Yanchep's Blue Lagoon, Western Australia

The world has its share of beaches where the point is to be seen. Waikiki, Bondi, Ipanema – nature doesn't always provide the main scenery. But if you want to see some of the world's best beaches in solitude, there may be no better place than Western Australia, where your own private sandy paradise is only a short drive away from the capitol city of Perth. A family-friendly favorite of ours is the Yanchep Beach lagoon, just 56 kilometers (35 miles) north of the central business district.

Protected by a finger reef of gritty Tamala limestone that formed during the most recent ice age, water in the lagoon is no deeper than waist-high for the the average adult. The calm, turquoise waters are a perfect natural swimming pool for families with young children who are just learning to swim, particularly at the sheltered southern end of the main pool. There can be a strong current near the mouth of the inlet. Occasional schools of small fish will entertain young snorkellers. And, the clean white sand is an ideal playground for future architects armed with only a bucket, a plastic shovel and dreams. On a crowded summer day there will be no more than a handful of beach-goers.

Sculpture by the Sea - Photo Essay

Some beach-side castles aren't made of sand.

Sculpture by the Sea is an annual arts exhibition on Cottesloe Beach, perhaps the most popular beach near Perth, Western Australia. It is a companion event to an annual exhibition that began on the other side of Australia in 1996, on Bondi Beach near Sydney. 

Every year, more than 70 local and international artists transform Perth's most popular beach into a world-class sculpture park. The displays--the world's largest free-to-the-public sculpture exhibition--are a March tradition for residents of Perth since 2005, attracting nearly 100,000 visitors in 2014. There are even more avian tourists, as thousands--perhaps tens of thousands--of raucous rainbow lorikeets flock to the stately norfolk pines overlooking the beach each evening to watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean.

My kids enjoyed visits to the beachside sculpture park between 2008 and 2010. It was their first introduction to the arts, as it is for many families. Many of the pieces are tactile and interactive, and the atmosphere is relaxed.

The World's Most Beautiful Beach?

Who is the world's most beautiful woman? Where is the most livable city? The combination of individual answers to only a handful of such subjective questions is unique to any one person. I'm not sure my personal preference can be effectively weighed against someone else's. And, popularity doesn't always equal "best."

So it is with "best beach." Best for swimming, surf or snorkelling? Most beautiful? Most secluded or best to be seen at? Myself, I might have a different answer for each scenario, so I'm always puzzled by Internet lists on popular websites (CNN or such) that attempt to quantify such a thing, sometimes with a different top-ten list every year. Just how does a beach drop or gain in rank? Was there a lot of erosion this year?

Picture of the Moment - An Invitation from Lowlands Beach

I love everything about this picture my wife took in June of 2010 -- soft winter's lighting of a late afternoon highlighting individual tufts of grass and distant hills, the beckoning of the stepped, sandy bush track. Even now I can feel it inviting me in. What could await you down below, where the winding path disappears into mystery?

And then there are the memories... We knew our time in Australia was coming to a close, the bitter-sweet end of something wonderful, like a warm bed the instant before your alarm rings on a cold morning, you appreciate it most at the last.

Lowlands beach is located near Denmark, on Western Australia's southwest coast. Drive west about 30 Km from Albany via Lower Denmark Road and turn left onto Tennessee Road S, following it until the end. The last 1.5 kilometers are unsealed. From Denmark, head west via the South Coast Highway (1) to where it intersects Lower Denmark Road.

You'll find a beautiful, white sandy beach nestled between granite cliffs.

Sweeping through Broome

Baobab at Town Beach, Broome.

On those bitterly cold, winter school holidays Down Under, when temperatures in Aussie cities can plummet to a frigid 10˚c, the Lucky Country's population migrates en masse to warmer climes. In Western Australia, Bali is a popular destination, but the domestic option is Broome, on the Kimberley coast.

A three bedroom deluxe family bungalow at Cocos Beach Bungalows was our home base in Broome for one week in June, 2010. At that time we paid about AUD$390/night for a six night stay at what's considered a moderately priced resort. Our pleasant accommodation featured 3 bedrooms (1 queen bed with an en suite and three single beds) and second bathroom with separate toilet. I can't vouch for the television, which remained untested throughout the week. The location is superb, about a 300 meter (5 minute) walk from Cable Beach.

Pictures of the Moment - Lucky Bay Beach

Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park,  50 kilometers drive east of Esperance in Western Australia, has the reputation as Australia's whitest beach, which seems somehow discriminatory of a natural landmark. There's also a periodic contest with other color-intolerant beaches. I see no benefit of a white beach over a black beach The main trade-off is exchanging burned soles of feet for burned eyeballs. You can build up a tolerance for burning feet.

Even kangaroos come to Lucky Bay for relaxation, and they're the only ones without sunglasses--them and my youngest, who is naturally feral. This 'roo came for a sip of the salty water and to chew on the remains of a cuttlefish (probably for the mineral content). The local kangaroo colony is a regular site at the beach.

A small western grey kangaroo takes a snack.

Another eater of sand.

Lucky Bay Beach, Cape Le Grand National Park, Western Australia.

