Half-lap Day 93: Shark Bay -> Kalbarri

We’re feeling more confident and efficient with our packups now, so there isn’t such a feeling of rushing and urgency on the mornings when we are leaving, even when we are supposed to be out by 10. Tony and I started packing up and then got breakfast for the kids, and started packing in earnest around 8.30. The kids talked to our neighbour and played with the dog.

The caravan park had been interesting, fairly basic although quite comfortable. The ground was covered in tiny shells, no sand or dirt which was a nice change. The view from the top of the stairs near our tent was pretty cool – our tent at the bottom and then the units on the other side of the fence, and then the beach. We couldn’t quite see the water from our campsite, but could see the water and our tent at the same time from the top of the stairs. One thing that we hadn’t realised was that there is no fresh water source out on the peninsula – the artesian bore water is very saline so not suitable for drinking. There is desalinated water available and is probably one reason why the caravan parks are so expensive. It was a surprise that the place we’ve been that was most water conservative was on the coast, not in the dry centre as we’d expected.

We were ready to go by 10.30 and headed back down the peninsula. We stopped at Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites – they look like little columns of rock in the water, but are actually piles of microbial mats – groups of bacteria that join together and then attract more bacteria and microbes, eventually growing into these stromatolites. It’s a life form that has been around for over 3 billion years and has survived almost everything, so is very interesting from an evolutionary viewpoint, as well being really cool to look at.

The bay from there looked amazing too, flat and calm and clear, such a beautiful place. We walked around a little bit and read all the information signs. I could smell an ammonia type smell and kept checking everyone’s clothes – eventually I figured out it was one of the bushes there that was letting off quite a strong aroma. The girls and I wanted to go to the toilet and the sign at the carpark said there were toilets at the telegraph station, where the caravan park was. We walked over there while Tony got lunch and cuppas ready. We saw some cool birds, and heard the same type of bird that we’d heard at Edagee Rest Area, repeating the same do-do-do-doo-do over and over again. At the caravan park there were (better) explanatory signs about the stromatolites, but we couldn’t find a toilet. We asked in the shop and the girl said there were some out the back, but really only for guests. I said the sign had directed us here, and she asked us to make a donation to the Royal Flying Doctor Service in order to use them. I hadn’t brought my wallet and it all got a bit awkward – then I found Millie’s wallet in my camera bag and scrounged 30c so that helped the situation a little. It took us a while to find the (single) toilet even then, and longer for all of us to use it – we were all hot and tired and hungry by the time we got back to the car.

The stromatolites

Sandwiches for everyone and a hot drink for Tony and I and we were back on the road. We coasted in to the Overlander roadhouse with our petrol gauge way below Empty. We’d thought we might catch up with our Kings Canyon friends today as they were heading in to Shark Bay – I got a text as we approached the roadhouse and then looked up to see them driving past us the other way. We all waved excitedly then felt a bit sad that we’d just missed them. While we were filling up with petrol there was a knock on our window – Millie’s friend was jumping up and down outside – they’d turned and come back to see us.

We stood in the carpark at the roadhouse and chatted for half an hour or so – great to catch up one more time before we head home. The girls played in the car and the rest of us caught up on news. The sun was hot by now and I felt like I was getting sunburnt – we were so careful with sunscreen when it was hot and sunny all the time, I feel like we’re getting a bit more relaxed about it now which increases our chance of getting burnt on a day when we’re not paying attention.

Eventually we said goodbye again and headed our separate ways. We drove south, through more sparse looking vegetation, which slowly turned into taller trees, the tallest we’ve seen for a while. Not thick bush, but lower bushes interspersed with taller trees. We finished listening to the 6^th Harry Potter book (always emotionally draining) and moved on to the 7^th book. Its wildflower season in WA at the moment, we didn’t deliberately plan to be here at this time, and it’s great to see all the flowers that I’ve heard so much about. Areas full of yellow, white or purple flowers are dotted about everywhere, very cool. As we drove we came over a hill and suddenly saw green fields and hills everywhere – it was such a shock after so many months of dirt and dust and grey or yellow fields. Lots of crops – something green in some, and yellow canola in others. I can’t remember the last time we saw crops growing, probably not since Port Augusta. The scenery was so different to what we’re used to, it just blew us away. I have found driving down the West Australian Coast (since we left Fitzroy Crossing) quite uninteresting, I’ve been getting bored in the car, which hadn’t happened up until then. Once the scenery started getting greener and more changeable today I stopped being bored, I feel like I’ve got something interesting to look at again, it was an interesting change.

