Week Nine Day Fifty Eight

Forging one of the rivers.



Petrified coral on Shady Beach.

Ouma and Oupa and the kids.

Feeding the fish at Aquascene.

Wet after fishing. Bandana to keep rain out of ears.

Francois and Wendy fishing.

Back on line, Yippeeeeeeeeeeee

Well we had a lovely few days in Darwin, did some normal things like going to the cinema, to watch "Alice in Wonderland". Went to Aquascene which was fantastic, fish come in on the high tide to be fed. There were milk fish, bat fish, catfish and mullet just to name a few. it was great fun feeding them and observing them in the water.

Thursday morning arrived bright and early with the alarm going off at 2.45am. Our flight by Quantas to Nhulunbuy was at 6.30, better to be early than late. The views from the plane was in Hope's words "awesome". To see the coast line of the top end of Australia is something else, especially when you throw in the land filled with rivers meandering through virgin bush and flood plains.

We arrived in the rain, made a nice change to the hot humid weather we have been experiencing. Wendy's brother Francois, sister-in-law Jillian, Hanna and Adam (niece and nephew) and Mum and dad was there to meet us. Wendy's folks are also visiting so roll on the fun.

We did not have much chance to rest as it was the school run on the way from the airport, then catching up with all the news. Thursday night saw us having a BBQ (braai) with friends of Francois, that we have not seen for 15 years. A hind quarter of a buffalo had been delivered a couple of days before, this had been turned into sausages, steaks and mince. The sausages ended up on the BBQ. Having never eaten buffalo before, we were quite impressed. Cannot wait for the next BBQ.

Friday found us visiting Yirrkala, at the art centre we bought our didgeridoo. It is a Yidaki, a true didgeridoo from where it first originated. Most of the paintings are done on bark and the smell of the pandanus mats and baskets is so unique. In Yirrkala we stopped at Shady beach. You have this magnificent beach, an island not to far off and the temptation to swim is so great! BUT with crocodiles and box jellyfish, swimming is so out. We picked up a load of cowrie shells that had been washed up on the beach, and was awed by the sight of the petrified coral.

We also had to go into town and apply for our liquor permits. Due to all the problems with the drinking in the streets, alcohol restrictions is very tight. So to drink at any of the picnic spots and the beach, this is a requirement. Personal Permits to go to these Aboriginal places are also a requirement but had already been bought.

That afternoon when Francois got back from work, we headed for Wirraway beach to do some fishing. We ought to tell you at this stage that we are on Cyclone watch ............ so this was done in the torrential rain. What fun, with lures on John, Francois, Willem (Wendy's dad), Adam and Wendy were trying to catch fish. Hope and Hanna and Leila (the black Labrador) just enjoyed getting wet. Of course we did not catch anything, so we eventually piled back into the 4x4's sopping wet and went home.

Today we headed off for the "track" The main road out of Nhulunbuy. We were heading for "Scout Camp" picnic spots next to a creek. There were three 4x4's, the nine of us plus friends of Francois. We negotiated two river crossings which was great fun and eventually made it to Scout Camp. With all the rain the creek was full and running very fast. Leila went in first, to check for crocs. If she disappeared, we would know that there was a croc so we wouldn't go in. Leila came back so the kids and Francois went in. Great fun was had swinging on the rope and jumping into the water. We, still a bit wary stood on the bank getting wet.

After awhile we headed back, closer to town. We were worried that if the rivers rose much more we would be stuck. The second crossing of the rivers was just as much fun. We came to the turnoff off for "Goanna lagoon". Now if we had thought that 4x4ing on the "track" was fun, well we had no idea what was ahead of us. The kids were riding with Ouma and Oupa and all they heard from the children was "awesome, awesome".

Francois had handed the control of the 4x4 to John and he was driving. Ummmmmmmm, seat belt fastened (check), hands clenched (check), John looking relaxed, mmmmmm. This was a track, two ruts from wheels, loads of water, dips and dongas, where the 4x4 is almost on its side. water running over the bonnet, hands sweaty........

