the Thrombolites we saw at Lake Clifton in Western Australia, which is part of the Yalgorup National Park. These are "young" Thrombolites, geologically speaking, as they are about 2000 years old and alive. Their ancestors are those that enabled life formation billions of years ago.

The second picture shows the stromatolites we saw at Lake Thetis in the Nambung National Park, in Cervantes, WA.

The third picture is that of a figure posted at Lake Clifton to explain the difference between thrombolites and stromatolites.

The surrounding forest and bush from Lake Clifton thrived with an endless web of webs (I hope you can see them below), all created by jewel spiders. There was no border among webs, just as if someone laid an endless piece of fabric onto the area. I believe the lake is home to flies and mosquitoes (mozzies) enough to feed onto these other insects. This was an impressive finding, although I had to duck my head quite often, so I wouldn't stick my head in the webs.

Penguin Island

Penguin Island is a classical ecotourism destination located less than one hour (~50 km driving plus ferry crossing) from Perth. Despite the closeness to the Western Australia capital city of 1.75 million people and the summer vacation season, the island has very few visitors. This would be hard to imagine in Europe or North America, and we appreciated the privacy especially when admiring the abundant wildlife and the waters. The Shoalwater Islands Marine Park, which includes Penguin and Seal Islands, is rich in marine, terrestrial and seabird wildlife. I am not talking just about the little penguins, pelicans (see picture), terns and stilts, kites and ospreys, Australian sea lions (see picture), and bottlenose dolphins that we spotted there, but also the Western Australia seahorses and leafy seadragons, turtles and fish that populate the waters. Seagrass carpets a wide area around the island and supports fish, which in turn feed the many dolphins visiting daily. Seagrass and shallow waters also color the landscape in memorable tones. I hope the pictures reflect my impressions a little bit. A wooden walking trail circles the island and also offers refuge to skinks and little penguins. To us, it offered a chance to walk around the entire island and admire the views, the nesting colonies of pelicans and bridled terns (see picture), while the Indian Ocean breeze coiffed our hair in original seagrass style… It’s a place to always want to return to.

“Jewel of the Desert”

Eucalyptus macrocarpa is one of the most delightful surprises we had in Western Australia. I’d call this gumtree a bush, as it doesn’t grow tall from a main trunk. Instead, it spreads long branches just from above the ground. The leaves are light green-grey, and if we weren’t in the desert, I would have said they were frosty. However, the color and texture are meant to protect the tree from the scorching sun of Western Australia’s desert. The delight though came from the flowers. They are giagantic, at least 20 times bigger than the eucalyptus flowers of most other gumtrees (they reach up to 10 cm in diameter). The size and color of these flowers, intense red, made me think they were roses. I took the picture of this Eucalyptus macrocarpa in the Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth, with sweat dripping on myself and the camera – 40 degrees Celsius – but I simply could not stop looking at them, smelling and touching them… The park is rich in native flora and a pleasure to visit. It had boab trees, tuarts and grevilleas specific to Western Australia, and it also offered expansive views of the city spreading over Swan River to the Indian Ocean.

Personal Impression about Perth CBD

I posted yesterday a picture from the London Court, which breathes a strong English air, but I said that it made me feel that Aussies are 
still looking for their identity. At least from architectural and urban points of view… To continue my thought, London Court is on the side of a regular shopping
 mall and a street with office high-rises of non-descript architecture. It is the trophy that sits on a dull pedestal. The surrounding areas of Perth CBD are new with some modern touches
 on St Georges Terrace, but except for the very British London Court,
 the rest of the city has a common urban flavor, with nothing standing 
out. Quite unfortunate, we stayed in a hotel in walking distance from
 the mall, right in the middle of the CBD, but it felt as out of place 
as the London Court, because the neighborhood consisted in more office 
buildings and small chain cafes that were mostly closed due to the 
holidays. About 15 minutes away from the Hay Street hotel was the nicer area of
 Northbridge, with the cultural district and a concentration of cafes, discos
 and restaurants. Another 15 minutes in the opposite direction 
from Northbridge were some gardens, the Perth Bell Tower and the jetties
 for the boats to Fremantle. We took a scenic ride on the
 Swan River (today’s picture) and admired private villas, the Swan Brewery and an infinite number of 
small boats and windsurfers. A good 15-minute drive from the hotel
 were the Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, about which I will write
 more tomorrow. I found a common feature of the major Aussie cities, 
including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, which is
 their layout around big bodies of water. I guess this is actually 
their identity, which is not necessarily architectural, but 
"locational." And although this country is so dry, most major cities 
disguise this characteristic by being built around rich bodies of
 water.

Happy New Year! La multi ani!

After a week in Perth, I am happy to celebrate a reasonably warm start of 2013 in Melbourne. A significant 15-degree higher temperature in Perth (41C) for three days in a row was a good reminder that as much as weather here in Melbourne is unpredictable, it’s still better than being stuck with one hot choice for enough time to feel as if living in a large oven. New Year’s Eve was devoid of BBQ, prawns and heavy drinking for me, so I fail the Aussie citizenship “test” again, but watching the 10-minute Sydney fire works from the comfort of our nice home while eating really good cheddar cheese and Romanian “sarmale” surrounded by family was a wonderful way to cross another time border, 2012-2013. No resolutions and no high expectations, just the wishes for a year of peace and health. The trip to Perth gave me enough material to post again more often, as in the past two months I didn’t have enough material for regular blogging. Today’s picture is that of the London Court, a pedestrian lane/shopping arcade that goes between the Hay Street Mall and St George’s Terrace. I thought of it as a good reminder that Australia is essentially a British relic still searching for identity.