Rocks #4 Lake Clifton Thrombolites

The Lake Clifton Thrombolites are in the Yalgorup National Park about half an hours drive from Mandurah along the Old Coast Road.  They don't look like much, just a stretch of small stepping stones but these are living rocks, a relic from the earliest days of life on our planet. The Lake Clifton Thrombolites are not a well known tourist attaction. I have driven along Old Coast Road many times before we even contemplated detouring to see what they actually were. Just rocks in the water really, but reading their history you view them in a different light. You have to be lucky to get to the Lake when the tide is out and the wind is not blowing, otherwise it just looks like an ordinary Lake. They sit in shallow water along a 6 klm section of the Lake. It is really only a thin film of bacteria on the surface that keeps the rocks "alive" . A boardwalk has been constructed for visitors to walk out over the Lake and to protect the Thrombolites.  Visit this page for more information http://www.westernaustralia-travellersguide.com/thrombolites.html

The following photos are from the first time we went there and the tide was in and the wind gusting. A different perspective altogether