#42 monkey fly-a ja-mia (as tom calls it...)
Trip Start
Apr 2009
1
42
46
Trip End
Jan 2010
Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia
Sunday, November 8, 2009
2/11-8/11/09
monkey mia/denham
We are practically at the most westerly point of Australia, Steep Point, but I don't think we will actually make the journey out there. It’s a 300km round trip from here on dirt roads and although it’s a surf spot, even the locals don’t brave it. The massive tiger sharks that reside there are plentiful and visible from the cliff above. Too hairy for even the most fearless. Thank God!
Our first day here was a heatwave, 40degrees, and all the little baby flies hatched and there were literally swarms of the things everywhere. We stopped by the road for 'twinkles’ and when we got back in the car there must have been no joke 80 of the buggers in the car with us. Hysterical next 15 minutes driving along trying to swat them from the car!!!
Scott damaged his kite last stop so we are here in the shark bay area until it turns up. We are definitely on a different vibe now, we are taking things much more slowly and just enjoying doing not much with our days. The weather is lovely, the water is warm and our camp is very comfortable so life is good.
On our first morning here we wander down to the beach for the dolphin feeding. We learn a lot of interesting things about these beautiful creatures and Tom even gets picked out of the 200 or so hopefuls on the beach to feed one of them. Our dolphin was a bit shy so we got a really good look at him while we were waiting for him to take his fish from Tom. What an awesome experience! We also had a close encounter with a very grumpy pelican and had some up close and personal swimming encounters with sting-rays.
There is a great little park in the nearby town of Denham and also a truly sensational café so we get into a routine of coffee and breakfast tarts (so divine I would be the size of a house if I lived here!) and a play in the park each morning. This is a 56km round trip so just down the road really!!!
The kite has not shown up. It got sent to perth so we settle in for another few days relaxing. We do a bit of sight seeing to Cape Peron and also visit the Monkey Mia information centre to learn about dugongs and all the other fantastic animals that roam these parts. Our favourite day was without a doubt a visit to the Oceanarium. This is no Sydney Aquarium. It is a rustic, hands-on, one-on-one experience. We got up close to stone-fish, scorpion fish, tiger-sharks and squid. The kids loved handling the turtles and sea-snakes and we learnt so much. There was a crazy sting-ray that was literally trying to throw itself at us out of the knee high deep pool it was swimming which we all found hysterical and christened "Mr Crazy"!
Finally Scott’s kite turns up and it’s time to say goodbye to Shark Bay. We stop off at Little Lagoon for a test drive (of the kite) on our way out. We have driven past this divine lake of turquoise blue every day whilst we have been here and it appears to be the perfect kite-boarding/family swimming location. How deceiving looks can be! When we get out of the car it stinks like stagnant water, there are dead things everywhere and it’s not even half tempting for a swim. Even worse, the wind dies just as Scott finishes setting up so he doesn’t even get to kite surf!!! Oh well.
On the way out we visit Eagle Bluff. Sensational. Scenery is amazing and there are numerous baby sharks swimming around in the shallows. I can't even entice the others from the car, so i enjoy this magical location on my own. Kind of lovely really!
