Around Shark Bay

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Friday 15th June.

A full on day with an early start thanks to Sandy reading the time incorrectly. Looking at her phone this morning there was a slight discrepancy between 6:45 and 5:45. Yes, we were up at 5:45, but at least there was no queue at the toilet block. Back to the tent for breakfast which finished up sitting on the tailgate of the Rangie eating our cereal and having a cuppa.

With Debbie still not feeling well it was Steve, Sandy and myself off to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins. The usual 5 dolphins turned up along with a friend for feeding. It turns out that only one family of dolphins can be hand fed and only if the dolphin is a female and over 4 years old. It nice to see them up close and personal.

Back on the way back to the caravan park we called past little lagoon to check out what we thought could have been pelicans...not to be. They turned out to be cormorants.

Sandy managed to get another load of washing done before we enjoyed some of Debbies freshly baked bread for lunch.

After lunch Sandy and I headed off to Perron Point whilst Debbie stayed back to rest and Steve was once again working on the electrics on the caravan.

The road, or more to the point track was a high clearance 4x4 track only and the signs quite specific that no AWD vehicles were allowed ppoi about 6 k down the road. At the entrance to the 4x4 track a station was set up to deflate the tyres to 18 psi and on the exit to the park inflate the tyres to their road pressures. Only a further 45k's of sand to go to Point Perron.

Because we had got there quite late in the day the sea breeze had already kicked in and had chopped up the water. The rock formations of the cliffs here were pretty amazing with the contrasting red and white colours.

From there it was back along the track a little way to skipjack point. The two cliff top viewing platforms overlooking the ocean were spectacular. Once again if the water had not been chopped up apparently you can see the dolphins, dugongs, turtles, fish (especially skipjacks) and of course the predators of all of the above sharks. It is after all shark bay.

On the way back along the track I was keen to get back before dusk. The track was badly rutted and I found the best speed to skip over the ruts to be around 55 kph. That was fine until we were passing through the lake bed and hit a rather large pothole full of water. With my window down I had hit it fast enough to get the water over the windscreen and of course through my open window. Ah well, no damage done. We did see a few kangaroos along the track but not close enough to be dangerous!

Whilst refilling the tyres a young German couple turned up in their Pajero. They had no idea how or why to deflate their tyres. A brief lesson on how to use the air hose and they would be on their way very soon...without getting stuck (hopefully).

Back to the caravan park right on sunset and time for getting ready for the night. Once again the Debbie and Sandy whip up another beautiful dinner. Thank you girls!

Tomorrow's forecast is for another fine sunny day. I can really get used to this sort of weather and lifestyle, too bad we've still got to keep working to be able to pay for it :(.

Until tomorrow....

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