Tonight we are staying at Murchison House station, just out of Kalbarri – it was recommended to me by someone we talked to at some stage, I saw an ad for it in one of the tourist magazines I was looking at, and Tony picked it as the best option when he was browsing WikiCamps. I’d rung and booked, and checked that the road in would be ok for our car. It was only 4km of dirt from the highway, and quite easy to drive. We arrived at the station and saw old military equipment around the place, and old shearing sheds and quarters. We checked in at the homestead then came down to the campground, and found a clear, flat and not too sandy site across the road from the river. Some of the sites are on the riverside, we can see sand banks and a bit of water from our site and it is a beautiful spot. As we set up we realised we were camped right in front of the goat enclosure, and there were kids (goat kids) in there – very excited. The kids had a quick look around the farm yard and found alpacas (including a baby one), ducks and chickens. The station musters and sells free range goats, and has a small herd of cattle. Their main income comes from the goats and the tourist industry. As well as the campground they offer quadbike tours and kayaking tours, and people with 4WDs can pay extra and go bush camping in the wilder area on the other side of the river. They also offer a self-guided tour of the station, with morning tea included – it would be interesting but I think we’ll skip it this time.

After the tent was set up I went for a walk along the river, which was beautiful in the setting sun. I chatted to some ladies from Victoria on the way, they left home less than 3 weeks ago, so it feels like we’ll still have plenty of time to get home (we’ve got about 2 ½ weeks). They also gave me some tips about things to see and places to stay along the way. The kids walked around and patted the goats through the fence, then Caitlin and LiAM went up to the communal area near the homestead and found a totem tennis pole. Two kids (human kids) came out of the homestead to play with them – they live at the station and the 4 kids played for ages and had a great time. They played totem tennis and Caitlin and the boy walked on top of a rolling barrel – Caitlin loves doing that and has only done it with small cylinders, it was exciting for her to do it with a big fuel drum.

Millie was tired and stayed at the tent with us. I played a game on the iPad with her and then we set up the beds. For dinner we had pasta and salami and a pasta sauce I’d made before we left home. There was a bit of wind and it was a clear night and very very cold, I ended up with beanie and scarf on and still felt cold. I went up to the camp kitchen to heat water for the hot water bottles, while the kids got into bed. I browsed a few more travel brochures that were up there and eventually the water was ready and I brought the bottles back down to warm everyone up. We read a couple of chapters of Inheritance and settled down to sleep.

Half-lap Day 92: Shark Bay

The wind blew all night, and while the tent flapped around a bit we were fairly well protected in our little corner and we didn’t ever worry that things would blow away. It was our coldest morning in a very long time, we were rugged up for breakfast and even when the sun was up it was still quite chilly.

We had a relaxed morning at the caravan park, talking to our neighbour, patting dogs, playing with toys. The day did warm up a bit as it got later, although it didn’t get really hot. Late in the morning we got organised and went for a drive back down the peninsula, stopping first at Eagle Bluff. There was a lookout high on a cliff, looking down a sloping hillside into a bay. We’d heard that you could see sharks and rays and turtles swimming in the water down here – the wind was ruffling the top of the water quite significantly, and at first we couldn’t see anything. The water was clear underneath the rippling surface. We looked out towards Eagle Island, which was covered in birds, and noticed a dark shape swimming in the water nearby. We watched it cover the channel between the island and the shore, and as it got closer we could clearly see that it was a shark. It was clearer at times as it swum close to the surface, then just a dark shape again when it was lower in the water. We watched it for quite a while, once again amazed at its elegance in the water. We walked along a boardwalk that followed the cliff top, read the interpretive signs, and looked out for more marine life. We could see brown shapes, a lot of them, moving along one channel in the water, but couldn’t see anything clearly, we think were probably rays. LiAM and I saw another black shape moving near some seagrass – we watched it for a while, then it stopped and seemed to be feeding on the bottom. We used my telephoto lens, LiAM’s binoculars and another couple’s stronger binoculars, but couldn’t get a clear view of what it might be. We thought it could be a large turtle and thought at one point we saw patterning – but it didn’t ever come up for air, even when it started moving again. We watched it for a while longer and eventually thought it might be a ray – some of them are patterned. We tore ourselves away eventually and walked back down the boardwalk, seeing a few more shapes in the bay – exciting even if we weren’t sure what they were. Tony had made some sandwiches while LiAM and I were still watching the water, so we had some lunch before moving on.

