Sunday 21 April 2013

#26 Monkey Mia - the dolphins


It's a bit of a drive from the road into Monkey Mia and we debated whether it was worth it.  The main attraction is the dolphins who come into shore to be fed. (I remember Katrina debating whether it was neat of more of a sideshow.) The campsite has a powered site available so we decide to stay for two days and see for ourselves.  

The beach is beautiful (again/of course) and  the caravan park/resort is the only place in town and it's big with villas, chalets, units, tents, vans/caravans, boats and lots of people (remember it's school holidays).  Our site is conveniently located behind the "ablution block" (the australian term for the amenities block (shower & toilet)). It's not the smells that bother us but the lights - oh so many lights in these caravan parks and especially around the "ablution blocks".  The bigger smell is from the fishermen next to us - they are thrilled they caught so many fish and are running two huge coolers full of them - but that doesn't stop the smell. 

"Ablution block" right behind us - fishermen to the right. - still a pretty nice spot really.

Luckily the next day the wind changes and it's not so bad and the emus come to everybody's site - they go into your food no matter where it is - inside or outside.  They made it just inside ours to the bag of garbage I stupidly left near the door.  They also walk right up to the table where you're sitting if you have food there.  It's funny at first and then … mildly amusing after that.

...  no ... you are not my "friend"!!

Dolphin feeding is at 7.30 a.m. so Joseph of course goes out alone - I'll be there for the 9.30 a.m.one.  


There are people lining the beach and it's quite the production with a talk and then the "assistants" (beautiful young (mostly blonde) girls!!) bringing out the buckets of fish. One dolphin sits next to the speaker and the rest stay out past the jetty until they hear the words "assistant" or "bucket"  - we aren't sure - but as soon as the girls start walking out, the dolphins come in.  There were too many people so we just enjoyed the event from the jetty - watching the dolphins roll over and jump over each other.  


A spectacle for sure, but lots of fun as well, and those kiddies (& lots of adults) sure did love it.
Joseph went snorkelling to try out his new water-proof sleeve for his cast.  There wasn't a lot to see snorkle-wise but it was a nice quiet beach "around the corner at bit" and the camel rides said they would walk around us so we didn't have to move our towels and the other couple in the water said they saw a shark but we didn't… and the sleeve worked. There was also a small nature walk  -we went twice (on our bikes!) and Joseph went once at 4.00 a.m. (he saw four meteors) but he never saw anybody else on the trail - we suspect that fishermen don't like nature walks very much.

For us, the best part of Monkey Mia was the small jetty.  We walked out there both nights to lie down (you can't fish from this jetty) and look at the sky as we are wanton to do.  There was a wonderful breeze and nobody else there (!!) and the last night we took our dinner out there. That made the diversion worth it - for sure!

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