Saturday 14/07/07
A hellishly noise place people all running about like noise hyperactive ferrites at 6am. Kids shouting and screaming about having to wear sun cream. I drag myself out of my tent feeling pretty grumpy and tired its 7am and dark cold and windy. I walk to the shelter and eat breakfast in a grump. I then take a stroll down to the beach. Within minutes i get talking to someone and walk for an hour or so with Scotty. We have a swim in the pretty blue sea. We don’t stay in very long cause its bloody freezing but it’s refreshing. We waste the rest of the day walking swimming and talking utter rubbish. Scotty is keen on the idea of travelling and talks loads about his plans and how he has become board of the beech. It’s good to see sun and sand after 5 months of clouds and rocks. I have been carrying sun cream around with me and this is the first day i have needed it. I head back to my tent and have a much better night’s sleep.
Sunday
Monkey Mia is renowned for the dolphins, so i thought i better get up early to see them. I drag myself out for sun rise over the ocean which is very pretty. There are no clouds to obscure the view so all you see is the bright ball rise from the deep blue sea. I play hacki sack with someone while the dolphins swim up and down the beach. I could not have been in a more beautiful place, it’s just a shame i have to share it with the 200 other people who have come for the dolphin feeding. I watch the first feed of the day with the others looking in amazement as 7 dolphins swim within feet of us. We are then all unshed out of the water while some lucky people are called into the water and offer a dolphin a fish. I am not the chosen one. Dam it. I then watch the next feed followed by the next. All three feeds are over by 10am. The dolphins here are wild animals that have been coming into the bay for many years they were feed originally feed by the fisherman. As tourism has increased in the area so has the aggressiveness of these animals so they are now under sever behaviour monitor programs. During the wait for the feeding we are given the following information.
Some 30 years ago bottlenose dolphins began visiting shark bay. By 1964 at least 1 was accepting hand held fish. Today as many as 7dolphins come into the shallows bay of monkey Mia. Nicky is the eldest at 24 years old. Puck is 23, piccolo is 6, kiya is 2. Surprise is the youngest of the adult female dolphin who visits the beach she has raised shock 5, sparkly 1. We only feed the female ones because the males become aggressive. The female’s calves do not get introduced into the feeding program until they become four. This is because we want them to learn to fish for them self. Then we slowly introduce them into the feeding program first they will only be feed by the ranger. During this time they are monitored by the researchers. We are told all the names and ages and whose baby is whose and which ones are grandmothers. We are also informed about the sexual habits. This talk goes for half an hour while more and more people arrive. I did not get to feed one of the dolphins but it was cool to see them close up.
I spent the rest of the day playing hacki, volleyball and generally loitering about. Spent time talking with Scotty, who is still talking about travelling but i get the feeling he is the kinda person who is going to spend his live talking about it without actually doing anything about it, because he is too settled in his comfort zone.
Monday 16/07/07
Up for sun set again, another wonderful experience. Watched the dolphin feeding again got to feed one at the second feed. I meet Andre one of the volunteers working with the dolphins, so he picked me out of the crowed of 50 people. I was so excited as I walked out to within inches of Piccolo. I then went for a walk down the beach till there was no longer people and did a little sun bathing till i got boarded which took no time at all. I headed back to camp I then score a lift to the hot tub at Francois Peron National park an old homestead about 30k’s out of the resort. The hot tub is one of the most popular features of the park. I went with Walter and his 2 young boys Dan and Taylor. We all got very excited when we sore an echidna crossing the road. So we pulled over and took a few pictures. Once we arrived at the spar it looked unimpressive a small man made tub filled with hot bore water which was once essential to the survival of Peron station. It’s controlled and flows at 5 litres per second and at 40-degrees Celsius, very warm and really relaxing. The overflowing water fills a watering hole that provides great drinking ground for emus, euros, birds and other native wildlife within the area. We were lucky enough to see an emu. A nice way to spend the afternoon.
Tuesday
I watch the dolphins some more still in ore. Then walk down the beach in the opersit direction from the previous days. After about 20 minutes and round a few corners i come to a deserted bay with 3 dolphins swimming about. I am so excited to see them so close and without millions of people. I walk into the water up to my knees and walk along the beach with them less that 6 feet away I walk for a few minutes. During this time I am getting more and more excited until i can’t contain myself any longer i have to go in the water to play. There is no one about which is good because i don’t have my swimming stuff with me so i go skinny dipping. They come within inches of me at I am so tempted to touch them but resist. I watch them swim up and down fishing. I spend ages in the water with my heart pounding with excitement. I keep expecting the rangers to come round in a boat and tell me off but there is still no one about. The water is freezing at only 14. Then the dolphins leave i find it hard to exit the water because i have lost all feeling in my legs, but I am so happy with the morning i can’t stop grinning from one ear to the next.
I headed back to camp and as I have got talking to more and more people it is easy to be kept entertained it is a collection of families with varies aged kids. So I now play hacki with Walter and his son James, Rich with Dan and Taylor, Paddy have 4 kids who we see very little of. There is other whose names I don’t know we vary out time between cards hacki and volley ball. I return to the beach to watch the sun set before returning back to camp to cook. The camp site they have a gas bar-b-q so I can turn my potatoes and sweet potatoes in to chips which make a refreshing change.
Wednesday 18/07/07
Was planning to get up for sun set but when my phone started playing the Automatics I could not persuade myself to get out of bed so I turned off the alarm rolled over and started snoring. I left my tent about 8 when the sun was beaming in rise the temperature inside to 110 and making longer lie in impossible. I walk down the beach and this morning Take tones of pictures of the dolphins and nearly as many of the pelicans. I then head into Denham with Walter and his boys. We go visit the 1800’s church made from shell block taken from Hamelin Pool Block Quarry. Looked really cool. We took a few pictures then did a little food shopping before heading back to camp.
Thursday
I go to the beech again watch the dolphins some more I am still not boarded with watching these amazing creatures. I get to feed one of the dolphins again. It’s such a small act but it’s so amazing, to be that close to such a huge and graceful animal. When you squat down and give it a fish it gave me such a buzz and a massive pleasure I had the added pleasure of being asked to wait before I feed Nicky so rather than being in the water for a few seconds I was there for a minute. I was grinning from ear to ear all over again. Thanks to some Spanish volunteer I didn’t even know. I don’t care what I do for the rest of the day I am happy as can be.
The rain is coming in this morning. So a collection of us sit in the shelter playing card and chilling out. The rain is in for the day so not a chance of going to the beach for one last picture. I chill out and go through the many photos I have taken over the last 6 days. I leave tomorrow at 4am.
Friday
It’s rained all night. I get up at 3:10am and pack up my stuff so I catch the bus at 4am. There are 2 other getting the same bus so we wearily pack up with little conversation. We walk to the bus with 1 minute to spare, it is waiting for us. We drive to the Overlander picking up people on the way. 6am we learn the greyhound bus is running 2 hours late so we watch some movie on the laptop while waiting. The bus is 3 hours late. I board the bus with 44 others. The rest of the day is spent sitting. I arrive into Perth at 7pm picked up my Matt then we head off to a music quiz night. Our team the Sex Pistols come n at 9th place. With free rink all night it was not a pleasant end to the day. Once back at the house it’s off to bed.