From there we drove down to Shell Beach. Millie wasn’t very keen on more sightseeing, we convinced her to come and have a look though and she really did love it. There was a large expanse of what looked like sand, between the edge of the foliage and the edge of the water. It was ridged, like sand dunes, and as we walked over it we discovered that it was mainly shells. The shells here were broken up and we could see bits of sand mixed with them, if we dug down a bit deeper though there were only shells. When we reached the slope that led down to the water, the surface of the ground was completely covered in shells, mainly whole. The water was clear and a bit choppy due to the wind. It is possible to swim here (although the water is very salty) – there were lots of jellyfish blobbing around in the water though so we didn’t go in. We sat on the beach and ran our hands through the shells – they are mainly little cockle shells, and at first glance they all seemed to be the same, white and the same cockle shape. As we sifted through them though we discovered lots of different colours – shades of white, pink, yellow, grey, orange – and shapes – conical shells, bigger and smoother shells, and lots of different sizes. We made a collection of all the different types we could find and laid them out on an area that LiAM cleared of shells. Our favourite was a glossy pinkish spiral shell, with silvery lines through it. Caitlin lay in the shells and had me bury her in them, all except her head, which looked pretty strange. They were deep enough to treat them like sand and make big piles or holes, and it felt really cool to run our fingers through them. It was interesting to watch too, as people came to the beach many of them just lay down on the shells like we were, just enjoying the sunlight and the view across the water and the feel of the shells.

We decided to checkout Whalebone campground on our way back, which is where the people we met yesterday had seen the dugongs. Millie stayed in the car, she’d had enough by now, while Caitlin, LiAM and I wandered down to the shore and along the rocks. We didn’t see any dugongs but it was a beautiful bay, with headlands either side. Tony walked up to the top of one of the headlands and we joined him. Looking across the water was cool, seeing the darker patches where the seagrass was and getting a feel for how big the bay is – we couldn’t see land if we looked to the southeast, where the bay ends.

Once we got back to our tent I had a nap, the warm afternoon and several early mornings had me feeling quite sleepy. I hung out in the tent after I woke up, catching up on a few things and enjoying the quiet. The kids played with their toys in the annex and wandered around the caravan park patting dogs and chatting to people. The wind had died down a bit by now and it wasn’t quite as cold. Tony and the girls walked over to the supermarket and Caitlin found the clearance shelf, she was keen for me to go back and have a look at it with her. We had dim sims and mashed potatoes for tea and then got ready for bed, reading for a while before falling asleep more easily now that the tent wasn’t flapping in the wind.

Half-lap Day 91: Shark Bay

Millie came up to our bed just before 5, and I lay awake until our alarm went off at 6. Everyone got up fairly easily and we had a quick breakfast then got changed – we all wore fairly bright clothes as we’d been told that that can sometimes help in being chosen to feed the dolphins. We were in the car by 7.10 and drove out to Monkey Mia. There was a queue to get in to the reserve so we were glad we’d left ourselves plenty of time. We paid our entry fee and parked the car then headed over to the boardwalk.

There were already several dolphins swimming around in the water when we arrived, and it was a beautifully calm, clear morning. The sun had just risen and it wasn’t too cold – I relaxed a lot as the weather was great and we’d already seen dolphins, and that could even be enough for Millie. She was pretty excited and waited patiently on the boardwalk watching them play in the water.