It was great fun. We pulled up next to the lagoon, strung up a tarp, so we had some shelter to eat, and sent Leila into the water. The kids soon followed. There was a swing tied to a tree trunk in the river, which the kids held onto. They then let go and let the current carry them away. They then swam to some trees in the middle to hold on. They must have done this dozens of times. Leila eventually got so tired that the current got her and Francois had to go after her. They walked back along the track to us.

It was lovely eating our lunch under the tarp, with the rain falling around us. A walk followed where both John and Wendy,broke their shoes. They got stuck in the mud and when we tried to pull them out, we were shoeless. Both Wendy and her mom slipped and fell, and there were near misses by everyone else.

Back to our base and this time John joined Francois and Jillian in the water.

These two weeks are going to be actioned packed.

Hope's Blog......... It was awesome going through rivers, and mud splashed the windscreen, so we could not see. Swimming in the creeks was also awesome, although Mummy and Daddy was worried about crocodiles. I wasn't because Leila was in the water with us. This is going to be fun.

Week Eight......

MELTDOWN..........................

Sorry folks will only be able to get back on line in Nhulunbouy..... Our internet thingy-me-jog has decided to take a holiday...........

This is a chance for you to go back and relive some of our previous entries.. He He He

Week Eight day fifty and fifty one

Lilly Pilly

Our night in the "Bush Bungalow" proved to be very restful ........and different we felt as if we were sleeping rough as the sides of the bungalow were so designed to allow maximum airflow..... so no lights on inside !!!!!! We were quickly on the road to Kakadu Nourlangie Region we wandered amongst the Aboriginal rock art, rock overhangs and the fauna and flora. The views were fantastic.

One "rock art" picture depicted an evil spirit........Nabulwinjbulwinj (pronounced Nar-bull-win-bull-win) He eats females after striking them with a yam. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Nabulwinjbulwinj

After downing 2 litres of water between us, we returned from our stroll amongst the the rock art. From there we went to Warradjan Cultural Centre.It was extremely interesting wandering around the exhibitions and reading the Aboriginal story.

An overhang with rock art.

We then headed for Batchelor, the entry point for the Litchfield National Park. We stayed the night at the Litchfield Tourist Park, so only a short drive into the park. Our first stop this morning was to view the magnetic termite mounds. They belong to the grass eating Cathedral Termites. This mound is about 50 years old. They align their termite mounds facing North to South.

John and Hope dwarfed by the termite mound.

From there we headed to Tolmer waterfall and then onto Wangi Falls. Unfortunately no swimming was allowed as there was still a risk of salties. However we did do the tree top walk through the rainforest. It was very humid but beautiful. There were "flying foxes" in the trees (bats), golden orb spiders between the branches, right in our path and unfortunately we seemed to be the first to walk through. Wendy had a few spider webs in her face, but then swapped with Hope, who copped the big one. Luckily though as she is short, she missed the spider. Wendy would not have been so lucky John walked at the back so all the spiders were cleared by the girls. he he he

Florence Falls from the view point.

There were loads of butterflies and mushrooms. Wangi falls were magnificent and the mist was refreshing, however we needed to cool off, so off to Buley Rockpools and Florence Falls. Buley was busy so we headed to Florence. Going down was easy, with the sound of the waterfall in our ears, and the though of a cold dip, spurred us on. We dumped our stuff and headed in, it wasn't as cold as we thought it would be. But so much colder than the warm pool water we have been trying to cool off in. There were loads of fish, so John went and got our snorkels, brilliant, the water was so clear.

Florence falls swimming hole.

However as the morning progressed the falls started getting busy as well, so with a sad look back we started back up the 139 steps to the top. However on the way back we spotted a Small eared rock wallaby. He was so cute, and yes we did use it as an excuse to catch our breath.

Back to Darwin..........

Week Seven Day Forty-Eight and Forty-Nine

Hannibals jaws!!!!!!!!!

