Monkey Mia

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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 cows as indicated on the road signs, only goats and Greg spotted an emu dangerously crossing the road ahead.

We were excited to be slowly gaining on a vehicle. Maybe this would be our 4^th passing manoeuvre of the trip, the 4^th in 9,700 kms. The camera was at the ready, the road was clear so away we went. The manoeuvre complete, Greg asked, “Did you get it”?” Unfortunately Joan had been so mesmerised by the event that she had forgotten to take a photo. The opportunity had passed!

After turning at the Overlander Roadhouse corner we headed up the peninsular toward Shark Bay stopping at Hamelin Pool to have lunch and view ancient Stromatolites.

We secured a caravan site in the beautiful seaside town of Denham. The ground in the park is largely compacted shell grit so it is very hard to hammer in tent pegs when required. A drill available from the office allowed you to drill a hole first therefore making the job easier!

After our adventure at Coral Bay the one thing we really wanted to do in Shark Bay was to see a dugong. We found a sailing tour based out of Monkey Mia. They said they would leave just after the dolphin feeding from the jetty.

After our traditional Sunday morning omelette breakfast we drove the 25 km to Monkey Mia, arriving just in time to see the dolphins swim in. The entrance fee to the Monkey Mia National Park included access to the resort facilities and dolphin feeding, so we were all set.

The dolphin feeding turned out to be better than we expected. The wild dolphins come in when they want, swim around a bit and some come in for some fish. One mother and one year old just checked us out, but another heavily pregnant dolphin was definitely interested in getting some fish. Strangely she seemed to enjoy showing off the fish to everybody before she finally ate it. I got the impression they were not actually hungry and this was a game as much as anything.

The feeding over we savoured a coffee and the view while we waited for the catamaran to leave.

No sooner had we left the jetty than we had another dolphin surfing our bow wave. As many times as we have seen this it is still a wonderful sight. The catamaran headed over to a floating pearl processing plant for a talk on the growing, seeding and harvesting of pearls. A pearl oyster was dissected to show where the pearl grows and we got a chance to taste pearl meat. The remainder went into the water to feed a large school of very excited snapper. They were surprisingly beautiful in the water and most of us were eyeing off the big ones, thinking how nice they would be to eat.

Next we headed to an offshore bank of shallower water surrounded by sea grass meadows to find a dugong. We were in luck and got to see more than ten dugongs over a period of time. These shy creatures breach like a whale and then sink to the bottom to graze. If moving from one spot to another we could see them breach and swim multiple times. We also saw a small tiger shark and a sea snake.

Back on shore we indulged in a seafood lunch, a WA Sav Blanc and the stunning view.

That afternoon we did some clothes washing, only to find that it was very slow to dry. The humid air was cooling later in the afternoon and dew was starting to form long before the sun had set! The drying was completed the following morning while we wrote this blog and chatted to Tristan for his birthday.

Happy Birthday Tristan!

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Comments

[Angela Reimann]

Tanned and relaxed
Cute photo of you both on the boat!