Day 58
Today we left Coral Bay behind and headed off to Monkey Mia. We were following the FRR for a while as they were heading to the same destination but we stopped in Carnarvon for lunch and supplies and they continued on. The kids were furious as that meant they would get there before us – again with the competition! We had a lucky break though as they stopped at a roadside break area for lunch and must have dawdled as we went passed them there and then when we needed petrol so did they so we made it to Monkey Mia about 5 minutes before them – 1 point to the Noones.
We thought about going to Mt Augustus which is twice the size of Ayres Rock but the 500km drive plus the look of abject fear on Madi's face made us change our mind.
The caravan park here is attached to the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort so it has nice facilities (although no sun lounges to lie on – note to operators); pool, tennis court, water sport hire, restaurant, mini supermarket, masseur. The architect managed to fit all this into his drawing, situate the whole thing beside the Dolphin Research Centre and forgot to check how much room you need to turn a corner with a caravan attached – really big rigs beware – all the roads have to be one way and where they aren’t it is really tight; patience required and manners.
It is very pretty here so we sat on the beach and watched the sun go down with some drinks. It was also entertaining watching a young couple who had had too much to drink try and moor their boat, refill it with petrol and get the girl back to shore without getting wet.
Day 59
We were all up early, and yes Chris was cranky, to go down and join the line for the Dolphin feeding. We had been told at reception that the first feed was at 7.45am which meant Madi wanted to get there at about 6.30am but we managed to hold her back. There are 5 dolphins here that the Rangers feed each day. They only get about 20% of their daily intake from the Rangers as it is important that they not rely on humans for food. Dolphins teach their young how to hunt and feed and if they are hanging around waiting for food then the young dolphins really suffer so now there are 3 small feeds in the morning and nothing else for the rest of the day. We all lined up in the water and the Rangers tried to encourage the dolphins to swim along in front of you but as they are not trained it is dependant on their mood (and don’t be fooled by the smile they don’t have any facial muscles so are stuck with their smile permanently a bit like the Joker). The young dolphins are very playful so they darted around but some of the older dolphins have worked out that they can just come in at the end for the fish and not have to work for it at all. Of the 5 dolphins they feed sometimes only 3 or 4 turn up and they each only get about 4 small fish so that is only 12 to 16 people who get to feed them at each feed. Madi was hopeful but didn’t get picked and so she left with Matthew, Chris marched back to the van muttering about how boring it was, waste of time, what did they wake me up for that for….Nicky was smart though he hung around 30 minutes for the next feed, asked the rangers a few questions and then when the dolphins came in for the second feed he got to feed a dolphin. Madi was very put out when he told her.
Later that day we went on a four wheel drive track out through the Francois Peron National Park to Point Peron. It was a slow trip, we had to let the tyres down and negotiate really deep sand, but worth it when we got there. We had the whole beach to ourselves (if you don’t count the cormorants, seagulls and crabs). The sand on the cliffs is a red colour and it meets the white sand of the beach and then the ocean in the shallows is aquamarine and then a deep blue as it gets deeper – very picturesque. We mucked around down there for a couple of hours and then drove to a look out to spot marine life. We saw Sting Rays, lots of fish, dolphins and Dugongs frolicking about down below and the view across the water to the other cliffs was really beautiful. We left the FRR there and headed back to camp as Madi was over the sand and wanted to swim in the pool (takes after her mother). By the time we got back it was after 5 so the swim in the pool was quick as the water is really cold and the pool is shaded so Bubba turns blue in about 2 minutes.
In Coral Bay Andy decided to take over the cooking duties, apparently you should cook from the heart and not see it as a chore. This has been entertaining but very tasty. It is interesting watching him cook a meal and then make at least Matthew a toasted sandwich when he refuses to eat it. I think he now has some empathy for me as I normally rack my brain to find a variety of meals which will satisfy everyone and it rarely ever works out. FRR got back from the drive around 6.30pm as they had a flat on the 4WD track on the way back. We ended up feeding them, fish for the adults and all the kids had toasted sandwiches and a fruit platter together. It was their last night as they head towards Perth tomorrow and are back in Melbourne for the start of November. The adults ducked off to the restaurant for dessert (we still haven’t told Madi) which was very nice (it was only when the maître d' asked if we were wearing shoes that I remembered I still had my bathers on!)
Day 60
Madi and Bubba were out of the van early to see the dolphins. I went down about 9 to pay for our catamaran trip and to say good bye to FFR and made it just in time to watch Matthew feed a dolphin (second feed again) – very cute, FFR girls held the fish and then gave it to Matthew to feed the Dolphin, it was so slow I thought the dolphin would give up but she persevered and was finally rewarded. Poor old Madi missed out again even though she worked hard to attract the ranger’s attention. We farewelled FFR and went on our catamaran trip which was great value – kids free! We spent 2.5 hours out on the bay looking for Dugong, Turtles, Dolphins and even managed to see a Hammer Head Shark and some Tom Tom fish as well. Chris hated the first 2 hours but came good after the shark was spotted. They are sad FFR have left. Madi wants to fly home now and live with Jason but we have assured them they will meet more people and that there is still more fun to be had. We spent the afternoon between the beach and the pool and had an early dinner of fish with rice this time (apparently no one told Andy that Chris and Matthew hate rice so there were more toasted sandwiches!) and then an early night.
Day 61
We are driving to Kalbarri today. Madi is determined though so she was out the door early with Matthew. They were meant to be getting bread but they went via the beach were she finally managed to feed a dolphin – yippee! Matthew also got to feed another one but came back to the van cranky because he hadn’t planned to and was wearing the wrong shorts and now they were all wet and Nick was still asleep so he couldn’t change them.
It is cooler today, only around 25 so far and we are going to cross the Tropic of Capricorn again so it will probably stay a bit cooler from now on. FFR were in Dongara last night and they said it was only 21 when they arrived and they were freezing! Hopefully Kalbarri is a bit warmer.
Monkey Mia is a nice place to visit but there is no surf beach. The entire area is a World Heritage listed site and there are a lot of things to see. Stromatolites are found here that pre date life; they are the oldest living organisms on the planet. The area also has shell beaches where the shells are 10 metres deep and the beach runs for over 120kms. They have used these shells to build buildings in Denham and the roads at the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort were made from them to. There are about 7 places to stop on the “world heritage drive” so it is a worthwhile place to visit.