Darwin, what a lovely friendly place. We have both defiantly fallen in love with it. We spent the morning wandering around the town, before heading for the wave pool. Unfortunately someone disobeyed the lifeguards and strayed to close to the wall. So the waves were stopped while the lifeguards rescued a teenage girl who had been battered against the wall and half drowned. Paramedics were called and luckily the girl was not to bad at the end of the whole saga.

Now the motel we stayed in was in Mitchel Street. Mitchel Street is where most of the restaurants, bars and backpackers are located. Being St Patricks day as well it turned out to be a fun filled evening. Luckily with the aircon on we were not kept awake all night.

This morning we headed for Jabiru and Kakadu National Park. However our first stop was to the "Jumping Crocodile Cruise". This cruise guaranteed "Salties" (salt water crocodiles) jumping out of the water. Were we impressed or what. Just walking onto the jetty to the boat, you heard this splash not more than 20 meters away, and this saltie comes swimming out from under the shrub overhang.

Hannibal, 6 metre Saltie.

Our second encounter was when we were on the boat. We not only had a 6 metre male saltie, called Hannibal, swimming towards but also a 3 metre female. Luckily for the female, she swam away or we would have watched her being attacked by the male. Wow, this guy was huge you would not stand a chance if you encountered him in the wild. Hold on we are in the wild, what happens if the boat goes down? Lets put it this way, with the amount of crocs in the water, some of us would not make it ashore.


Male saltie.

Anyway meat was held out on a bamboo stick and the crocs lunged out of the water to reach it. Again it showed how vulnerable we really were, because there was nothing stopping him "jumping" onto the boat. It was an impressive sight. Three crocs were fed, with the third being encouraged onto the river bed so we could witness how impressive they are. The first and third were male and the second female. She jumped the highest as she did not carry as much weight as her male counterparts.

Female Saltie.

Then it was time to feed the kites following the boat. This was fun to watch and amazing to see their ability in plucking the smallest bits of meat that was thrown from the boat.

Kite flying for food.

After our exciting morning we headed for Jabiru where we are currently ensconced in an award winning "Bush Bungalow" at Lakeview Park.

Our Bush Bungalow.

Hope's Blog........... Mummy wanted to get a picture of me and the croc on the riverbank, to show how close he was to us. But I did not want to turn my back to him, as he was scary. I also had to take my pink sun hat off as they like bright colours. I did not want to be eaten.

Week Seven Day Forty-Seven

The colourful stones on Lammeroo beach.

On our way to Kakadu we yearned for some civilisation and a comfortable bed !! Darwin was only another 315 kilometers away and we could plan our forthcoming trips to Alice Springs and Ayres Rock.

On our way into Darwin, we passed lots of WW2 airstrips. They seemed to follow each other in a long line, running parallel to the main highway. A stark reminder of how the war touched Australia, especially Darwin.

The rain falling in the distance, view from Darwin wharf.

We arrived in Darwin early afternoon to 35 degrees and 70% humidity, boy it was hot !!! Also in town was the "Dawn Princess" standing out majestically, very White against a very Black Sky. With the perspiration pouring off us we explored Lammeroo Beach and the Darwin waterfront wave pool. Lammeroo Beach is very rocky but we found the stones to be very colourful. Mindful of the "Salties" Salt water crocodiles and the "Box Jellyfish" we kept well away from the water. Our trip into Darwin prior to Kakadu has proved very fruitful as we have picked up some good possibilities for tours to the "Red Centre" Uluru, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy.

The Dawn Princess in Darwin.

We both agree we really like Darwin, devoid of the highrise and hustle and bustle of the big city. It comes across as very social, we ate in an Irish Pub and got caught up in the local quiz night scoring a point for the team on the next table!! Yes, we like Darwin so have decided to stay another night in the "Value Inn" a cheap backpacker motel type of accommodation but air conditioning own shower and comfortable bed ...........shear luxury.

Litchfield and Kakadu will have to wait another couple of days.

Week Seven Day Forty-Five and Forty-Six

The last State in Australia.

