Denham - Monkey Mia - Carnarvon

Sunny, about 23 degrees.

Up early this morning as we wanted to drive to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins and apparently you need to be there before 8 as they get fed about that time.

Only about a 20 minute drive, so we arrived just before 8. It is quite a ripoff though on our opinion, to get into the park it costs $12 each. So $36 for us all. We have also bought a national park pass earlier (before I got sick), which was $44 for 4 weeks entry into every WA park, except Monkey Mia. It has it's own system. Not even sure if we will get to use the pass anymore now. Most parks are only $12 per vehicle. Not per adult.

Anyway, we arrived just in time to see all the dolphins in the water and quite a crowd around. They do not feed them as much as they used to as apparently they started coming on too much and neglecting their young. So now they have a rule of only feeding 5 of the older dolphins. Others do come in for a look but seem to know that there will be no food for them. There would have been at least 12 or more in at one stage. Great to see. But all feels very staged. Even though they are wild dolphins they do seem to be a little too contrived.

There were a couple of really tame pelicans there too. They loved to stand around and pose for photos! Love pelicans!

Then off again! Because of losing more than a week in hospital, unfortunately we haven't had the time to just stay a few days is one place yet. Which is a pity. As Ben goes back to work on Friday. Should have been doing all this last week and would have had so much more time. Oh well!

First stopped at Shell Beach. Which has a beach made entirely of small white shells. The sea is so salty there that pretty much the only thing that survives are these tiny cockle shells that are everywhere. The water was crystal clear. But still quite cold, so no one was interested in swimming.

Then headed off for another 3 hours or so to Carnarvon. The scenery was much the same as yesterday, low scrub and red dirt. But the sky was blue and it was getting warmer all the time.

We arrived in Carnarvon about 3pm and pulled into the Wintersun Caravan Park. Lovely park with lots of trees and lawn. Very peaceful. Lots of birds in the trees. Lauri cooked some fish for dinner on the BBQ.