At 7.45 the ranger came down to talk to everyone (there were nearly 200 people there), explaining how the experience would work. After a while we were invited down on to the beach to stand along the water’s edge. The kids quickly found a spot next to the water and Tony and I were behind them. The dolphins were swimming around and then we were all allowed to walk ankle deep in the water. Some of the dolphins swam right past us which was pretty thrilling. One of them had a 3 year old calf with her, so they tended to swim along together, which was even more exciting.

We moved back onto the edge of the sand when asked, and the fish were brought down in the buckets. There were 4 dolphns around to be fed, and each one gets 3 fish at each feeding (they are only given a tiny proportion of their daily intake, so that they will continue to hunt for their own food and to teach their calves how to feed properly as well). People are chosen at random to feed each fish to the dolphins – the kids were prepared that they probably wouldn’t be chosen, although they were all hoping that they would be. We had people either side of us chosen, and just watching the dolphin eat the fish was a beautiful experience, everyone was very happy. After the dolphins had been fed we were asked to move back up the beach, onto the boardwalk or the jetty, so that the dolphins could go out to deeper waters and feed their calves, catch some of their own fish and so on. We stood up on the jetty and watched them leave – some people went back down on to the beach and tried to touch the dolphins, which meant that the dolphins didn’t leave. The calf was trying to feed and her mother was more interested in playing with the people by the edge of the water. Eventually the rangers convinced everyone to get off the beach and we all waited to see if the dolphins would come back in for another feeding – they need to wait at least 10 minutes before they will feed them again.

We were all thrilled at what we’d already seen, Millie was happy and it was a relief to know that the morning had fulfilled her expectations already – anything that happened from here was a bonus. A lot of people left after the first experience, so when we went down 10 minutes later for the next feeding, it was a bit easier to find a spot along the edge of the water and we had a slightly better view of the dolphins. A different ranger did the talk this time and while most of the information was the same she gave a few more facts and it was nice to have a different perspective on the experience. Again it was great to watch the dolphins swimming past and to see people feeding them.  The dolphin with the calf didn’t come in this time, but a new dolphin did, so there were still 4 dolphins being fed.

After this experience Tony and I went back to the jetty, and the kids went up onto the boardwalk to look at all the interpretive panels there. We waited a bit longer this time for the next feeding. There were a couple of pelicans on the beach who were strutting around and seemingly enjoying the attention of everyone trying to take photos of them.

We moved back down to the water for the 3^rd feeding, and there were even less people here this time. A different ranger again did the talk, and again she had slightly different information to give (not contradictory, just sharing different details). One of the dolphins swam in with seagrass draped around her fin, it looked pretty cute and funny. When it came time for the feeding, Caitlin was chosen to feed Puck, one of the oldest dolphins there and the mother of a couple of the others. Family and friends are allowed to go out with whoever is chosen, so all three kids went out to the dolphin, very excited. Caitlin gave the fish to the dolphin and all of them were thrilled to be out there so close to it!

Another dolphin (Piccolo) came in at that point so there was an extra one to be fed. The volunteers were choosing people to feed it, and kept choosing people who had already had a go earlier. They picked me next, so I took Millie out with me and let her feed the dolphin – an experience I think even beyond her dreams, it was so so cool. The dolphins looked like they were smiling when they took the fish – they don’t take it out of our hands, they like to think they’ve caught it themselves, so Millie laid it in the water in front of the dolphin and she snapped it up.

As I got back to the shore I could hear the volunteers selecting more people, and some were saying ‘I’ve already had a go’. Suddenly Tony was walking back to us and handing my camera back to me (he’d walked down the shore to get better photos of Millie feeding Piccolo), then he went out to feed Puck. He hadn’t been fussed about getting a turn and it all happened so quickly from when he was selected, and he said it was amazing and was so glad he’d got the chance. Having 3 of us selected was so far beyond what we’d expected to experience, it was so incredible. 