We are sitting in the shade of palm trees, writing this blog. Perspiration is beading our foreheads, and our drinks are trying to stay cold in "stubbie" holders. We are all alone at this beautiful holiday park in Katherine. We have made it finally to the last state of Australia, The Northern Territory.

We crossed the border at around lunch time yesterday and promptly lost 1.30hrs. As they do not have daylight saving up here. We stopped of course to take a photograph, of the sign welcoming us into N.T. We also took a photo of the black thunderstorm we had just left behind.

The Storm!!!!

After leaving Kununurra we had decided to go to Lake Argyle and the Ord Dam. It was a 34km journey off the highway. There are flood way signs along all the roads in Australia and this road turned out to be no different. However because of the rain, the first in 4 weeks, one of these flood ways was filling up with water. Now our little car would not have been able to go through if the water had got any higher, so we turned around.

Arriving in Katherine we went to the information centre and booked onto the NitNit dreaming boat tour, covering two gorges, including Katherine Gorge. We then went to "Shady Lane" tourist park. Early evening was spent in the pool. Nice!

This morning we were up early and headed for Nitmiluk National Park. I am not sure if we told you about Tracey, she was a lady we met at the Flashpackers in Port Campbell all those weeks ago. She was travelling in the opposite direction to us and was aiming to get to Darwin by the 24th March. We made a joke at the time, that we should meet up for dinner. Ha Ha. Well this morning she was on the same NitNit Dreaming boat tour. Because of all the flooding in Queensland she was in the area earlier than expected. There was only about 18 of us on this trip, so the chances of us meeting up again over the thousands of km's that we have both traveled, on the same day, on the same tour is nothing short of miraculous. I wonder what the odds on that would have been?

Katherine Gorge.

Branches in the fork of the tree, courtesy of flood waters.

Anyway the trip was fantastic, informative and very relaxing. It boggles the brain to imagine these gorges in flood. There were a lot of tell tale signs showing one were the flood waters reach at different times. The above picture tells such a story. However there were a lot of other signs, including a life vest stuck halfway up the sheer rock face, courtesy of a previous flood. One of the sheer rock walls in one of the gorges appeared in the final scene in the movie "Jedda" filmed in 1954.

The rock face facing you, next to the boats appears in the film Jedda.

Afterwards we had a sandwich at the park visitors centre with Tracey, when Wendy wandered over to speak to the local Aboriginal artist John Dewar. He was busy with a painting of a lizard. He offered to sell Wendy two small paintings, one of a catfish and one of a barramundi (fish). These were bought straight away. One thing we have found is that Aboriginal paintings are not cheap. However we did visit Mimi Arts and Craft, the centre where he sells through. We met another artist Marilyn Nakamarra, one of her paintings were going for $8000.00. However we bought another John Dewar and a small painting by Marilyn.

All told we have had a lovely time in Katherine, tomorrow we are heading for Kakadu!

Hope's Blog.............. When Mummy and Daddy were buying the aboriginal artwork, I decided to buy some as well. So I bought a painting from the artist that was there, Marilyn. She told me that it was of women dancing at a ceremony. I liked that.

Week Seven Day Forty Three and Forty Four

The start of Geiki Gorge taken from the boat ramp

That was good, a really comfortable bed and airconditioning all night. Defiantly needed!!!!!!! Anyway back on the road and a quick detour to Geikie Gorge for a look see, as we have been informed that the tours do not start up until the beginning of April. What a pity, never mind an excuse to visit again in the future.

We made our way along the motorway to Halls Creek were we met a very informative gentleman at the information centre. Unfortunately again the Bungle Bungles were closed till the beginning of April. This is due to it being the wet season, although this year it has passed the "top end of Australia" by. There has been no wet season at all. We are starting to see a pattern here!!!!!!

The Big Croc at Wyndham.

