Staircase to the Moon

We have been trying to see a 'staircase to the moon' in Karratha for a while now. Its a natural phenomenon that occurs in the north west of Australia between March and October. It is caused by the rising of the full moon reflecting off the exposed mudflats at extremely low tide - creating an optical illusion of stairs reaching to the moon. We heard there would be one occurring on Wednesday night at Hearson's Cove just after 6.30pm (according to Karratha visitors centre). So we packed a picnic and headed to Hearson's Cove at about 5.30pm. By the time we got there, cars were already lined up along the beach. Cars continued to come after we arrived too. We took some photos together as the sun was setting, the sky had the most amazing colours.

 

 Clinton and Harrison could walk for meters and meters in the low tide. Harry loved it!

The reflection on the water was amazing.

 

 Lots of muddy sand for Sienna to dig in, that girl loves getting dirty!

Clinton took these stunning photos of Aunty and Alissa - the colours are so beautiful.

 

 Tam took these photos of our family, I love how Sienna is off doing her own thing (as usual).

Our full reflection in the water is so cool. 

 Oh how I wish I'd brought a hair clip for Alissa's hair....lovely photos anyway.

So the sun set and it got to 6.40pm and no moon! We ate dinner and waited and waited. When it got to 7pm Clinton looked up the times on my phone and it said the 'staircase to the moon' had changed to 7.35pm. We figured we might as well wait another half an hour...even though it was getting pretty cold. Tam and I joked that next time we'd bring doonas, pillows and more food! haha! More cars kept coming and by the time the moon was rising the beach was packed. Our wait was worth it, the staircase to the moon was stunning! It's very hard to capture it properly with a camera because either the moon or the 'staircase' reflection is out of focus. Clinton did a good job though and this photo is amazing. I'm sure we'll be taking more photos of it over the time we're up here in Karratha.