|

Stretching across fourteen kilometres of Western Australia’s Coral Coast, Hutt Lagoon presents one of nature’s most surreal spectacles—a vast expanse of water that shifts from bubblegum pink to deep rose depending on the sun’s position and cloud cover. The extraordinary hue comes from Dunaliella salina, a carotenoid-producing microalgae that thrives in the lagoon’s hypersaline waters, the same beta-carotene that colours carrots and gives this natural wonder its otherworldly appearance.

Located near the fishing village of Port Gregory, roughly midway between Geraldton and Kalbarri, the lagoon is best witnessed between mid-morning and early afternoon when sunlight illuminates the water’s pigments most intensely. The contrast between the pink lake, white salt crusts along its edges, and the turquoise Indian Ocean visible in the distance creates a chromatic experience unlike anywhere else on earth. This is not a fleeting phenomenon but a permanent geological marvel where commercial algae harvesting coexists with one of Australia’s most photographed landscapes.