Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

Travel time: September 2005 - July 2006  |  by marc and nora L.

Australia - Down under: Shark Bay - Monkey Mia

28th of October - 31st of October: Shark Bay - Monkey Mia

(Marc Writes)

Sorry for taking so long to update this but to be brutally honest we've had better things to do

Anyway after leaving Kalbarri we drove straight upto Shark Bay to see 'Flipper & Friends'.

Shark Bay is a World Heritage National Park and is home to the famous Monkey Mia Beach Dolphins....amongst other stuff! It's a really beautiful area and one of only 14 World Heritage sites in the entire world that meets all four of the required 'Natural' criteria for listing. So the dolphins...well the deal is that these bloody dolphins and their offspring have been turning up at this same beach, 3 times a day for the last 30 years...they are so punctual that it is believed that they can actually read the time from the clock which hangs on the wall of the beach cafe...."punctual my Arse"! We waited 2 hours on the beach, elbowing fellow tourists out of the way in order to get in position for the arrival of the dolphin crowd. Eventually they were spotted so the park ranger comes along and stands knee deep in the sea delivering strict orders of how we are not to splash, move, shout, step out of the straight line that she had us form along the beach with military precision and last of all under no circumstances were we to touch the dolphins....wow we were so happy that we got up at 7.30am to be here! The dolphins then swim in to the shore and people are chosen at random to take a dead fish from a bucket and drop it in the mouth of a waiting dolphin....if I was a child I would have cried with disappointment after such a wait....so that was that!

Monkey Mia itself is in fact a really nice little resort with nice clean beaches and free campground....well when I say free what I actually mean is that you can sleep in your van in the car park (not really alllowed) and then sneak into the neighbouring backpackers/Campsite kitchen and use their facilities (kitchen. showers)...very decent of them really don't you think?

We also took a trip on a really huge 18 metre catamaran to go spot the wildlife. This was much better than the lining up on the beach and in fact we saw loads of proper wild dolphins, logger head turtles, Manta rays & Dugongs (bit like manatees).

After two days at Monkey Mia we moved south on the Shark Bay peninsula down to Shell Beach. As the name clearly suggests..this beach is made up entirely of shells. It may not sound much but it really is quite a sight. The beach itself stretches forever and they say that the shells form an 8metre deep beach...thats a lot of shells!

We then headed down to Hamelin Pool where you can feast your eyes on the some living organisms that are billions of years old and are actually responsible for making life possible on this planet....da da daaaaaa...."The Stromotalites"...to look at they are not partuclarly entertaining but you have to respect these guys..they gave us oxygen...I won't bore you with anymore detail...just google search it if you want to know more

So that was that....A big 'tick' next to Shark Bay on our West Coast Itinerary. Now we're off to Canarvan the fruit and veg farming hub of the west coast. We need work and we're told that we can find it there so off we trundle.

Flowers can grow anywhere in this country...the shells that make up this beach are upto 8metres deep!

Flowers can grow anywhere in this country...the shells that make up this beach are upto 8metres deep!

Me being attacked by a swarm of shells...

Me being attacked by a swarm of shells...

Dugong Mother and her calf

Dugong Mother and her calf

I think we have made it clear now that we went to shell beach!

I think we have made it clear now that we went to shell beach!

The wild pelicans on the beach at Monkey Mia

The wild pelicans on the beach at Monkey Mia

You can walk out to sea here for hundreds of metres and the water doesn't get any deeper...

You can walk out to sea here for hundreds of metres and the water doesn't get any deeper...

Shells, Shells and more shells...and Nora

Shells, Shells and more shells...and Nora

A veiw from the cliff tops of Shark Bay

A veiw from the cliff tops of Shark Bay

The Stromatolites...."The What?"...you heard me...THE STROMATOLITES

The Stromatolites...."The What?"...you heard me...THE STROMATOLITES

R.I.P LIttle Stromatolites

R.I.P LIttle Stromatolites

Hey flipper....

Hey flipper....

Apparently "Finger Mouse" may be crossing the road up ahead so we had better be careful!

Apparently "Finger Mouse" may be crossing the road up ahead so we had better be careful!

Something else to look out for

Something else to look out for

Now I would LOVE to see that kangeroo playing leep frog with the cow...how cool would that be?? Right before you wipe them both out with your 'roo bar' at 100kph

Now I would LOVE to see that kangeroo playing leep frog with the cow...how cool would that be?? Right before you wipe them both out with your 'roo bar' at 100kph

Some sad geek and a satellite earth station....FACT: Funded by NASA this station was used as the southern Pacific tracking station for the Apollo missions. You can normally go and haver a look around the facility but it was actually closed for a week for heavy duty cleaning due to a build up of pigeon poo....no shit!

Some sad geek and a satellite earth station....FACT: Funded by NASA this station was used as the southern Pacific tracking station for the Apollo missions. You can normally go and haver a look around the facility but it was actually closed for a week for heavy duty cleaning due to a build up of pigeon poo....no shit!

5* Luxury...another 'free' campsite/carpark in Geraldton

5* Luxury...another 'free' campsite/carpark in Geraldton

© marc and nora L., 2005
You are here : Overview Australia & Pacific Australia Shark Bay - Monkey Mia
The trip
 
Description:
Hello - 5 more days!!! On the 12th of September we are setting off! Our plan is to travel round the world for a period of 10 months. 1st stop: Thailand (1 month) and cambodia 2nd stop: Via Singapore (overland) to Australia where we plan to stay for approximately 4-5 months. 3rd stop: New Zealand (2 months) (north and south island) 4th stop: South America (approx. 3 months) (Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and if time and money allows we might visit costa rica)
Details:
Start of journey: Sep 12, 2005
Duration: 11 months
End of journey: Jul 31, 2006
Travelled countries: world-wide
United Kingdom
Thailand
Malaysia
Cambodia
Singapore
Australia
Australia & Pacific
New Zealand
South America
Chile
Argentina
Bolivia
Peru
Ecuador
Canada
The Author
 
marc and nora L. is an active author on break-fresh-ground. since 19 years.
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