Day 76 - 77 Dolphins, Dolphins Dolphins!

Kate: Monkey Mia would be the perfect place to stop if the weather was warm and sunny but unfortunately we had 4 days of wind and rain. Patches of sun but overall not great. We were hit by a storm one night where we felt the van swaying every huge gust. (We were only 4 vans away from the beach). Fortunately the heavy rain stopped just as it was starting to drip into our pop out bed!

The whole dolphin feeding experience is heavily regulated by the rangers and in fact only a few people are picked to actually feed the dolphins. We went two days in a row and I was picked on the 2nd day which meant J & M scrambled next to me to "help"! It was still pretty cool standing in the water so close to a dolphin. Dinner in the "famous" Pearl Luggers Restaurant, made of shell bricks and also Australia's most westerly restaurant.

Jasper: The dolphin feeding was a bit crowded and there were only a few people that got picked but it was awesome when we did get to feed them and it was cool because the dolphins were so close to us. But then there was that horrible weather that made us all have a bit of cabin fever.

A very controlled feeding of the dolphins on a stormy morning - where's that
 aqua coloured water that's in the brochures?

Em's favourite animal - the dugong

Nicky

Second try on day 2 - Kate was picked!!!!

An afternoon on the nearly tourquoise water

Captain Maddy

Weather deteriorating again - boo hoo

Dinner at the Pearl Luggers Restaurant - made of shell bricks

Caravan Driving Language - according to Steve

Caravan Driving Language
From the first day on the road, Steve has been very amused by the way every caravan/campervan driver coming towards you on the road, waves to you as you pass each other.  He now has a theory on all the different waves he sees:

Single Finger Wave - "I don't want to acknowledge you but I know it's part of the caravanning etiquette"

Solid Hand Wave - hand up for a couple of seconds, no waving

The No Wave - "I don't want to be here"

The Queen Wave - with a flick of the wrist forward (Steve uses this!)

The Safe Wave - four fingers wave while thumbs stay attached to driver's wheel

Thumbs Up - Only from other Range Rover drivers. We've only seen about five of these in three months!!

Enthusiastic dual wave - passenger and driver waves.  They've been on the road too long.

Day 75 - Monkey Mia

Jasper: Today we drove to Monkey Mia but on the way, we stopped at Hamelin Pool on Shark Bay and we saw living rocks called stromatelites.  These are micro organisms all joined together to make stumpy rock formations.  They are famous because they are 3.5 billion years old and are the oldest living thing on the planet. The caravan park at Monkey Mia is right on the beach and right near where the dolphins are fed.  We are seeing them being fed tomorrow morning.  I can't wait and hopefully I get picked to feed them.

A stromatelite

They just look like rocks - you'd never know they were that old and that important!

Shark Bay is famous for it's shelly beaches.  At Hamelin Pool there is a quarry where
 they make shell bricks! Some of the buildings in the area are made of shell bricks.

Coastal wild flower

Day 74 - Quobba Blow Holes

Jasper: Today we had a relaxing morning until we went to the huge blowholes. They were sooooooooooooo big, loud and they were literally a hole in the rock . Steve did well letting us go to the edge of the little cliff. Then we went to the One Mile Jetty which is the longest jetty in WA so we did a train ride on it. Then we went back to the van park and had a really fun go on a jumping castle were it was so much fun.

Quobba

Waiting....

....for the blowhole to BLOW!

All that spray comes from this hole!

Wild coastline

Daggy trainride out on the Carnarvon Jetty

Day 73 - Carnarvon

Kate: We woke up to rain.  First time in two months.  I have to say it was a bit of a shock to the system.  Packing up the van when everything is wet is not much fun.  How lucky have we been up until now.  A short trip of only 3 hours today to Carnarvon.  This town has nothing much to offer but is reknowned for its fruit and veg plantations.  Apparently this little section of WA supplies 70% of WA's winter veges. It's also home to the One Mile Jetty - one of the longst in the southern hemisphere.  I don't know if it was the rain or a reflection of the town, but on a saturday arvo, everything was closed, even the touristy cafes on the "waterfront".  So an indulgent arvo of movies all squished in our pop out bed!!!

Jasper: When we got to Carnarvon we went to a book sale to get me a new book because I finished all five Skulddugery Pleasent books, Matt. I found a few books then we went to the video shop and later that night we watched Gullivers Travels all squished into the pop out bed.

