A Long Dugong Day

We are up but have basically nothing to do until 1pm when we hope to go on the postponed Catamaran Wildlife Experience.  We are fast becoming under the impression that 'Experience' and 'Project' are the in words for Australians, last year....... The wind has dropped so as we have breakfast looking at every wave on the ocean so as to ensure they are smaller than yesterday's, we start thinking positively.  Still bored so go watch the Dolphin Experience again, only from the naughty boys stair on the jetty...... The Australian girls whiney voice is fast becoming irritating so I go back to the van and wait for the cleaner to finish in the toilet block, first in, result.......

Pack up van and comply with jobsworths instructions of vacating site by 10am, park up outside and walk back in to site........ You can only drink so much Coffee, Tea and Pepsi Max, so off we go on the Monkey Mia Nature Trail walk, first stop the Bird Hide over looking a watering hole.  We read the information board which makes this hide sound just the place to kill half hour when you have nothing to do, but wait, Terrific.  Two minutes later we are back on the trail, the hide has no real seats, just upturned logs to sit on and the watering hole is just a depression in the ground, not a drop of water, not a bird, not an emu, not a thorny devil ( thank god the t came out then, otherwise God knows what you would be thinking ) in sight.  Carry on walking on the dark red sand, in sports sandals and feet start to burn and burn a bit more........ With absolutely nothing but tracks to look at we go back to the camp site and collapse in the bar/restaurant and apart from lunch of flathead and chips, we drink more Pepsi Max and watch as the sea becomes rougher and rougher, the palm trees start bending, the Australian version of the wooden spoon with a number on it, starts being blown off tables, waiters are chasing napkins across the lawn and one gets a round of applause when he manages successfully to carry a cocktail with cream etc above the rim of the glass walking sideways to a Liverpudlian female out the front, using his body as a shield from the wind....

We walk over to the Catamaran and Yes we are going, so on board we get and go a different way to the others, we go to the rear under a sail shade and they go up front.   We set off and within 5 minutes are having to scrunch up as the folks up front that do not like getting wet, want to share our space........ 

We are 6/7 kms out on the sandbanks and sea grass fields when we see what we came to see our very first Dugong, but there are two of them together which is unusual as they are solitary and very shy creatures, but hey, we are happy and smiling..... Over the next hour or so we see more Dugong's, Turtles, Dolphins and Sea Snakes whilst enjoying an afternoons sailing in the wind.  When we get back, even the skipper has a smile on his face and says "That was fun".

So now it's 4pm, little lady sea legs is feeling fine but we have nowhere booked to stay tonight and I want to get a few hundred K under my belt due to also wanting to reach Fremantle (600kms) tomorrow.  So we set off and drive until just before sunset and pull into a free camping spot on the side of the road.  We have never done this before but it looks okay, there are a couple of other caravans/campers here already.  Of course we don't get power at these sites, so it's our first real taste of basic camping, now if you screw you eyes shut tight, what you can see on the this side of you eyelids is brighter than what we can see outside at the moment.......  We know there are people out there but cannot see them, we know there are animals out there but cannot see them, we know there are creepy crawlers that can climb into the van out there but cannot see them.  Hence the delay in publishing this post, it's really difficult when you are  standing up in the sealed shower unit we have on the van, wrapped up inside the quilt cover with a can of fly spray at the ready.....

    Dugong.

    The middle bit

    The far end, the bit we saw most.......

    A Tiger Sharks Dinner

   Little Sea Legs, sitting upright at sea.  A First!

A Day of High's and Low's. NYD

It starts on a low, someone who has not drunk alcohol is kept awake by those that have consumed too much.

It's back on a high when the other one of us awakes without a hangover.

It takes a dip again when someone is standing outside in the wind that has sprung up at 07.15am.

It soars when at 08.07am she gets picked to feed the Dolphins.

It plummets when we visit the bathrooms, I refuse to say anymore!

It picks up as we look at photographs taken earlier, have breakfast, numerous cups of tea and realise we are still talking to each other whereas our neighbours are not...... Neither of us blame her!

It sinks below the deepest depths as the Marine Wildlife Cruise we had booked is cancelled due to the wind.

It picks up when we manage to get on tomorrow's afternoon cruise and come up with a plan to avoid staying here an extra night due to the cancellation.

It plummets again when a jobsworth refuses any leeway in our departure time, even though the site will be empty for the hour.

It picks up after lunch and a couple of beers.

It's low again after checking weather forecast for tomorrow.

We end on a high again, she has had a doze and we have just come back from the bar after a New Years Day drink with the neighbours........

    Happy New Year!