As the experience ended we turned around to see two pelicans fighting over a fish – one of the volunteers was feeding them at the back of the beach, to stop them coming down to steal the dolphin’s fish as they do sometimes. It was amazing to watch their big beaks snapping at each other and their wings flapping around as they tried to get the fish. There was a small, long haired dachshund nearby (we’d met it and its owners yesterday when we walked down the street) and I was worried that the pelicans might try to grab the dog – Caitlin later found out that one pelican did have a snap at the dog and it chased the bird off.

We sat on the edge of the jetty and watched the water and the pelicans – after they’d finished fighting they wandered down to the edge of the water, where 4 of them sat or stood and seemed undisturbed by the number of people who were coming up to take photos of them. The kids walked out on the jetty and talked to the owners of the catamarans moored there, who were getting ready to go out on animal spotting tours. One of the guys chatting to LiAM said that if we did a tour with him, he would just charge us the family price (2A + 2C for $200) rather than adding on another child fare for the 3^rd child. LiAM was pretty thrilled with this deal (and it would have been great if we wanted to do the tour) but we decided that there were other things we wanted to do that would be a lot cheaper at this stage.

A dolpin came back in to the shore and we wandered over to have a closer look. The ranger came down and said that we (there was a small group of us) could stay close to the shore there in the dolphin experience area for 5 minutes, then it would be best to move away so she could go back out to sea. We decided we didn’t need to stay and see it as we’d already been so close, so moved away from the edge. We spent a while talking to the ranger and another couple from Victoria – the lady had been chosen to feed a dolphin and she was so moved by the experience and we shared our excitement. They had swum with dugongs off one of the beaches the day before, the dugongs were just in the water with them. We shared camping tips and stories of our trips before going our separate ways. 

Millie wanted me to read some of the signs on the boardwalk to her, so we had a look at them then went to the gift shop. Millie and LiAM bought t-shirts and soft toys – a dolphin for Millie and a tiger shark for LiAM. Caitlin bought a dolphin key ring and a magnet, and I got myself a pen. Next to the gift shop was a little interpretative centre, giving lots of information about the dolphins and the area, so we browsed there for a while. Meanwhile Tony had gone back to the car and made himself a coffee and me a cup of tea.

We wandered out into the resort to look around (and find the toilets). Caitlin found the pool – it was sunny but a bit cool and windy and no one was super keen to swim. There was a giant chessboard, we sat near that and waited for the current game to finish, and enjoyed looking out over the water. Once the chessboard was free, LiAM and Millie had a game. The boy who had been playing offered to tell them the rules, LiAM said they didn’t need help, and so he hung around and chatted to LiAM while they played. Caitlin and I went down on to the sand and made a sand sculpture of a turtle.

It was a bit after midday by the time we went back to the car. The kids had a sandwich and then we drove to Francois Peron National Park. The road is suitable for 2WD up until the homestead, so we drove that far. This was an old sheep station, and some of the buildings have been set up as a museum explaining what life was like on the station, or how the native animals and flora are being protected by the national park. We had a bit of a look around (at the history of the peninsula, and then the horse yards) and then headed for the hot tub. There’s an artesian bore here and while the water is too salty to drink, it’s great for washing and bathing. They have set up a little pool with the bore water running in to it – the water is 40 degrees and felt like a hot bath at first, then felt lovely and soothing. We all found we had to get out every so often so we didn’t get too hot and dizzy. Some locals came for a dip and said that it wasn’t as hot as it sometimes is, and they weren’t impressed that the Dept of Parks and Wildlife control the temperature a bit.

We got out of the tub and Tony went back to the car to make more sandwiches and have a rest. The kids and I went and looked through a bird hide to see if there were any birds on the pond (only butterflies) and then to the old shearing sheds which were fascinating. The kids went back to the hot tub for another ‘swim’ (I watched them) and then we joined Tony at the car.

