Blogs from Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 2

Na Wilderness Island ben ik weer twee weken in Perth gebleven, voordat mijn volgende avontuur echt kon beginnen. In die twee weken heb ik een aantal dagen met mijn vader bij kennissen gebleven en lekker niet zoveel gedaan. Ik ben een dagje naar het strand geweest, een ochtend over de University of WA gelopen en een middagje in het centrum van Perth rondgelopen. In het weekend bleef ik nog werken bij de Cider house, om mijn volgende avontuur te kunnen bekostigen, namelijk de tour naar Shark Bay! Shark Bay ligt ongeveer 900 km ten noorden van Perth en staat bekend als een prachtig natuurgebied, met dolfijnen in Monkey Mia en de oudste stromatolieten ter wereld. Voor een bioloog zoals ik dat ben, zijn de stromatolieten fascinerend. Ze zijn 3,5 miljard jaar oud en voornamelijk verantwoordelijk voor ... read more

It was rather strange approaching Carnarvon, especially after driving through more dry arid land with few features. Suddenly we came upon the Gasgoyne River and then large areas of fruit and vegetable plantation; hectares of bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, stone fruits and other trees and vines. We are so used to our tomatoes grown in large commercial glass-houses that it was rather novel to see them growing in the open on wooden stakes. We were excited about the potential of fresh produce from the Farmers Market held on Saturday mornings in the Civic Centre carpark, only to be disappointed as we were a couple of weeks passed the season for these events. Out of town the growth reverted to desert vegetation. We often saw groups of feral goats sheltering in the shade of bushes. We saw no ... read more

Day 52 – Monday 20th August – Quobba to Denham/ Francois Peron National Park Woke up this morning to find a heavy mist blanketing the area. And to find that my right eye that had been sore and scratchy yesterday was no better. It felt sore and uncomfortable, as though a piece of sand was stuck inside my eyelid. Optrex didn’t help so we decided that a trip to the optometrist in Carnarvon would be the right thing to do to get it checked out. While we were waiting for the tent to dry off, Luke went for a quick fish off the beach to try his luck once more. Still no fish! Packed up and back in Carnarvon we went the medical centre to ask about an optometrist. He was booked out for ... read more

We checked out of our room this morning and were not quite sure what to due with ourselves due to the uncertainty of the state of our van. It was out of our hands so we decided to enjoy a walk around Kalbarri and have a coffee just before lunch. We then thought it was about time to check on the progress of the van so zipped around to the service centre and to our surprise and relief it was fully functioning and ready to go. The cost of the repairs was not what I was expecting; it was one of those bills that left you smiling as it was hundreds of dollars cheaper than we expected. Monkey Mia was just over 400 kms away but given it was just after 2:00 we needed to hit ... read more

Had to get up early to watch the dolphin feeding in Monkey mia, starts at 7am and runs to about 10am... 3 feeding sessions all up. One of the dolphin has just given birth, so visitors were told to keep their distances from the beach... Volunteering options available, you work half a day in the morning to help care for the dolphins, inquries directed towards the Monkey mia visitors center. Again another beautiful beach with clear warm water... could live here... Maybe I will come back to Monkey Mia one day... 10km outside of Monkey Mia, we found a lagoon, clear blue waters, about 3km wide, really shallow though, not even waist deep water, the deepest point is all the way in the center and is about 3m... So a little paddle... Met some Austrian guys ... read more