Dolphin Feeding NYD

Now just as the majority of you were celebrating the coming of 2016, we were standing on the Beach at Monkey Mia to witness the Dolphin 'Experience'. This time with me on a short leash so as not to upset anyone..... Julie's idea......  Which as it happens was an extremely fortunate one, as one of the people who had been on our Manta Ray cruise that I told was a "F'ing nuisance" was one of today's wearer's of the Blue Dolphin Experience volunteer jacket......... Even more fortunate, so was his, 'she that we got along with on the cruise' sister!  

So little lady legs wants to go on the jetty, I say No (cos I'm in charge really) and go to the waters edge......... We line up with all the other anorak's, I mean, interested participants in the Marine life of Shark Bay, Dolphin Experience and start to take photos.  All the little bright eyed sweet goody goody, butter wouldn't melt in their mouths children are initially chosen, when suddenly we hear the 'ever so nice sister' say, "The lady in the blue top with the blonde hair" indicating to the little woman next to me......... Suddenly the person who had previously said to me, "I'm not bothered about actually feeding them, just as long as I see them and get a nice photograph" has moved faster than Superman, giving me her camera and and is 6ft out at sea with a smile on her face bigger than the dolphin's......

I join her whilst performing juggling tricks with two cameras and hear the volunteer say, Oh! I thought you were a small child........

Our ever so happy 'elderly' small child holds a fish on the waters surface and the Dolphin named 'Surprise' nudged our little lady's fingers, took the fish and left with a similar smile to that of her feeder..... 

    Any chance of breakfast

    I'm ready

     It looks bigger in your small hands........

    The Second Biggest smile on the Beach

Revelation Day

So continuing on from the revelation that we are not really camping type people, it continues today with one revelation after another.......

Revelation 1. There are jobsworths all over the world, today one of us goes to the Dolphin 'Experience' only to get told off for standing still with a camera but being where they don't want him to be as allegedly, it will disturb and be off putting for the Dolphins.  So I move without question but two minutes later three workmen wearing hi vi jackets turn up and start to bang crash and wobble the stanchions on the jetty, but that's okay.....
Revelation 2. So the cross your legs toilet avoidance method breaks down at half nine, and I  have to give in and venture to the toilet block to find the cleaner just leaving, my fairy godmother is looking after me...... In I go, sparkling, so with out going into too much detail I am in a cubicle, when Harry, Luca and Louise come in and start to play.... It is when one of them starts to bang continuously on my closed door that I realise I am turning into someone close to me as I shout out 'BUGGER OFF'  a well know phrase used by said close person.........
Revelation 3.  Some local people have the right attitude.  We are out at Little lagoon a Bright Turquoise almost circular lagoon fed from a creek that leads to the sea, when a male Emu leads eleven baby emus across the creek.  We have just finished taking photos when a Land Rover type vehicle roars up to us and two Fisheries and Maritime officers jump out and captures the female member of the duo
whilst talking about a serious legal matter....... My ears prick up and if you saw the size of them you'd realise that's not difficult and so I'm on my way to defend/represent my partner, in demanding they do not keep her in custody for any longer than 60 days....... BUT they really only want to know if we managed to get a photo of the Emus crossing the creek as it could possibly be a prize winning photo that they could use in advertising Western Australia....... Their attitude is perfect, their demeanour spot on, their personalities bright and cheerful and so I ask for their email address and promise to send all the pictures onto them.
Revelation 4. Some local people have no idea......  We enter a Bakery/Cafe in Denham, I wait for, I do not feel at ease by referring to this person as a woman/lady as I feel it would be an insult to said persons, so shall we say a female human being...... To serve me but she has so much more important things to moan about to Mr String Vest with a big tummy who looks like he started his New Years celebrations several days ago along with said human being who obviously did not want to be open and working..... So as I placed my order whilst she was leaning all over the food display cabinet and she told me gruffly to go a fetch a bottle of orange juice from the glass fronted fridge on the other side of this 'Cafe' I also asked for a glass for it, OMG, Independence Day part Two...... We get a ceramic cup without a handle, instead and decide to sit at an unclean table as its the only one of the four left.  We leave half of what we ordered and walk out as female human being is coming back down to planet earth but still ranting on and on.....
Revelation 5.  There are some really dipstick parents in this world.  We go to Ocean Park Aquarium where they have lots of the local marine life, including Sharks, Rays and Sea Snakes in huge aquariums/lakes..... One of the displays is entitled Poisonous Fish, it contains Puffer Fish and Lion Fish, the puffer fish have a strong sharp beak and are deadly should you eat them, the Lion Fish are aggressive and have sharp spines that contain poison, the guide tells us all to avoid them, do not aggravate them and should you catch one whilst fishing, just to cut the line.....  So what does Moron Dad do when the guide moves on, he sticks his fingers in the tank, in front of the Lion fish teasing it, whilst his children are looking on..... What a great example of Parenting!
Sorry for the delay, just been off crabbing on the beach with family next door.
Revelation 6.  There are some really stupid people in this world.  We are again in the Ocean Park Aquarium when we approach a four foot marine rank with the usual fish and anemones in, the guide asks the children if they can spot Nemo the clown fish, some do and the guide says that this Clown Fish is exactly the same that stared in the film.  At this a woman pushed forward taking photos of the tank saying at the same time OMG are you kidding me, the real one. Click, click....
The tour guide found it extremely difficult to reply when he realised she was serious and everyone else just thought, Are you for real?
Revelation 7. It's news years eve, 3 hours left of 2015, so to you all a "Happy New Year" from us both.

