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Published: December 24th 2009
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Monkey Mia
Me with a dolphin Dec 8th - Dec 12th “We saw turtles, rays and a huge shark that was bigger than a grown man!” This was the excited call we heard from a family on Turquoise Bay beach just as we were walking onto the sand. As much as we love the sea and snorkelling coming face to face with a 6ft shark is not something I want to experience without the presence of a cage. I know the reef sharks are harmless but I blame Spielberg for the fact that every time I go in the water (especially the shark infested Australian waters) I hear the Jaws theme in my head. To be fair Simon wasn’t as worried as me because he really wanted to see a shark. But first we needed to sunbathe.
Turquoise Bay is an idyllic beach about 50km away from Exmouth. The sand is fine and white and the sea is, as the name would suggest, a magnificent turquoise. It cost a few dollars to get into Cape Range NP which is where the bay is but it was well worth it. Cape Range covers over 50,000 hectares and as well as 50km of stunning coastline it also
boasts canyons and limestone ranges. As it was so hot we just stuck to the beach. There is a drift snorkel area which means you swim out to the reef and then just let the current float you over the coral back down the beach. The current was quite strong though so our drift snorkel was over in a matter of minutes. We didn’t see any sharks but lots of tropical fish and beautiful coral. The rest of the day was spent lounging on the sand topping up our tans and reading our books and cooling off with more snorkelling over Ningaloo Reef whenever we got too hot. Bliss.
Exmouth was the furthest north we went on our tour of WA. Probably for the best because it was cyclone season a bit further up and it was also approaching 45degrees which is scorching and would be even hotter further north. After Exmouth we headed south to the World Heritage listed region of Shark Bay where we stayed in a cabin at a campsite in Denham. The cabins are so cool out here. They are all self-contained so we get our own cooking facilities, not to mention crockery, a TV
and air con for less than the price of two dorm beds.
There is a beach in Shark Bay called Shell Beach which is made up entirely of (I’m sure you can guess) shells! Millions and millions of tiny shells which, in some places, are estimated to be 10m deep. There is also a boardwalk at the top of a cliff called Eagle Bluff where you can walk out and see dugongs, rays, turtles and sharks in the waters below. Unfortunately when we went it was blowing a gale so the water wasn’t calm enough to see through but we did watch an amazing sunset which turned the water to liquid gold.
Monkey Mia is 30km away from Denham and home to a family of dolphins who for decades have been coming to the shore to interact with humans and receive fresh fish. I first heard of Monkey Mia many years ago when it was featured on a holiday programme. I had my reservations about going because I think it’s wrong to feed wild animals and I thought the whole thing would be a bit like a theme park. After reading about Monkey Mia on the net I
was relieved to discover that only a few dolphins are given a tiny amount of their daily allowance of fish so they are not dependent on humans and there is no touching allowed. As it is also up to the dolphins how frequently they come to shore (some days it’s three times, others none) my conscience said it would be ok for us to go.
As we arrived at 7.30am there were five dolphins in knee deep water with three park rangers who told the gathered crowd about the dolphins (they know them all by the shape of their dorsal fins) and made sure nobody got too close. Only two out of the five dolphins were able to be fed so about five people were chosen to go up one at a time to feed them. It was an interesting sight and I can’t understand why the dolphins decided all those years ago to come to the shore. It is also interesting that it is members of the same family who come to shore today as if it has been passed on down the generations. About an hour later the dolphins came back to shore. We stood on the shoreline
with scores of other people to marvel at the creatures which swam up and down the line as if trying to work us out. We could also hear the dolphins communicating with whistles and clicks which was thrilling because I have never heard those sounds in real life. I’m sure that when we swam with dolphins in Kaikoura any dolphin noises were drowned out by our ridiculous underwater singing!
The rangers told us about the dolphins and the history of Monkey Mia. Apparently in the 1960s people used to be able to buy fish and feed as much as they liked to the dolphins. They would also touch them and some people would put their fingers over the blowhole. It’s unsurprising that some people were butted by the dolphins. Thankfully it is nothing like that now. The rangers were down to the last fish in their buckets for the three dolphins that were allowed to be fed and I was lucky enough to be chosen to give one a fish. It was amazing to be that close to a bottlenose because when we have seen them on boat trips they are so fast we only get glimpses of them but
Monkey Mia
Glass bottomed boat! here I could see the spots on their bellies, the shape of their dorsal fins, the nicks from shark attacks. It was great.
After the excitement of the dolphins we spotted a turtle from the jetty who kept coming up for air as he floated gracefully through the water at a surprisingly fast pace and we took pictures of the emus that were eating the trees at the back of the beach. As it was too hot to lay on the sand (it was burning our feet) we hired an electric glass-bottomed boat which is surely the best invention ever. It was only $35 for an hour (about £20) and we chose a laying down version over the sit up one which meant we could lay on our stomachs with our heads looking down into the glass bottom while steering ourselves over the sea grass. Awesome! We saw a few fish and some rays and didn’t even have to get wet.
After an excellent few days of beach life we had a massive drive day (838km) to get back to Perth so we could explore the south part of the west.
We arrived at our hostel in
Perth Hills just as the sun was setting and were a bit disconcerted to find a deserted cabin. I’ve seen enough horror movies that start this way and it was unusual that there was nobody else around. There were a lot of kangaroos though. After going to the big house to speak to the hostel manager we found out we would be the only guests that night. It was a little spooky being the only people in a cabin in the middle of the woods and we heard a few noises which we hoped were kangaroos and not serial killers (damn Hollywood again). Obviously we survived unscathed and set off to sample the wines in Margaret River.
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