Monkey Mia (12/4/14)

Monkey Mia has developed as a resort over many years but most importantly it is a place where dolphins have chosen, since the 1960's, to interact on a daily basis with people. It started with local fishers and soon developed into visiting the beach too. Apparently they have a fascination with bell bottoms, tie dye and go go boots. The dolphins have continued to come back to visit the beach, despite the fashions changing, hoping for a paisley print comeback. They are now fed only 3 times a day before lunch during which visitors can watch and, if chosen, take part. I got up at 6.30 as the first dolphin feed at Monkey Mia was at 7.30 and the journey there would take about 20 minutes. I arranged with Nina to meet her there and hopped on the bike. Unfortunately, on the way out of town I missed the signpost to Monkey Mia and ended up about 4km out of my way in the wrong direction. There is only one road to Monkey Mia and I'd missed it. Nob head. Once I realised this I about turned, on the back wheel, in one deft manoeuvre and raced back to where I'd started leaving a trail of burning rubber behind me. I arrived at Monkey Mia about 20 minutes late but fortunately the feeding had only just begun and I found a space in the line with no problems. To start with, all the spectators stand in the water in one long line along the edge of the ocean. Then the instructors ascertain which dolphins they have there today and which ones will be fed. Although about ten or more normally turn up, it's only the same five of them that choose to feed so the instructors make sure that only the buckets of fish for the feeding dolphins that arrive are brought down to the waters edge. Just before feeding time all the people are asked to leave the water and form the same line across the edge of the beach. This lets the dolphins know it is time to feed. Then the volunteers that are currently working on the dolphin interaction program each take a bucket and choose a member of the audience to take a fish out the bucket to feed to the dolphin that is nearby. Only four fish are given to each dolphin which only accounts for 15% of their daily intake. This ensures the dolphins don't become reliant on people for food and they are encouraged to hunt still. It is also forbidden to reach out and touch them at any time as this could be dangerous and it's possible to transfer diseases both ways between dolphins and humans. There are strict rules and fines preventing fisherman feeding the dolphins too. Seeing the wild dolphins so close was an amazing experience and they definitely show certain human characteristics which would otherwise be missed when they are just swimming out at sea. Some are cheeky, some are timid, some are greedy, the newly born dolphins are full of energy and the older ones are constantly around to keep an eye on them. At the end of the feed everyone leaves the water and the dolphins swim away. Exactly the same routine is carried out each time the dolphins are fed so they know exactly what is going to happen. The dolphins, however, decide when they want to be fed by coming back to the beach each time. After the first feed I found Nina and we both decided to stick around for the next two feeds as most people only turn up for the first one and there is a better chance of being picked then. It didn't take long for the dolphins to come back each time and an announcement gets broadcast to let nearby people know they're back. Nina got picked for the last feed but unfortunately I didn't get chosen. After the dolphins swam away we both decided to have a swim in the sea outside the dolphin feeding area. There weren't many fish to see but the waters were really clear and warm. Back on the beach I had a sunbathe till about lunchtime then Nina left to go on a boat cruise that she'd booked at the hostel. I went to the restaurant to get some lunch and then had a walk round the information area to read about the history of Monkey Mia and get some information about dolphins. All the time there are emu's wandering around the resort and pelicans walking on the beach looking for food. It's a relaxing place to spend time but after the dolphins there isn't much more to do there so I went back to the bike to load up and visit a couple of other attractions on the way back to Denham. To get into the national park you need a four wheel drive but I was told the homestead, which has some history of the national park inside, was accessible. So I left Monkey Mia and made my way towards the homestead. The road to the homestead leaves the main sealed road and immediately turns into a sandy dirt road. I cautiously rode up it for a few metres but after a couple of minor slide outs decided it wasn't worth the risk of coming off and turned back after a short distance. This left me one thing to see on the way back to Denham which was a place called 'Little Lagoon'. Little lagoon is just outside town and is a small circular