After that comfortable sleep we decided to travel on to Wyndham as it is the highest port in Western Australia. What a disappointment. Everything is so run down and uninviting. The caravan park is not nice at all. They do however have a "Big Croc" which of course offered a photo opportunity. So we drove to Kununarra, where we booked into the Kimberleyland Holiday Park. At first glance one would say Wow, beautiful setting overlooking the lake, but the amenities are dirty. The camp kitchen was awful, with maggots everywhere after they had emptied the bins, and the ablution block just dirty. It might sound as if we are moaning but we have stayed in some beautiful clean places and have grown to expect the same standard where ever we go this is a beautiful place but the amenities let it down so we will be using our own cooking gear tonight. We have a resident frill neck lizard by our tent, who is quite happy to sit on a tree watching what we are doing.

In the tree next to our tent.

There are plenty of other parks available in this area so don't be deceived by clever advertising. Thank goodness we have our own gas stove. We spent a pleasant morning in the town and have spent the afternoon under the trees by our tent. We are only about 100 metres from the lake, with signs warning people not to feed the freshwater crocodiles. Mmmmmmmmm can't see us doing that.

Our first freshie. This photo was taken not 3 feet from were we where standing.

Next stop lake Argyle.

Week Six Day Thirty Nine - Forty Two

1347 Km's in two days. That was what we had on the first two days after we left Coral Bay. A lot of driving and no change in the scenery. Also very few cars and trucks. We actually got excited when we eventually found a car or truck to overtake.

We stopped off at Karratha at the Hyundai garage as we were not happy about the cars performance. It was a nice place, good shopping centre, no accommodation available because of the mines. Luckily we were given the all clear, because there was no accommodation we decided to head another 200km's to Port Hedland.

We had to stop at a railway crossing to let a freight train through. It had three engines and we counted 234 cars laden with iron ore. We had great fun counting. On a journey like this, one must find amusement when one can!!!!!!!

We arrived in Port Hedland to find the same situation we faced at Karratha, no accommodation or very expensive. We ended up in a Caravan Park, erecting our tent in the dark. We pushed through at first light to Broome.

Roebuck Bay.

We found a lovely caravan park "Cable Beach Caravan Park". It had a 30 foot pool with a waterfall "hiding" a cave which we had great fun in. We found Broome to be lovely, people very friendly. Roebuck Bay was beautiful, but the town is very spread out.

Hope in the swimming pool with waterfall.

We stopped off at the information centre, admired the Baobab trees, shopped for a keshi pearl. It is something that must be done in Broome.

On Cable Beach..... was it wise to drive on a beach? Yes!! Thank goodness!

We booked to go on "Ships of the desert". A sunset ride on camels, on the world famous Cable Beach.

John and Hope with a camel.

John and Hope on one camel and Wendy behind on Apolla.

A baobab tree on the side of the motorway with a very large anthill.

Well we had great fun in Broome, but like all good things, they come to an end. So we are writing this in a room at the "Historic Crossing Inn" in Fitzroy Crossing. We decided to spoil ourselves, and sleep in a proper bed tonight with air conditioning. Luxury. Looking out one window you have the gardens with beautiful baobab trees in it. Through the other window, you look out at the Fitzroy river.

Week Six Day Thirty Seven and Thirty Eight

The Beach at Coral Bay.

You know when you have left a place as magical as Monkey Mia. One would think that it would be very difficult to find a place that would top it. Just a few 100 km's up the road we have found that spot. Coral Bay!

Spangled Emperors

What a wonderful location, the caravan park is right opposite the beach, and the beach, well words cannot really describe it. You can walk straight out from the beach and there in the water you have Spangled Emperor swimming around your legs, sandy coloured sting rays, with these longs tails, gliding next to you. A little deeper with your mask and snorkel, you find yourself swimming over coral and amazing marine life. There are sea cucumbers, coral bombs, parrot fish, butterfly fish and many more varieties. The colours are amazing. For children and novice snorkels, what a place to learn. Comparing Coral Bay to Hardy's reef on the The Great Barrier Reef, I would say that this is by far the better place.

Coral and clam shell, taken at the outer reef.

