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Published: November 18th 2007
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Day 222 (02.11.07)
We had borrowed some bikes from our hostel today to explore Bunbury (and possibly a bit further afield). After stocking up on breakfast and packing some food for lunch we went to our first stop of the day - the Dolphin Discovery Centre.
Bunbury is a lovely little town which (like most towns in OZ) sits on the coast with amazing sweeping beach views wherever you look, however this is not the main reason for a visit here. The bay which joins Bunbury to the Indian Ocean (Koombana Bay) is home to up to 200 bottlenose dolphins and along with the Dolphin research centre is an area where the dolphins regularly visit - just to say hello! As these are 100% wild animals it can be a bit hit and miss as to whether you actually see them - fingers crossed!
Arriving on our bikes, we padlocked them up and went to reception where the guy on said there were currently two dolphins by the beach. We couldn't pay quick enough to get out there and see our first dolphin. It was amazing with five making a visit: 2 mothers with their babies and another
solitary female. Just incredible. We were unsure as to how close we were actually going to get, but having donned some shorts we were in the water and at times they were swimming just a couple of feet away from us.
After watching until they got bored and went out into the bay we went inside to learn a little more about the bay's inhabitants.
We had thought of doing a trip to swim with Dolphins in New Zealand and had included this on the wedding list, however it is looking likely that it will be winter when we get there - possibly a bit chilly. So having had such an amazing morning we threw caution to the wind and booked on the following day's trip into the bay to see more of them and (hopefully) have the chance to swim with them!
Very excited about our booking we hopped back on the bikes and planned an afternoon going around some free local reserves / sanctuaries. The first of these was very near the Dolphin Centre where there is a Mangrove swamp board walk. It was pretty short but really nice to see a completely different habitat
so close to the sea.
Back on the bikes we rode along the coast to the big swamp walk, another bird sanctuary where we had a great walk around the lake.
Feeling a little saddle sore, we made our way home, stopping off at the "HAYWARD Rd" sign, well we had to really!
It was evident that Mark's hair was getting a little unruly having not had time to go to a barbers in a while, so after some dinner Chrissie nervously picked up the scissors and pruned it back to a more manageable barnet. Worried that it would either be the 'chewed by rabbits' look or the 'basin' look we were both pleased when it turned out to be a vast improvement on the 'Wild man of Borneo' look he'd been cultivating!
Day 223 (03.11.07)
We weren't due for our Dolphin swim until noon so we had a lazyish morning of sorting a few things out before visiting the beach once more to see if we could catch any more beach side dolphin visits.
We waited for a little while and had a picnic on the beach however apart from some distant sightings,
Getting ready to snorkel
Just before our swim with the dolphins it seemed as though they didn't want to see us. Finally 2 mins before we were due to be meeting for the swim, one of the mother and baby pairs came in to the shore, it was no less exciting the second time and only fuelled our brimming enthusiasm and excitement for the afternoon's swim.
The water here (at this time of year) is really cold, so after we had squeezed into our 7mm wetsuits and grabbed our fins, and snorkelling equipment we made our way to the boat. After a bit of a briefing we went out into the bay to see lots of pods who gather in an area abundant with fish (and therefore dolphins) at the outlet of a local river. it was amazing to see them together with some of them coming right up to the boat.
It was then time to get in the water. The boat driver dropped the anchor about 50m away from a couple of pods who were just milling around in the bay and we all slipped into the water. it was really chilly and even with the thick wetsuit on you could feel the cold go right to
your bones!
We waited and waited and what dolphins were with us had swum further away leaving us floating around on our own. After 15 mins of floating around we all decided to get back onto the boat and try again a little later.
After a drink and cake, some of the dolphins had come a little closer. Getting the snorkelling kit back on we slid into the water again only to have the same thing happen. No dolphins - bugger! As soon as we got out of the water we went for a bit of a drive to find more of the illusive animals only to look back and see a small pod swim very close to where we were previously floating.
Back out of the water time was ticking away before we had to go back to shore and it was looking less and less likely that we would be swimming with them today.
10 mins before we were to go back we saw a pod about 40m away and pleaded with the captain of the boat and the group leader to give it one last go. Only 4 of us got into the
water again, which seemed to get a little warmer each time we got in, and we swam to the side of the boat. 2 mins and nothing happened, the pod stayed about the same distance from us. Then just before we were due to get out of the water, four curious dolphins came to see who we were and were suddenly swimming right there with us. Diving down they must have been less than a metre away from us - just amazing and much bigger and even more graceful than you expect!
Elated that we had seen them we got back on the boat for the journey home. Albeit a brief swim it had made the whole trip well worthwhile! We had both really wanted to swim with dolphins on our trip but really wanted to do it in the most natural way possible to experience truly wield dolphins. Of course if you do this you have to appreciate that wild animals are unpredictable and you never know what they'll do. Although our time swimming with the dolphins was brief we were so pleased we'd had this type of experience.
Thank you to Mum and Dad Hayward who
gave us this trip as a wedding/xmas present. This truly was a dream come true for us - you should have seen the grins on our faces!
Back on land and slowly coming back to earth we had a hot drink and climbed back onto the bikes. Making a quick stop at the supermarket on the way home we picked up dinner and a bottle of $4 wine (less than 2 quid!), which wasn't too bad, before relaxing back at the hostel for the evening.
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