It's so windy in Carnarvon, the trees grow sideways

Day 72 - Coral Bay (Manta Ray Day)

Jasper:I swam with manta rays!!!!!! It was amazing because I was right on top of it and it was doing loops to catch food. We swam with it for about 20 minutes and it was really easy to keep up. We also did a practice snorkel at the start and we saw white tip reef shark and I saw another shark with no tip on it and it was huge. We also saw 2 dugongs (pronounce do-gong) and a tiger shark, 2 dolphins turtles and we saw lots more manta rays of the boat. Em, STEVE this time, and I thought it was whatever I put in the last sentence of the whale shark entry. (Day 69)

Our manta ray

Our manta ray doing loops

Tiger shark

Just damn good snorkelling too!

Satisfied customers

One of Steve's favourite fish

Day 71 - Leaving Sal Salis

Jasper:Today we left Sal Salis but before we went we had the hardest kaiak I have ever done. We were supposed to go to another hole in the reef near the breakers but after all that paddling against the current and the wind, when we got there the waves were braking were we we supposed to drop anchor and snorkel. So instead we battled the waves all the way back to shore and did another amazing snorkel back while the guide pulled the kaiaks back. Then we drove to coral coast were there are more reefs and tomorrow I am swimming with manta rays.

Our tent

J & E's tent

The path into the "camp"

Day 70 - Ningaloo Reef - swimming with turtles

Kate:  My new favourite animal is the turtle.  Can't believe we just swam with them and we were able to be so close. We just stepped off the beach, swam out to the place they call the turtle hole - and there they were.  To use Jasper's words - totally awesome.

Jasper: today we went to a part of the Reaf called the turtle hole were there are lots of turtles. When we got there we actually saw a turtle and swam with it for about 15 minutes. Watching it feed and come and take breaths right next to my head. On the way back we saw a huge black tip reef shark which got me really excited. We also almost drowned following Steves instructions to swim against the current. Sometimes he should listen to me, the kid who knows nature better!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve and Jasper

Em

One of the gorgeous turtles

The amazing fish life at the turtle hole (which was a hole in the reef)

Day 69 - Swimming with Whale Sharks

Jasper:I SWAM WITH A WHALE SHARK!!!!! I really did and it was huge (about 6 or 7 metres) and we were in the really deep blue ocean. I had been waiting for this since the start of the trip and then we did it. First we had a practice snorkel were we saw a sting ray and Em saw a turtle. Then we went out past the reef and out to sea. We had to wait a bit before they spotted one but while we waited we saw hump back whales, turtles, jellyfish and birds diving into the water to catch fish. We swam with two whale sharks but jumped in the water three times. The first time I swam with it for about ten minutes and it was huge, then the second one was a different whale shark and it swam really fast so it was hard to keep up with and the last one swam under us which was cool. Kate, Em and I loved it while Steve stayed back with Mads. It was a dream come true and someone got a video of it and sent it to us.
It was unbelievably, Awesomly, beautifully, magnificently, amazingly a dream come true.



          

Just before we lept in to chase the whale shark



Everyone racing to keep up with the whale shark - that's the whale shark at the back





J & E to the right





Day 68 - Staying at the edge of Ningaloo Reef

Kate:  Our end of trip treat - three nights staying at Sal Salis, a wildbush luxury Eco retreat in Cape Range National Park, right at the edge of Ningaloo Reef.  Only 9 safari tents, an open eating area and a whole beach and reef access to ourselves!!! An outdoor ensuite bathroom attached to each tent and a limit of 20 litres of water per person per day for showers etc.  Very earthy but also very special.  The tents are metres from the beach, set in the dunes.  The water was turquoise and the reef just a few feet away.  Even Maddy was able to see the fish from her boogie board with a window in it!

Jasper: We are really, actually staying at the edge of Ningaloo Reaf were there is the best reef ever!!! We are staying in Eco safari tents which flapped around a bit at night but were still a lot of fun since Em and I are in the same tent. Then there's that amazing snorkeling with some of the best fish ever and sooooooooooooo many of them to. The reef had a bit of a current so we walk up the beach and then drift back. Also the staff were nice and the food was great but then I am also getting exited because tomorrow I am swimming with the Whale Sharks!!!

The "luxury" restaurant (tent!) 

Bathroom attached to eating tent

The view for very meal

Beach fun

Beach fun for Steve - you got it - lounge and shade!

That's the reef right there!

Kate's favourite fish