Anyway we caught an eco tour yesterday. It was five hours on the inner and outer reefs. At the jetty we saw a scorpion fish and a Queensland Groper, wow he was huge. Our first spot was to a shark cleaning station. This is a spot were reef sharks go to get cleaned by smaller fish. We were split into two groups as we had to swim to a gap in the coral, swim through it and then snorkel around this huge coral bomb, about ten feet below. As the currants were quite strong Hope would not have been able to go. I went in the first group, as we were swimming towards the gap, bluebottles (jellyfish) stung a few of the group so they turned back. Anyway perseverance pushed a few of us on. When I swam through the gap, I got stung on my ankle and back. Never mind, not the first time and I am sure it won't be the last. It was so worth it. There were about 13 reef sharks swimming below us. What an awesome sight.

Reef sharks swimming next to the coral bomb at the shark cleaning station.

When we got back to the boat everyone had been stung, including John and Hope who had been snorkeling by the boat. The spotter plane was up. We were on board and off we went looking for Manta Rays, the idea was to go swimming with these magnificent creatures. The Manta Rays on the other hand had a different idea, and were no where to be found. Boo Hoo!!!

However we did spot dugong, dolphins, turtles, cow tail sting rays, a "stripey" which is a tiger shark and "bait balls" been attacked by trevally (fish) and birds. Bait balls are thousands of little fish swimming as one. Later on in the day, when we got back to the beach, there was a bait ball in the bay. It was amazing swimming next to it and seeing how these fish move as one. On occasion they split into two and swam around or under us. But always regrouped. It was pretty silly really swimming next to it, as we could have been mistaken for food as well.

We also had a snorkel on the outer reef, where we spotted octopus, puffer fish, yellow dotted moari wasse, mourish idol, huge clams and well we could go on but to be honest we do not know all the names of all the marine life that we saw. It was a great day out.

The octopus on the outer reef.

Today however we spent it on the beach. We found a lovely spot under a tree in the shade, and not far from the water. It was great fun, snorkeling, swimming, playing on the waters edge and chatting to a lovely family from Adelaide who was camping next to us at "Peoples Park "

Looking out from our spot under the tree

This is one place we will be sorry to leave, and I am sure that we will be coming back. The people are great, the facilities are great but what the ocean can offer is out of this world.

Hope's Blog.......... It was great fun on the boat, because the Skipper let me steer the boat lots of time. I was a bit scared in the water because of all the big fish, but it was very exciting, and the colours of the fish were beautiful. I didn't like getting stung by the bluebottles, that was sore.

Week Six Day Thirty Six

Week six already, wow how time flys when you are having fun. Well today started without incident but not long into our trip north, we were hit by a stone, kicked up by a truck. Yes, you guessed it, a cracked windscreen. Hey ho, we have traveled about 10 000 kms so far. The road trains we are passing at the moment are huge, they are dragging three trailers behind the cab, so I suppose it could have been worse.

Well we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, obviously this presented a photo opportunity. I must say it is great because last Easter we crossed it in Rockhampton on our way to the Whitsundays. So I suppose it is something to do, on both sides of Australia.

Guess were we are?

We also came across huge ant hills. They littered the side of the road not that far from the turnoff to Coral Bay. We nicknamed the area "Ant Alley". They did make for an impressive sight, and photo. We were dwarfed by this one.

One of many ant hills.

Anyway we are here in Coral Bay, Ningaloo reef right on the beach. When we arrived we went and waded in the water and saw huge snapper swimming around our ankles. So cannot wait for tomorrow. We have booked a tour for tomorrow, so there will be lots to tell.

Hope's blog.......... When I was at the ant hill, I found the back bone of an animal. We couldn't tell what is was. It was very interesting to look at it and feel it. Shame we saw a lot of dead animals on the side of the road. We had to go slow twice because goats and later on emus crossed the road in front of us.

