23rd Nov - Monkey Mia

Pre warning, long blog please get your breakfast before you start reading. We take no responsibility for you being late to work! 

The sun woke us up for what would be our first glorious day of weather since we've started traveling! 

We had a few good days when we were in the outback but at 37 degrees with no pool or sea it's a bit much to do too much in! 

We scoffed down some breakfast and decided whether or not we wanted to stay another night at Monkey Mia, we decided to call it after we saw the Dolphins as we could tell what the weather would be doing a bit better by then. We left early and took a walk along the beach rather than through the resort and spied some stand up paddle boards, peddle boats & kayaks. We carried on to the end of the jetty where everyone had to wait for the briefing on the dolphin experience. There were a good 100 or so people waiting when we got there. (We found out later that in peak season they can have upto 850 people!)

Being very glad that there wasn't this many people we had the briefing and were invited onto the beach where the Dolphins were already waiting in the shallows. We had spotted them walking down the beach but they came in closer once they heard the park rangers in the water. We were all invited to stand into the water with bare feet to signal the start of the experience to the Dolphins. They don't call them with any bells and they do have no dolphin days it just depends how many turn up. For some reason they only feed 5 regularly and others just seem to come along with them. Today there were 6 in the water; one of the calfs came down who was around 5   So not tiny sadly. They told us loads about each dolphin, they tell them all apart by their top fins which are all different especially being that we were in shark bay there were a few chunks missing here and there. All the Dolphins that are fed are all females as male and female Dolphins live separate lives. Pre 1994 the experience was very different where people could buy buckets of fish and feed as many Dolphins as much as they wanted. Up to 35kgs of fish could be sold in a day. This also caused an issue as male dolphins were coming down to the beach with the females which caused a lot of aggressive behaviours. Alongside this calfs that were being born weren't learning normal hunting behaviours and survival rates of calfs was around 45% where as now it's around 87%. 

Once the fish buckets came out all the Dolphins lined up which was a bit weird. Each dolphin got 3 fish which were fed by members of the public picked at random, sadly none of us were picked. Soon as the first fish had been fed a Pelican called rouge swooped in. When the feeding started all the Pelicans who were waiting on the beach were coaxed away with their own yellow fish bucket. Except for one pelican who hadn't been sat with the rest since we had arrived. He was known to the park and had brain damage and was partially blind. You could tell he was a bit odd just by the look of him. He even had his own dedicated park ranger (I think she was the only lady brave enough!) he wasn't having any of it today snapping at kids especially but trying to steal what he could anywhere! Once we finished we wondered back up the beach toes in the sea to the caravan to decide our days moves. Throughout the morning the sun only got brighter and the wind didn't pick up! So we got ourselves creamed up and added an extra day in Monkey Mia to our trip. We got ourselves sorted for the day and Deb haggled with the paddle board guy and got us a better deal on his very expensive paddle board hire. We made the most of it keeping them a good hour longer than we should have! We had so much fun paddling around the beautiful bay pushing each other in and we created a race around 4 buoys in the water. The people on the beach weren't quite sure what to make of us I am sure. We started the race from the grass at the top of the beach had to run to our respective boards and whoever did the square of the 4 buoys first won. Deb counted us in as we only had 3 boards we all charged down the beach and as we jumped onto our boards Ian pushed Myles and I and we both fell off while he made his get away. Myles grabbed his board and swooped off but in my tumble I grounded out my board and Deb tried to help me back out to sea, in pushing me to give me a boost I overbalanced and ended up in the sea again backwards. The boys continued to push each other off whilst paddling away it was like something off gladiators! Myles eventually got the win! We then decided that was qualifying and we would go for round two. Round two involved Lauras board being away from the other two. Deb counted down and by 2 Ian was already gone. He got a black flag and sent back to the start line. The same thing happened on 1 and Laura joined him, we both ended up falling off our boards by which point Myles had gotten on his board and gone. Ian was catching him rapidly and Laura was on route. The first corner was an issue as she couldn't turn as well as the boys so enjoyed the view when Ian tried to push Myles off and threw himself off instead. Yet again Myles was the winner and that was the end of the excitement as we were all very tired. We had a gentle paddle around looking for turtles and after no success hauled the boards back onto the beach. We then got the aerobe frisbee and started playing on the sand, then with ankles in the water. The game finished when we were fully in the water and it got thrown over Myles' head and dropped into the deep. Where the weed was it all of a sudden dropped off like a cliff and even though it was vibrant yellow we or a snorkelist and paddle boarder roped in couldn't find it either. RIP yellow frisbee we got two good games from you. We declared that the end of playtime and went back for lunch. We had toasted cheese sandwiches for our efforts of the morning. We then got the map out and planned our off roading route! We found somewhere called the little lagoon which you could drive the 4WD Around much to the boys delight! Ian was driving at the time and whipped it around the track onto some open salty sand where we had a bit of drifting and water spray for our efforts. We then had a driver swap and Myles got to play on the way out. We decided as it was now around 1pm it would be silly to swim in such salty water as we already got a bit crispy this morning paddle boarding. We set off for an old sheep station in the outback, we had read about an artesian hot spring (just what you need in 34 degree heats right?)

Myles was chief dirt driver this morning and flew us up the sandy track to the homestead. When we arrived it was baking and the flies were unbearable. We saw the hot spring which was actually a borewater hot tub. It literally looked like a hot tub. As we couldn't even keep our hands in we decided to give it a miss! I'm sure it would be lovely in winter months...

So on from there was the most westerly point of Australia. All on very soft sand. We went to check out the start of the track before we decided if the car would cope and we found something that the Aussies had never seen in a national park. They had a tyre deflating and reflating station so we could go on the sand! After the boys let the tyres down a bit we were ready; Ian's turn to drive we set off down the track leaving a dust storm behind us. We had an amazing time jumping sliding and generally off-roading down this track. It was a good 45 minutes to the most westerly point with a few stops on route at scenic beaches. Once we arrived we expected it to be a sheer cliff looking down at the sea. What we got was a beautiful beach with orange sand which was soft like play sand between your toes. There were a couple of families there fishing and kids snorkelling for little shells with squishy bits inside for bait (no idea what they were called) but they were most excited when they found one and went charging up the beach with them. Deb as always couldn't resist and threw herself in but the currents were a bit much for Myles and I so we paddled and had a walk along the beach. 

Next was the drive back, even better as we now knew the route. Ian would do the first half as the sand did get very deep and soft then Myles the final half. He loved it if not a little nervous at first. He has now driven rocks, dirt, beach and loose sand in a week! 

After all this excitement it was back to the little lagoon for a swim. We had a good play but by then the wind was back for the evening so we made it a short one followed by some long hot showers as we were particularly salty and sandy. 

Laura had a quick call to Steff in England and we have now arranged our New Year's Eve plans skating at Somerset house followed by a balcony view of the mayors fireworks in London so that's super exciting to come home to. (Not the weather mind)

Once Myles was back he Deb and Ian went to find the bar while Laura showered and caught them up. Myles went to get Laura a cocktail from the bar. Only a sex on the beach. This turned out to be the most difficult request they have had and Myles had to explain how to make it to 3 different members of bar staff. Once they agreed to make it he wondered off and when they bought it over we all laughed. It was pink. So no orange juice. It was pretty much vodka and cranberry juice which wasn't very appealing but hilarious none the less, after we all had a sip and polished it off we headed back for our final BBQ in Monkey Mia. We were going to head back to the restaurant for pudding but forgot so agreed it would be dinner out tomorrow night for Debs Birthday wherever we may be then!