Amendment to Revelation 1, Jobsworth 2, Just been asked to wear a 'Age Verification' wrist band in the bar, so bar staff do not have to ask how old we are in order to purchase alcohol........ Think I'll go to bed.........

    Whose a naughty boy then.......

    Western Australia's 2016 publicity shot.......

   

    Nemo, from cartoon to real life

    For Jackson and Luciano

Carnarvon to Council Estate

We are on the road by 7.30am saying goodbye to Carnarvon and Commiserations to those that are staying......  Heading South and three hours later we are in the catchment area of Shark Bay, I think it's time for a coffee, so instead of heading straight to the Stromatolites, we go to the 'Tea Room'. Now I just know you have a picture of a pretty oak beamed cottage in deepest Kent or Devon and are thinking, oh aren't they lucky to find such a lovely place miles from anywhere, in Australia.  Yes had it been that image, we would have been BUT we are here where a run down broken homestead/caravan park is trying to survive with a hillbilly sitting out on the porch of a dilapidated building that resembled the house that Steptoe and Son lived in......... Bill Bryson had been there and commented on the place, they had extracts on the wall, only I'm not sure that they have quite understood that he was not overly complimentary......... Still the Coffee and Tea was okay but the cages outside with nothing living in was slightly off putting........ However under one of the many leaking water pipes we saw our first Budgerigar that was not flying, together with wrens and a collard parrot all drinking al fresco, it was what we didn't see but heard under the tree next to it, that kept us from getting too close......
So there we are standing in the shell quarry, thinking this looks a lot like the beach between El Arenal and the Port at Javea, only whiter, only where here they cut out blocks of shells that have been compressed and use them as building blocks. Not that impressed so onward to the Stromatolites, which for those of you that don't know are things that grow....... They are alledged to be the oldest living known organism on this planet, basically they are a micro bacterial mat, made up from microbes which react with other organisms and make my brain hurt.......... Needless to say we took a photo and moved on to Shell Beach, where as you can see we took another photo......  Shell Beach is made up from not just millions but trillions/zillions of a certain type of cockle shell, this beach is 30ft deep and 110kms long, it's one of only two beaches in the world made entirely from shells with apparently 40,000 shells in a sq meter and one in my sandal, ouch!
Almost time for lunch, so we stop at Eagle Bluff, unfortunately the tide is out, so we drink tea and eat cucumber and cheese sandwiches with our little fingers sticking out, whilst the sea comes in and attempts to join us.  Out again and see sharks, shovel nose rays, sting rays all now coming in underneath us to feed, oh if you could have heard the squeals of delight, obviously not from me as I'm much to macho but needless to say we both want to return........
Now in February I booked up to stay in Monkey Mia resort for the new Year period, I booked it because of the festive season, the Australian School holidays and it looked nice.  Good job as it happens as when we get there it is obviously busy, only after checking in as we drive to our site, it looks like we are on some grotty council estate, it's a tip, with cars, trailers, boats, vans, tents parked all over the place and in our little bit, the men from 29 sites to use, 1 urinal, 2 toilets and 3 showers, OMG what have I done, I have now got to sit crossed legged until we go out tomorrow.......... Of course it's also got nothing to do with photo no 5, which is two feet from our front door......
This is depressing me I say, let's go for a walk, it's hot, it's sandy, and it's not the Côte d'Azur so into the bar, where after talking to two women travelling on their own and three pints of "Fat Yak" pale ale, we return to listen to the child telling his mother in the site in front of us, to shut up as she is being too bossy.......... Bite lip, turn TV on and listen to static and wait for 'Camp Quiet Time' as obviously they will all obey the rules........  We have decided, we are not real campers, we are playing at it and using it for a purpose, as I listen to the children screaming outside now as I type and watch people walk through our site to get to wherever,  we decide we have been spoilt so far by having the campsites almost to ourselves, long may it continue...........