December, 2008

Picture of the Moment - A Phoenix in the Ashes

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a Western Australian Christmas tree (Nuytsia floribunda) stands as a bastion of life amongst blackened neighbors consumed by wildfire. My equally beautiful wife Stacey took this picture on the road from Esperance to Albany, not far from Ravensthorpe. I only wish there could have been a few rays of full sun in the foreground.

I've always been drawn to perseverance. Perhaps it's because my career in mineral exploration demands it; success only comes from overcoming obstacles, and the road is littered with failures. We had never seen one of these Christmas trees in such full bloom. It's a reminder that it's always darkest before the dawn, and with dawn comes the brightest star.

Photo from December 23rd, 2008.

Blooming Western Australian Desert

It's easy to forget Australia is more than an endless coastline and Uluru. The Lucky Country is just too huge, and sometimes unforgiving, for casual trips across the continent, and air travel can be prohibitively expensive. Even many native Australians don't get far beyond the narrow strips of high population density on the east and west coasts, to an interior largely considered barren desert or dry cropland eked out of the bush. Not surprisingly then, many of the largely urban Western Australian population never experience the spectacular, seasonal carpets of wildflowers that paint the rural countryside within easy reach. Maybe they are victims of their own domestic marketing of beaches and a large rock.

Australia is the driest continent. Excepting the occasional summer cyclone, even prime farmland in the Wheatbelt of south-western Australia can go months between rains, which finally come in the temperate winter months of June through early September. With welcome moisture comes an explosion in colorful flowers.

Picture of the Moment - Sunset at Gantheaume Point, Broome, Western Australia

Everyone stops to look. June, 2010

Pictures of the Moment - Rocks That Look Like...Rockets

Pinnacles desert at Nambung National Park, 230 Km north of Perth, near Cervantes in Western Australia. The Pinnacles are resistant erosional remnants of a calcite-cemented sandstone, capped by calcrete. Shadows make for great photos here at sunset - though I was taken by the playful light of quickly-passing midday clouds here. It might have worked better as a video in this case.

Wildflower season (August-early October) is another special time to visit this part of Australia.

The most dramatic scenery always includes rocks.

February, 2008

Picture of the Moment - Breaking Surf at Yallingup, Western Australia

The surf breaks at Yallingup, Western Australia make for one of the premier surfing destinations in the world. I don't surf, but when we visited here in July, 2008 I built up a healthy respect for the people who ride these house-high monsters.

Surf Breaks at Yallingup, Western Australia. July 2008.

Pictures of the Moment - Muddy Mats of Algae are a Tourist Attraction in Western Australia

Modern stromatolites living in Hamelin Pool, in the Shark Bay world heritage site, Western Australia. Photo taken April, 2008. These layered mounds of mud and algae are a nirvana for geologists on holiday.

Single-celled organisms, the cyanobacteria of Hamelin Pool are descended from the oldest known forms of photosynthetic life on Earth. A scene like this would have framed the pinnacle of the food chain over three billion years ago.

The American Heritage Science Dictionary defines a stromatolite (strō-māt'l-īt') as a generally dome-shaped structure consisting of alternating laminations of carbonate or silicate sediment and fossilized algal mats. Layered stromatolites are produced over time by the trapping, binding, or precipitating of sediment by groups of microorganisms, primarily cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) growing in shallow-water biofilms. They are distributed throughout the world in the early fossil record and represent some of the oldest recognized forms of life, from over three billion years ago. Similar organic structures continue to form today in restricted hypersaline environments, especially in Western Australia.

Fossilized digital (finger-like) stromatolites from the Biwabik Iron Formation of the Mesabi Iron Range (approximately 2 billion years old), LTV Steel iron mine, Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. These stromatolites are anchored in an oxidation zone (red jasper), but grew upward into an anaerobic zone (black). Spaces between the stromatolites are filled with round green oncolites, black magnetite crytals and siderite. Thin vertical cracks/fissures are filled with bituminous anthraxolite.

Living stromatolites are rare. The only other known marine location for modern, living stromatolites outside Western Australia is in the Bahamas. Modern stromatolites require hypersaline water, an environment that is inhospitable for their primary predator (a snail). Not far from Hamelin Pool, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, are fossils of stromatolites over 3.5 billion years old, the earliest easily-recognizable fossils on Earth.

The Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is located adjacent to the Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station, about 30 kilometers (19 mi) west of the Overlander Roadhouse on the North West Coastal Highway of Western Australia (Wikipedia). Access is via Hamelin Pool Road and then through the telegraph station grounds. There is no charge for access.

Pictures of the Moment - January 16, 2014

I'll post the occasional picture memory for some color, when I have the inclination.

An evaporating lakebed during the Western Australia Spring, taken from a Robinson R-44 Helicopter on September 3, 2009, somewhere between Mt. Richardson and the Windarling mining camp. In another week or two it would dry up for summer unless a chance tropical cyclone passed through.

Mulla mulla (genus Ptilotus) of some sort amongst potential iron ore. Mount Richardson, Western Australia. September 3, 2009.