pool which is fed from the sea by a very narrow channel and is home to a few species of marine wildlife. It was amazingly blue in colour and had very shallow waters to bathe in. The small photo is little lagoon and to the right of it is Denham. I parked up in the car park next to a couple of other vehicles and got off the bike to enjoy the view. I heard some people chatting and laughing in one of the shaded picnic areas nearby and shortly after a girl from the group started walking over towards me heading to one of the vehicles. As she got closer we recognised each other, it was the girl from the group of six French people that I'd met at Big River Ranch. "Aaah" she said in her French accent, "big river ranch" pointing at me. I said hello, grinning, and she invited me over to the group to say hello to the others. They all recognised me and we spent the next half hour chatting and I tried my best to learn their names including the french way of saying them. They were called Nicko, Roman, Ronald, Steve, Vincent and Pauline, who were a couple. They were just finishing lunch and were going for a swim after. They asked me to join them and as I didn't have many plans I accepted their invitation. There were signs saying stone fish were in the water, which are quite poisonous if trodden on, so we all wore trainers when we went in. I tried to do a bit of snorkelling but visibility wasn't that great and so gave up after a while. The water was lovely and warm though. We spent a bit of time in there and then all went back to the beach to do some sunbathing. I spent about two hours with them in total but left them late afternoon as I also wanted to visit a viewpoint just south of town that I'd passed on the way in yesterday. We said our goodbyes but didn't exchange details as they were probably going to stop in the next town to find work and I probably wouldn't see them again. It was good to catch up with them today though, it had been a lot of fun. I rode back to the hostel and dropped off all the gear I didn't need and then started riding south along the road I'd come in on yesterday, and the one I'd started to ride this morning by accident. About 3km from town I glanced down at my gauges and realised my fuel light had come on and the needle was below the red mark on the gauge. This wasn't good. I didn't know how much fuel I had left so did my second about turn of the day on this stretch of road and scooted back to town quick smart. Luckily I made it and filled up before my second attempt at getting out of town. I soon reached the view point which is called 'Eagles Bluff'. It looks out over a shallow area of the sea and it's possible to see turtles, sharks, dugongs, sting rays and a few other species. As I got to the cliff edge I was surprised by how clear the waters were and could actually see two stingrays swimming about despite being about fifty metres above them. I couldn't see any other animals though but enjoyed the view none the less. The sun would be setting fairly soon so after about half an hour of being there I made my way back to town to watch it set from the front of the hostel. I could get used to these views and amazing sunsets. Now aware of the shops closing time I went along shortly after the sunset to buy some bits for dinner and went back to the hostel to cook. I'd bought rolls, cheese and pizza paste to make some grilled cheese pizza bread. I prepared all the slices and put them under the electric grill to melt the cheese and toast the bread but as the grill heated up I realised the bottom of the oven had started smoking and the grill only turned red on the ring around the edge at the top so none of the pieces I had in there were actually grilling. Absolutely typical. I gave it about fifteen minutes to try and melt the cheese as much as possible with the small amount of element that actually worked but gave up shortly after that as it was becoming increasingly harder to see through the now thicker smoke. For some reason the bottom surface inside the oven heats up when you put the grill on and all the food residue that had collected over the years was now cooking off. So I tucked into my partly melted partly cold pizza bread slices wishing I'd bought noodles instead. I put the TV on and was watching that when Nina came in having just got back from her sunset cruise. "What's that smell" she said. I nearly swore. During the evening I packed up what I could of my bits as I was leaving tomorrow early and put my hydration pack in the freezer along with another bottle of water for the journey. I chatted with Nina for a while but was in bed about half ten as I wanted to be up at half six and on the road by 8am. I'd been warned not to leave before 9am because of the kangaroos but thought that a few slow kilometres for an hour were better than none at all. I fell asleep soon after my head hit the pillow, disturbed briefly by some noisy neighbours who decided to take a midnight swim. Kids!