A Pink Ocean and Nature’s Window

Studies suggest that the human eye has a combined resolution of up to 576 million pixels, so every landscape I’ve seen becomes one of my most treasured memories. The “pink ocean” in Jay Chou’s lyrics is Hutt Lagoon, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. I remember it took us about five and a half hours to drive there from Perth. We planned a two-day, one-night trip, which also took us to Nature’s Window in Kalbarri National Park, about a 50-minute drive north of Hutt Lagoon. It was our first road trip in Australia, and we were lucky to have two travel companions join us. For me, one of the most important parts of a working holiday is finding friends from Taiwan. They make everyday life more fun and give you a place where you can relax and catch your breath.

For a road trip in Western Australia, the first essentials are snacks, drinks and something to pass the time. The view out of the window is beautiful but very much the same mile after mile, so it's easy to doze off without meaning to. With no tall buildings anywhere, the passenger seat gives you about 180 degrees of blue sky over green and brown wilderness, and you have to keep a constant eye out for wildlife by the road. Being on the road feels so good! A wandering soul is saved the moment it sets off! The easiest way is to navigate straight to the viewpoint. From some angles the lake is a clear pink, from others a pale pink, and when we first arrived we couldn't even see it. But this natural wonder is really worth seeing with your own eyes! The lake is pink mainly because it is home to huge numbers of extreme salt-loving organisms such as the alga Dunaliella salina and Halobacterium. In the very salty water and strong sunlight, they produce beta-carotene and bacterioruberin. The shade changes with the amount of water, the strength of the sun and the salt level (the science on how the lake gets its colour comes from Gemini), which is why there's a best season and time of day to see the pink lake. We didn't visit in the best season and arrived at around 1 pm, and I was still more than happy :))))

After visiting the pink lake, we set off for our accommodation. This time, we chose an Airbnb in Howatharra, about an hour’s drive from the lake and around an hour and 40 minutes from Nature’s Window in Kalbarri National Park. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a fully equipped open-plan kitchen. Cooking for yourself is definitely a great way to save money! Before setting off, we divided up the ingredients and supplies we each needed to bring. We picked up a few extra things at a supermarket on the way to our accommodation. The supermarket happened to be by the coast, so after shopping we got to spend a little time wading at the water’s edge. The ocean in Western Australia is such a brilliant blue! In the middle of all that wilderness, we felt incredibly lucky to find such a stylish and spotless place to stay. We paid the host an extra AUD 20 to prepare some firewood for us, so after dinner we got to enjoy the stars and a campfire. On a night with no light pollution, the Milky Way was visible to the naked eye. The firewood crackled, the milk tea in my hands was still warm, and the four of us sat around the fire, talking together and sharing the quiet.

The sunrise the next morning was so beautiful that we didn’t want to leave. But with a tight schedule, we got ready and set off for Nature’s Window in Kalbarri National Park. Along the way, we nearly got hit by a kangaroo—or rather, our car nearly got flattened by one! From the car park, it’s only a short walk to Nature’s Window. So many of Australia’s landscapes are unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere. The ancient sandstone has been shaped by weathering over time. If you look closely at the rocks beside the trail, you can see their layered formations, originally formed from sediments in a marine environment. The land was later lifted by tectonic forces and exposed to erosion, which helped shape the natural window through the rock. Beyond it, the Murchison River has carved out a gorge, making the view through the window especially spectacular. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to hike any of the longer trails. We settled for a taste of the experience at the Kalbarri Skywalk instead. The gorge and scenery looked beautiful from every angle, and of course, there were also plenty of very relentless flies! If I get the chance, I’d love to camp here for three or four days and take my time exploring the trails and enjoying nature’s gifts.

The drive back was peaceful too. We stopped for dinner and a rest at Cervantes Bar & Bistro, where we had a proper seafood feast! Lobster Shack was our first choice, but the timing didn’t work out, so we went with the second restaurant that had been recommended to us. It turned out to be really good: lobster, garlic prawns, mussels, fried calamari, and octopus, each prepared with its own distinct seasoning. It was well worth trying—and a very happy refuelling stop on our road trip!

Our first two-day, one-night road trip in Western Australia left us feeling completely recharged. We had such lovely travel companions to take photos and have fun with. Nature is so powerful—it brings even the things we once thought impossible vividly to life. When you’re tired, go see the mountains or the sea. Give yourself some time to enjoy being somewhere no one can disturb you. In this vast world, even though I’m small, I can still see endless possibilities. Western Australia is absolutely worth exploring at a slower pace. I’d even recommend it as a first stop, though the distances between attractions are huge and the drives can easily take three to five hours. But maybe you’ll only get to come here once in your life!