Big Sky Country

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One of the essential attractions when you visit Western Australia is the dolphins at Monkey Mia. We were lucky enough to catch feeding time just as we arrived and sure enough the bottle-nose dolphins performed on cue! Two adult dolphins and one baby came ashore to see if any food was available. Wild dolphins have been visiting Monkey Mia since the early 1960's. They appear along the shoreline at varying times of the day, to see if any food is available from the conservationists at Monkey Mia. They are only fed under the supervision of CALM (Department of Conservation and Land Management), to ensure they maintain their natural functions.

We were fortunate enough that one of the dolphins decided to stay only a metre away from where we were standing in the sea - a close encounter, but hopefully not the last! However I must add that they must not be touched as they can bruise easily. In fact we learnt that the intellectual bottle-nose dolphins actually shed their skin every 4 hours to allow for new skin regeneration. One of our team members was chosen to feed a fish to one of the dolphins, which got consumed within seconds! Then the conservationists tipped the empty buckets upside down to signify that all the food had gone, the dolphins made a swift exit.

Next stop was Eagle bluff where we could see reef sharks swimming in the distance. Then we went to shell beach which had masses of undulated shells in mounds stretching for miles. The sea was warmer here, as the air temperature was gradually increasing as we travelled further north. There was also an electric fence to allow species to thrive which were being hunted by feral cats/foxes as they try and reintroduce woylies, malleefowl and the greater bilby. Project Eden have already eradicated foxes, and are trying to rejuvenate the ecosystem and protect the native wildlife. There were a few salt mountains visible in the distance at Eagle Bluff. As we travelled towards Denham, we saw lots of mini tornadoes which were incredible - dust spinning high up into the sky. Then we all made our way to the bakery at Denham.

Whilst we travelled to our accommodation for the night a quiz was held on the bus which made time fly. We had to answer questions relating to all the information previously supplied by our guide (& a few random questions)! The winning team 'Champers' was Nick and Kate who were lucky enough to win the champagne, which was later shared between the whole team. Consequently the losing team also won some champagne. Then we were all allocated our jobs for the night - Ellie table setting duty and Nick washing up - at least we were not the slaves.

Tonight was one of our highlights, we had a night at a sheep station lying on our mattresses in a long line under the stars! The outback sheep station was 114 years old, very rustic and basic facilities. We managed to spot the Southern-Cross and the Plough, a few people observed some shooting stars - what an experience! That evening we had roast dinner, & then sat around the campfire toasting marshmallows whilst listening to Trevor play the guitar whilst the Japanese sang a great song. Then the competition began, divided into two teams (Nick our team captain). We had to perform various dances and songs to win the competition. It was very amusing - we felt our team were the winners due to the great performances added by the Japanese and Nick's hilarious dancing. However the outcome was that we were equal winners!

We awoke early as the sun rose over the beautiful scrub land at 5.45am & saw lots of parrots flying overhead (and flies landing on us). Then Trevor woke up the rest of the team with some interesting noisy singing in the shower for yet another early start.

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Photos

Monkey Mia Beach
pure white sands