Week Five Days Thirty Two - Thirty Five

Black swans at Galena Bridge

$699.91 Later we have our car. However it is three-thirty in the afternoon, should we stay or should we go???? A visit to the information centre provided us with a free campsite at Galena Bridge about 100kms closer to Monkey Mia. It was a lovely campsite right next to a river with black swans. We were not the only ones there, there were about 5 other overnighters. A great place to camp. So for those intrepid travelers that don't mind missing out on a shower, stay.

An early start saw us at Monkey Mia by 11.30am. However we of course, could not help ourselves but stop at places like "Shell beach". A beach made up of coquina bivalve shells, which create this beautiful white "sand".

Shells at Shell beach. There were millions.

John and Hope on Shell Beach

Eventually "Monkey Mia". While putting up our tent we had a visit from a couple of emu's, clearly looking for food. Sorry guys, just got here. Um would you mind also removing some of your scat, please. (Comes with the terriorty I suppose). As soon as the chores were done, into our bathers, snorkels and masks and to the beach. Wow, what can we say? It is beautiful. you walk out onto white sand and you are faced with this turquoise ocean, as calm as anything. We spent a good few hours in the water. The current carried you from one end of the resort to the other. So it made for quite a relaxing snorkel. Although the walk back was tiring. There were loads of fish, hermit crabs and baby stingrays. Pelicans, cormorants and seagulls made themselves comfortable on the water.

Sunset from Shotover

We booked to go on the Extreme Sunset Cruise with Shotover. Exteme because depending on the wind we could be moving fast or slow. This is a famous 60' (18m) sailing catamaran “the nature boat”. It was lovely being out on the ocean at sunset, wind in your hair, sun on your face and wine in your hand. Mmmmmmm. Met a great couple from Israel and had some interesting chats with the crew. Relaxing!!!!

Feeding Surprse

Up early in the morning for the infamous dolphin feeding. When we got to the area, the dolphins were already in and waiting. It was an awesome sight seeing these magnificent creatures so close. As this was the first feeding of the day (they feed the dolphins three times before noon and only two fish at each feeding), there were loads of people milling about. We were given a 25min talk about the three main families of dolphins that visit the beach. The families belong to Nicky, Puck and Surprise. We were also informed that only five female dolphins are fed from the pod. Because these are wild dolphins they will not feed the young or any others. Nicky and Puck have been coming to the beach for over 30 years. We were lucky as all five of them were there. Out of a crowd of about Eighty people, John and Hope where picked to feed "Surprise". They did stand out in the crowd as Hope was sitting on John's shoulders and they had their "smartie box" rashies on.

Turtle from jetty next to Shotover.

After the dolphin feeding we were due on the "Shotover" again for the morning wildlife cruise. With great expectations we joined the crew. Our first marine animal was a couple of turtles swimming by the boat.

Dugong

This turned out to be an unforgettable experience. For three hours we sailed around spotting wild animals at sea. Loggerhead turtles, Dugongs, dolphins, leopard shark, stingrays and sea snakes. At the start of the cruise we were informed that we would be very lucky to see sea snakes as they came up only for a short time to get air. So to see three was fantastic. The dugongs are amazing creatures, and we saw quite a few including a mother and her calf.

Sea snake

It is strange how life is, we travel 1000 km's to a place to meet a couple that lives in the place were you have just spent the last 2 years. Yes there was a couple from Ormeau on the boat.

This afternoon we were once again snorkeling when I turned around and saw six dolphins behind John. I grabbed our underwater camera and managed (I hope as it is disposable) to take a photo of the dolphins as they swam past us. They could not have been more than 60 cm's away.

They came past us again about 20 min later, however they were just that much further that I could not get anymore photos.

For anyone that has not been to Monkey Mia, you have to VISIT.

Hope's blog........... When Daddy and I went to feed Surprise the dolphin, the lady went to hand me the fish. Because I did not want to get my hands all fishie, Daddy fed Surprise. It was exciting been so close to a dolphin. It was even more exciting when the dolphins swam passed us when we were snorkeling. I had a very exciting day. I also liked the boat. It had a big net in the middle, whish I layed on, on top of the water.