Daniel and Marysia around Australia: Monkey Mia, Western Australia

Welcome to Monkey Mia

Denham Seaside Tourist Caravan Park was located on the foreshore. We got ourselves set up and organised. Daniel went into town to check the fishing from the jetty coming back with some sparkling wine.

Chores down, done time to watch the Royal Wedding. We thought it was lovely just enjoying the spectacle of colour, the cheering of the crowd, how lovely the happy couple looked, the dress, the bridesmaid's dress, William and Harry toasting them with the sparkling wine! Great night.

A dolphin!

No time to waste next day we were headed to Monkey Mia Resort. Here I am thinking we'll get to swim with the Dolphins but of course that is not the case. Dolphins on our mind we set down the van headed straight out to the main drag where the dolphins congregate for their timed feeds.

It was a lovely sight to see such graceful animals as they swam in close to the sand bank. There was one dolphin that had her dorsal fin attacked by a shark about 3 weeks prior, she was only about 2 years old. That was a bit distressing for me. However, there are 2 families that come in for this 'feeding programme' most of them are females with their calves.
In all I think there were about 13 dolphins that come in every day.

Marysia...look here!

The Department of Environment and Conservation don't allow for patting of the dolphins as there is a risk of transferring human diseases including the flu. The set up is a little funny really. People are asked to line up on the boardwalk as a staff member walks along talking about the dolphins before inviting the spectators down to the water line as the dolphins make their way in. Once the dolphins are close enough you're invited to step into the water only so far though. The staff member continues to walk up along the line of people with a dolphin in tow waiting for it's feed. This continues for about 10 minutes before a few members of the public are chosen to feed a fish to at least 3 dolphins. A good show I suppose, people madly taking dozens of pictures and standing knee deep in water.

Daniel...did you get that!

Weather at Monkey Mia was great. Daniel and I spent most of the time on the beach, reading, sunning and Daniel catching fish. Caught this time included a small reef shark, flatheads, baby snapper and some other fish! I don't usually hang around when it's time to fillett them. I'd just as rather he put them back! The evening as the sun went down was a spectacle in itself. The colours of the sky were remarkable hues of red, orange, deep blue and purple. The water was so calm it was virtually like a mirror with little boats just anchored off the beach.

We had no need for television and didn't even bother putting up the antenna. We sat out on the beach until the sun set before returning to practice on the guitars. Early nights meant early mornings to catch another display of the dolphins!

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!

I had the opportunity to leave Daniel to his fishing as I ventured along the shoreline and gathered seashells in the afternoon sun. The variety was amazing. Different shapes, colours of all sorts. Back at the camp we had visiting Emus, who were more than happy to get some bread. I almost had my hand taken off!

On our final day here we decided to take a trip out to the Blue Lagoon Pearl Farm, this is the one that 'Farmer Wants a Wife's', Farmer Jamie runs with his family! No he wasn't with the girl that he hooked up on the show. He was actually chatting up some young female tourists that he met the night before in the local resort hotel.
It was a great visit and the pearls were, let's say, very beautiful and very expensive!