From there we drove to Little Lagoon – a low area between hills that is still filled with water, and is perfectly round. The water was a crystal blue, just gorgeous, and the sand around it was white. The wind was still blowing strongly and there were little waves whipping across the surface of the water. We’d planned to go swimming here but no one felt like getting in even though we all loved looking around. The shores were covered in little shells and the green hills rose up all around, LiAM in particular really loved how it looked. We decided we’d come back tomorrow if we felt like it, and headed back towards town. We stopped at a lookout above Denham and could see out across the bay in 2 directions, it was an impressive view. Across the bay we could see Dirk Hartog Island and the mainland, and there were white hills over there which were more salt mines.

Everyone was very tired by now and very happy to get back to our tent. I went and had a wonderful hot shower, great to finally get all the salt water out of my hair. The kids played with their toy animals in the tent, and visited our neighbour who let them bring the bearded dragon back over to our tent for them to hold. I sat in the car for a while and caught up on email, blogging, banking and so on (it was the warmest and quietest place). The weather got colder and windier as the evening drew on, and we all ended up putting more and more clothes on. I was laughing that perhaps it wasn’t really cold, we were just used to northern Australian temperatures – when I looked at the weather on my phone it said it was 13 degrees, and that it felt like 10 degrees. So that made us feel a bit better, it really was cold. We had French Toast for dinner again, and then steamed puddings with cream for dessert – great on a cold night. I filled hot water bottles for everyone so we could snuggle in to our beds, and we went in to our very noisy tent, which was being buffeted around strongly by the wind.

Half-lap Day 90: Edagee -> Shark Bay

I woke up around 5am and decided to get up and start catching up on my blog – with so many early starts lately I’ve got a bit behind. It was cold, though I was still comfortable enough sitting outside, until it started raining. I covered up or put away anything that we didn’t want wet, then I sat in the car to finish my cuppa and do some typing.

The rain was only light, and hung around for a couple of hours. It stopped and started for a while, but wasn’t too much of a pain. We stood up to eat our breakfast so that the chairs didn’t get wet (they were folded up under the table). We enjoyed having a slower, quiet morning, without anywere to be in a hurry. The kids played in the tent for a while, and Tony and eventually started packing up. Once the sun came out it was a beautiful morning. We did things in a funny order because we wanted to give the tent (and the washing I’d hung up the night before) as long as possible to dry, so it took us a couple of hours to pack up, we were done by around 10.30. Having the trailer already hitched saved us a bit of time and mucking around too. I rang ahead to caravan parks in Denham so that we didn’t have to stress about getting there early – there wasn’t much choice left, most were full or almost full. I took at powered site at Blue Dolphin Caravan Park, the last one available for the 3 nights we wanted, and it cost more than we have paid anywhere else so far. I did ring the resort at Monkey Mia – it was significantly more expensive still, and we would have had to move after our first night to an even more expensive (although beachside) site.

We made some sandwiches before we left so that we didn’t need to stop for lunch, then headed towards Shark Bay and Denham. Millie has been wanting to get to Shark Bay since we first started talking about the trip, it was all she really wanted to see, so she was very excited. The land as we drove was still very red and sandy, with sparsely placed black trees and low scrub. This is one of the few places in the world where the desert comes right up to the ocean. We saw more wild goats, and a couple of cows.

We stopped for petrol at the Overlander Roadhouse, then turned off the highway, through a big stone entry way into the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It was 100km from here in to Denham, during which time we had glimpses and sometimes long looks at the water of Shark Bay – Millie was thrilled and we were all impressed with the view. The water was flat and almost exactly the same colour as the sky, it created a really hazy, glassy effect that I haven’t really seen anywhere else. This country is obviously still extremely dry. The hills are covered in plants, low lying bushes, and occasionally in between hills there’s a round area which has obviously been filled with water at some stage and now is dry and filled with red and purplish plants that look like the plants on the surrounding hills, just a different colour and more sparse. The road was long and straight, up and down over hills, it felt like we were driving somewhere very very remote. Tony and I saw a Thorny Devil on the road – we’d seen one yesterday as well, exciting as I’d really wanted to see them, and had thought we were past the point where it would be possible (I’d expected them in the Northern Territory, with no luck, and hadn’t realised that this area was desert as well).

