Saying Hello to the Dolphins at Monkey Mia

Travelled a pretty long distance from Coral Bay to Monkey Mia, stopping in at Carnavon.  We were surprised to see orchards springing up from the red dirt - that stuff looks as though it  couldn't grow anything! This area is apparently WA's food bowl.  They have great water from somewhere - we were relieved to refill the van after the horrible briny, gag inducing water at Coral Bay.  We stopped for lunch at the old OTC satellite dish. It was quite windy there, and we were too cheap and time pressed to go to the museum.  So we drove away with a bewildered museum host watching us go, having no idea why the satellite is there and what it was used for! Something to do with NASA and the moon landing (but that last bit might be made up)!

It took us pretty much all day to get to Monkey Mia, the lovely drive from the highway, along Shark Bay to Monkey Mia caught us by surprise and was much longer than expected. We arrived at Monkey Mia quite late and were devastated when we were turned away because they were full.  Greyyyyyy Nomadddddddsss!!!!!  Hungry and tired x 4, we limped back to Denham and checked into a cosy park (its claim to fame: the most westerly park in Australia) under extremely windy conditions in the dark.

Next morning we headed back to Monkey Mia early and secured our spot. To be fair, there was a mix of people hanging out here, we were simply unlucky as there were vacant sites for the duration of our stay.  Tripadvisor and other people we had had conversations with had been pretty scathing of the Monkey Mia resort.  Sure it wasn't flash as a caravan park, but who are we to complain about two beachside eateries, deck chairs looking out over the ocean and green grass (wow!) in one of the most beautiful locations you can imagine.  It was still earlyish after setting up the van, so Kel and the kids tripped out to see whether there were any dolphins about, which there were off shore.  Indulged in some cafe fare on the beachfront.  We learned pretty quickly to keep an eye out for the hungry seagulls, always watching, waiting.

After a swim in the pool, Rich and the kids took their kites up the beach and Rich and Dylan got the handle of the stunt kite bought at Coral Bay while Ari flew her kite. Dylan and Ariel then discovered their own island in the sun (which was eventually swallowed up).

Kel joined us soon after and together we watched in disbelief as an emu came down the beach for a swim!

This bird was a professional - it was a performance he repeated over the course of our stay.  He had plenty of friends too, roaming free over the resort and terrorising the campers which was often pretty funny.

On the second day at Monkey Mia, we made a beeline down to the beach for the early morning dolphin feeding session. The kids squirreled into the front centre of a huge line of mostly adults.  Kel watched anxiously from behind doing a mental fist pump when a young lady of Asian background stationed herself in front of them with the fish bucket.  We're in for sure!!!  Sure enough, they were chosen to feed one of the dolphins. The fish was slippery and was dropped – but quickly recovered and re-offered to the patient dolphin.  The kids were thoroughly overjoyed (as was their Mum!).

Look Ari, here they come!

Hey, these are pretty slippery

Plop!

Watch your fingers

One happy customer

Oi - I've got my eye on you

Dolphin Boy

Kel discovered a love for dolphins she didn't know she had.  It is fair to say that she was the most dedicated of dolphin visitors, attending most of the sessions to watch them.  They do indeed come in quite close and they roll over on their sides to get a good look at you out of their one eye.  You can't help but wonder what they are thinking as they regard all the humans on the shore.  'Thanks for all the fish' we suppose!  On the question of to feed or not to feed - it was tightly controlled by Dept. Enviro & Conservation staff.  Each session is accompanied by a speech on dolphins and the history and problems with feeding wild dolphins.  They feed only 5 of the female dolphins and not more than 10% of their daily intake of fish.  There is absolutely no touching (very hard to resist!).  The best part about it is simply watching them watching you.  

In the holiday spirit, we booked ourselves onto a huge catamaran for a trip out to a pearl farm and some dugong spotting. It was great to be able to look back at the coast - the contrast between red cliffs, white sand and turquoise water.  The pearl farm was ‘interesting’ but seriously who could be bothered doing all the work it takes to grow a pearl.  We were lucky to see heaps of marine life as we cruised around including dolphins surfing the bow wave and reef sharks.  We saw a number of dugongs, slowly rising to the surface like big logs, popping their nostrils out for a breath and descending again.  There also several blink or you'll miss it turtles surfacing for quick breaths.  Another highlight for the kids was going in the boom net at the back of the boat and being dragged along through the water.

Pearl Farm

A lesson on pearl farming

Dugong (sea cow)

 

We spent the rest of the day hanging out, swimming in the pool – the kids found out why everybody loves spas, and spent a lot of time with 8 or so other kids in the spa, daring each other to jump out into the relatively cold pool.

The third day was a bit of a bludge day. Kel wanted to prepare for her interview for the following day so after some schoolwork, Rich looked after the kids and let them hang out at the pool / spa and on the beach.

We had a nice breakfast at the beach cafe on the morning of the fourth day, and enjoyed watching the seagulls go berserk, attacking the full plates of the uninitiated. One particular waiter appeared to hate the seagulls, often swiping at them, and muttering things under his breath. Dylan remained on guard of his breakfast – no seagull was going to get his hash browns!

Watching, waiting...

When seagulls attack!

We packed up and drove out of the caravan park to the carpark, and set Kel up for her telephone interview. Rich took the kids back to the resort to the vistors’ centre and then a milkshake while Kel undertook her interview, and then it was off to our next destination, stopping by the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool on the way out to the highway, and then filling up at a service station with what appeared to be the largest selection of ice creams in the southern hemisphere.