Stromatolites at Hamelin Pools in Shark Bay, Western Australia

Oldest living things on earth
Whilst they’re about as interesting to watch as a mime version of Dances With Wolves, stromatolites are fascinating.
Made up of single cell organisms called cyanobacteria, they have been around for 3.5 billion years. In fact, they are the oldest living things on earth, and without them, we probably wouldn’t be here.

Creating oxygen
Stromatolites have played a huge part in creating an atmosphere that we can survive in. They create oxygen as a waste product, and without that, we’d quite frankly be long gone.
Until 1956, scientists thought they no longer existed. Fossilised examples had been found in old rocks, but none still alive.

Hamelin Pools at Shark Bay
That was the year that millions of living stromatolites were found in the Hamelin Pools of Shark Bay in Western Australia. More have since been found in the Bahamas, but the extremely salty water of Hamelin Pools has allowed this ancient life to survive undetected.

World Heritage-listed
They are the main reason that Shark Bay is World Heritage-listed, and whilst they don’t exactly entertain, such history has an incredibly mesmerising quality.

Getting to Shark Bay
A viewing platform, board walk and information about the Hamelin Pools stromatolites can be found 105km from Denham in Shark Bay. Denham is 842km north of Perth, Australia and Hamelin Pools is on the way. Try the Shark Bay office of the Department of Conservation And Land Management to find out more.

Hutt River Principality, Australia

Being the leader of a nation has got to be a tough job. No matter what you do, everyone seems to think you’re screwing them over, and you’ve got all those nasty vital decisions that affect the future of the world to make. Then again, you can have a bit of fun raiding the state coffers and imposing laws that suit you. No more short people holding umbrellas at eye poking-out height, the Black Eyed Peas outlawed, and all trustafarians with dreadlocks who bang on about Thailand could be jailed without trial.
It’s all just ponderings and contemplation though. Most of us will never be in that position anyway unless we take the lead of Leonard Casley.
You’ve probably not heard of him, but he is otherwise known as Prince Leonard, and he rules a micronation called The Hutt River Principality, which is about the size of Hong Kong. Not exactly a major player on the world scene, this self-declared state is nestled within the confines of Western Australia, and its story is pretty damn cool.

History of the Hutt River Principality
Back in 1969, Casley was merely a disgruntled wheat farmer who was pissed off about harsh quotas being imposed upon him. Whilst most farmers would have written letters to their MP, Casley took a more drastic course of action, and declared his land an independent nation. After searching through obscure British laws, he decided that it was perfectly legal to do this, and neither the Western Australian Government nor the Australian Federal Government has sent in the troops to take the land back. It remains the only bloodless secession in history, although the arguments still rumble on. In 1997, Hutt River Principality actually declared war on Australia after another petty squabble, but Canberra couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it.

Hutt River Principality today
What started as a reproach for the people in charge has now snowballed into something very strange. There are over 13,000 citizens of Hutt River Principality worldwide (although very few actually live there), and the breakaway principality has issued currency, stamps and passports. Companies can be registered there, in a similar fashion to those who register iffy businesses in the Cayman Islands to avoid people finding anything out about them. It’s also become a bit of a tourist curiosity.


Getting to Hutt River Principality, Western Australia
About 90km up the main road from Geraldton is where you’ll find the turn off, and you’ll not meet with any border controls. You can, however, get your passport stamped, and buy tacky souvenirs from a shop, where you’ll more than likely be served by Princess Shirley, the wife of the self-proclaimed Prince. Now, how often have you been sold a postcard by a member of a Royal Family?

More information on the Hutt River Province and acquiring dual citizenship.

Climbing trees in Western Australia's South West

The three major ‘climbing trees’ around Pemberton in the South West of Western Australia are the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree, the Gloucester Tree and the Diamond Tree. And they’re terrifying, as I discovered when I tried climbing the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree.

Childlike dream
It is many a man’s dream to be a child again. The constant diet of icecream and fishfingers, the ability to get away with saying and doing bad things because adults think it’s cute, work being a particularly tough sum in maths… it’s enough to make anyone go nostalgic.
Arguably, though, the best thing about being a child again would be regaining that complete lack of fear. Cars can’t run you over, you’ll never fall off anything, and playing with matches won’t hurt a bit. You can also gleefully scamper up precarious-looking trees whilst adults look on and wince.

Tree climbing in the Pemberton Forest
Nowadays, tree climbing is a bit more risk-packed. It takes a considerable amount of alcohol to feel infallible these days, and the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree in the Pemberton Forest of South West WA is a thing of stomach-tightening fear rather than glorious opportunity.

Warren National Park
In the Warren National Park, 10km south of Pemberton, this karri tree soars 69m in the air, and someone has thoughtfully built a flimsy looking staircase around it. As protection, you have a mesh that is little better than chicken wire, and you are treading on thin strips of wire. One misplaced foot, therefore, and you’re going to be in an awful lot of trouble.

Fear of heights – not ideal for the task in hand
Hate heights. Hate them, hate them, hate them with knobs on. Climbing something so high and blatantly dangerous is not my idea of fun, but with the rest of the group chickening out (Boo! Hiss!), someone has to restore some honour.
Gingerly stepping onto the first rung, it mercifully doesn’t give way under my elephant weight, but my legs start to turn to jelly as soon as an unsafe jump-off distance is reached.

Viewing platform
Roughly a third of the way up is a viewing/ recovery from impending asthma attack platform. Great view, lovely trees, but after you’ve just clambered up the equivalent of a two story building, any pictures you attempt to take are liable to be shakier than a blancmange on a particularly vigorous washing machine. Especially when there’s the best part of the climb to go, and then the getting down part…

Getting to the top of the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree
After about twenty minutes of self-flagellation about being a coward to back out now, it’s time to start the baby steps again. Taking on every rung is a triumph of willpower, knowing that coming down is going to be even more terrifying.
‘Aided’ by shouts from the ground of “Look out for the missing rung” and “If you fall, you’ll probably die instantly – no pain,” somehow the top section is conquered. Once there it’s easy to imagine how Sir Edmund Hillary felt. The biggest kid, up the biggest tree of all, the king of the playground.
Then, of course, there is the matter of getting back down. Any chance of a helicopter ride chaps?

Getting to the Pemberton climbing trees in Australia


Nearest International Airport: Perth


Using public transport: The trees themselves – all of which are around Pemberton – are not easy to get to by public transport, but are within a short enough taxi ride. To get to Pemberton from Perth, use the direct TransWA bus.