We reached Denham and found our caravan park. For a minute the girl couldn’t find our booking, then tracked it down. We were in a fairly small site, right in a corner, with someone else’s car parked quite close. Tony very skillfully backed the trailer in, then the lady next door came out and said she could have moved her car. The kids saw a dog with her and went to pat it, she asked if they wanted to pat the bearded dragon (called Charlie) so they happily played with the dragon and dog while Tony and I figured out how we could fit the tent on the site. We attempted to turn the trailer around to put it in the best spot, but the ground was too soft and sandy and we couldn’t get it far enough into the site. We eventually set it up sideways into the site, which means that we won’t get as much shade as we’d like, but we can put the annex up and we will fit.

We got the trailer into position, then the kids and I left to go and check out the Aquarium. Tony stayed at the site to watch the Collingwood game on his phone. Ocean Park Aquarium was about 10km out of town – we got there just before 3 and it closed at 5, so I hadn’t wanted to delay any longer. It was well set up – there were lots of tanks, some with open tops and some enclosed glass cases, and a marine biologist took visitors around from tank to tank, explaining about each of the creatures in there. The tour went for an hour, and as each group of people arrive, they just join the tour wherever it is up to, and then stay with it until its done the full circuit, then they can leave.

clownfish

green turtle

Blue spotted ray

lionfish

We arrived about halfway through the sea snake talk. We saw several turtles, moray eels, a frog fish, a squid, clownfish, boxfish, lion fish, stone fish (they are one of the few creatures that really scare me), blue spotted rays,  leopard rays, shovel-nosed rays, and lots of fish. We discovered that the silver fish we’d seen in schools at Cape Range would have been tailor. We were the only people left on the tour when it got to the shark feeding, so the kids got to ask lots and lots of questions and talk about some of the marine creatures we’ve seen on our travels so far. The guide was really interested in all the things we’d seen and asked lots of questions herself. The sharks weren’t hungry and didn’t come up to eat anything, but we saw a couple of lemon sharks and a couple of sandbar sharks, incredible animals and I really love watching them swim, so graceful.  We finished up back at the sea snakes and listened to the whole talk there (also incredibly graceful animals) and then we had a quick look at a few of our favourite fish again (the rays for me, and the lion fish, also the stone fish because they are so fascinating). Out to the gift shop, where Caitlin bought a turtle necklace, and LiAM a dolphin puppet. Millie wanted a huge soft crocodile (it was very cool) though I convinced her to save her money until tomorrow when we’d be at Monkey Mia with the dolphins.

sea snakes

Sandbar shark

Stonefish

Out in the carpark we were looking at the view of the beach when the marine biologist came out – she chatted to us for another 15 minutes or so, telling us lots about the local area and more about the marine life, and talking more about our trip. We left her there and drove back to town, seeing an emu foraging along the side of the road.

Back at camp Tony had almost finished setting up the tent by himself, so I helped him with the last little bit. Collingwood had won and he was very happy (although keeping quite about it since they’d beaten West Coast). I hung the (still wet) washing out, and the kids wandered around the park and chatted to dog owners. We decided to walk down the main street of town and get some (local caught) fish and chips for tea – there wasn’t much open at 6pm on a Saturday night in Denham, but we did find a fish and chip shop. It was a bit pricey but within our means. We ordered then went across the road to play in the playground and walk along the beach a little. It was windy and bit cool. We sat and ate our dinner on the foreshore, enjoying the fading light on the water and the sea air. The kids played in the playground a bit more and I tried to find an ATM (no luck – although enjoyed walking further along the main street and seeing some of the old buildings).

Back to our tent and everyone was on edge – very tired and also a bit anxious, we’d been waiting a long time to get to Monkey Mia and I think everyone (especially me and probably Millie) was worried about how it would go. If no dolphins came or we couldn’t see properly or the weather was terrible – Millie would be devastated. We were all hoping that the experience would live up to what she’d imagined it would be like.

I was so tired I went to bed as quickly as I could, and we didn’t read for the first night in a long time. We had an early start in the morning and everyone was OK with just going straight to sleep and trying to be rested for tomorrow.