I crawled out of bed stiff as a board in the hope I was going to catch the Pelican feeding down at the beach. It was a little disappointing really, there was only one pelican that showed up but he got a feast of fish once he'd managed to scare away the seagulls hanging round. I got on the road pretty much after that and headed up towards Monkey Mia.

The journey wasn't too bad although I think I must have zoned out or something since I hadn't realised I'd been driving solidly for over 3 hours up the straightest road I'd ever seen! I made it to the Overlander roadhouse and bought some food which once again tickled my taste buds into reminding me why we don't buy food at a service station!

I got on the route to Monkey Mia and paid a visit to Shell beach. Exactly what it says on the tin lol. The entire beach is made of millions of little shells all compacted upon each other to form a white looking 'beach'. Very beautiful but not very friendly to the bare foot. Next up was my quick passing through a town called Denham. For anyone at home...yes they have a roundabout but sadly no there is no car booty at the roundabout lol.

Arriving in Monkey Mia I couldn't believe it, white sands, blue water and a reasonable dorm room for a decent price. I also couldn't believe that I was sharing a room with Mark and Basil who had left the hostel in Kalbarri the day before! We went for a couple to drink in the bar and grabbed a bite to eat before calling it a day. I am still achy from sand boarding but never mind tomorrow brings the promise of wild dolphins in the bay!

At 7am this morning the beach was packed with people all waiting to see the dolphins. So many people you'd think that they'd actually scare the dolphins away but sure enough after a couple hours of waiting around (went to get a coffee instead of just sitting there) the dolphins finally showed. Absolutely beautiful creatures. Two of them just feet away from where I was standing in the shallows. I got quite lucky to take an almost picture perfect photo of two of them in the water together before they went back out to sea. At this point in time at Monkey Mia there is a new baby dolphin in the bay so guests have to be careful not to frighten it away from its mother. I have also managed to come quite close to some other wildlife too since I have been here. I sat down this morning and watched a couple of Emu start trying to eat a families picnic lol. It was a funny sight (for me not them lol) but dangerous as they can apparently pack a mean bite if they get you! There were guests teaming all over the site earlier today but it seems the oncoming cyclone has put many people off from staying here and travelling north.

I am not much of a person for laying on a beach so I went on a quad biking tour from Denham this afternoon. There was meant to be a whole group of us but everyone else cancelled so the guy took just me out on my very own mean machine! Couple of steep dunes crept up on me by surprise and didn't I show it with a little gasp as I went driving over way too fast! The coast of Shark Bay is wonderful and we got to see some sharks, a stingray and an eagle flying over the cliffs. We got to race back to Denham too along a track next to the main road which saw me nearly hit 60kmph thank heavens I was wearing sunglasses with all the mud and dust we were chucking up!

Monkey Mia is a nice place but there are definitely some shortcomings. The wifi is rubbish, there is limited phone signal and the shop is the most expensive I have ever seen so bring your own food and prepare to go unplugged for a few days! Otherwise Monkey Mia gets a thumbs up from me. OH and the Monkey bar is just my kind of place, happy hour from 5-6 where beer is $4 and it has a juke box and a pool table...perfect! Off to Carnarvon tomorrow to stay in a hostel which has slightly less favourable reviews but only booked in for one night so we'll see where I end up!

The picture is of me on Shell Beach.