Oz-some!

It was wonderful to log into the GPS counter today and to find that the Australia leg has begun...

This morning Mark was heading south out of Perth down the coast of the state of Western Australia . As the map indicates, the state of Western Australia is huge, occupying approximately one third of the land area of Australia. After a state in Russia, it is the second largest subnational state in the world. Mark's journey will take him across the south west tip of the state and then on a route parallel and close to the coast of the Great Australian Bight starting today south of Perth....

After Mark's long journey through Asia, it is actually quite refreshing to have some coastal scenery to talk about!

This stretch of coastline forms part of the Yalgorup National Park which was designated for reasons of its coastal landforms and high biodiversity. The park occupies a narrow strip of land between the towns of Mundarrah and Bunbury and includes a number of brackish lagoons which harbour a variety of flora and fauna. The vegetation ranges from coastal duneland to heaths, woodlands and swamps. Wildlife includes Grey Kangaroo, Brush Wallaby, Emus, Whistling Kite, Horned Grebe, Black Swan, Rock Parrot, Sacked Kingfisher and Dotterel. Visitors are warned to beware of tiger snakes!

The landforms in the image above are very typical of a coastline which is extending due to deposition of wind blown sand. The dune system forms in a series of ridges aligned parallel to the coast. The oldest dune ridges are furthest inland and are covered in woodland or heathland while the 'younger' dunes are close to the sea and colonised by dune building grasses and other vegetaion tolerant of blown sand, high salinity and strong winds. In the depressions between the dune ridges, the relief may be low enough to intersect the water table allowing the elongated 'lagoons' to appear. In this area, there would seem to be some evidence of salt water incursion to the lagoons. Th high summer temperatures will result in a lot of evaporation and hence the salt deposits around the lagoon edges. This is one of these lagoons, Lake Preston, courtesy of Flickr and, from the same source, some of the inland woodland...

And the day ended with looking for a place to camp!... and a first road train!