    Stromatolites 

    Shell Beach

    Shells and only Shells 

    This is actually called a 'Nervous Shark'

   Come outside, come outside............

    First Budgy 

Holiday Part 2

We are in the computer shop before 9am and get a USB stick with our recovered files on, so then venture into Carnarvon with a smile on my face and a skip in my step until of course we try to get a coffee, closed...... So let's do grocery shopping instead, hmm not much on the shelves..... So into the Port Hotel for a Coffee where we meet the local constabulary obtaining a coffee but being about as boring as anyone can possibly be....... He is telling the Barista that he had his performance review this morning and the only criticism was 'You try too hard' which he was pleased with, he obviously did not read it the same way as I did.  My interpretation of it after spending a whole five minutes in his presence and listening to him droning on, was, 'Stop Brown nosing'..........
We order and sit outside, where we notice on the door a sign stating New Years Eve, No Dinner, Closed at 6pm.  I ask the waitress where or what is there to do for New Years Eve and she replies, "The pubs are open, well we are a pub as well but we don't want the drama and there will be drama" We are shocked, this sleepy little Town that is almost constantly closed may well have some sort of disturbance pending for Thursday night, let's hope someone is in exceptional form and does not try to please, too much.........
Next stop is Mitre 10, a DIY store, it looks like a small B&Q but in reality it's more like Arkwright's corner shop in Open all Hours....... We get what we need though, Silicon, and complete the repairs to my hat, I'm back in business!
48k later up the road, on a beach with about 12 people on, we bump into one of the couples we shared our bottle with last night, catch up on all the latest gossip, including the fact that whilst at Coral Bay, camped opposite us, he found a snake under his car, which due to it being venomous someone else had to remove..... Squeak!  We used to walk across his site in the dark to go to the bathroom....... Tomorrow new batteries for the torches........
Tide is coming in so we enter the sea at one end of the beach and get carried along in the current for about half a mile until opposite where we parked, nice snorkel testing go pro in anticipation for next few days, where we are hoping to swim with Dolphins.  After that it's a rush down South, through Perth and part two of the holiday will start....... Hope it's not as boring as part one! ...............

    Ibis Airways.....

    Banana and Custard swimming in yellow coral

Post Clampit's

As we pull back the curtains and peer towards the Hillbillies site, we see movement of what appears to be a positive nature, they look as if they are moving out.  A huge SIGH of relief is expressed by one of us, which sounded clearer than it should have done, we then notice that the fridge has stopped working....... Bank Holiday breakfast phone calls are made and we get a promise, someone will phone us back.......
Stop off at reception and ask to move site's, due to feeling uncomfortable with Hillbillies........
The reception of this request by the reception staff was amazing and after explaining why, they had no hesitation in us swapping sites.  During the next few minutes, whilst the staff remained professional, it became obvious, we were not alone in our concerns, in fact little did we know but security drove past them/us twice last night on a just in case patrol........
Next stop computer shop, closed, port hotel for coffee, closed, Fascine Coffee shop, closed.......
Look there are some tables with lots of people around, park up, grab a table and find ourselves in a 'Noodle and Sushi Bar' obviously operated by orientals but a sign states they also do take away coffee.  Within fifteen minutes we are sitting outside in the shade with a nice coffee, a bottle of orange juice with an expired best before date and two four day old muffins........ But at least it was open and doing a good trade due to everything else being closed.......
Now some of you may be wondering, why do they want a computer shop?  Well remember the day the iPad nearly grew wings, since then, I managed to delete the video file I wanted, whilst trying to make room on the iPad for it............ Even Rodney would find it hard to do that.....
So there we are phoning around computer repair services, there is only one in Carnarvon and we get a reply, it's the shop we had previously been to....... In we go, cannot promise anything but $72 later, we will find out tomorrow morning..... Fingers crossed!
We find ourselves later on a dirt road leading to a local beauty spot, down and down we go and arrive on the sandy banks of the River Gasgoine, just the place for lunch we say.  Half way through lunch the thought comes to me about getting back off the bank, up the sandy track and onto a hard surface in a two wheel drive Motorhome......... Needless to say with my expert driving skills it was a piece of cake or rephrased that should read with all the luck of the Irish and by the seat of my pants, we managed to do it with the van only reaching an angle of about 55 degrees......  So what do we do, we hit another dirt road and go to Chinamans Pool Nature reserve, it's just down the road and is obviously one of those places that is so local, no one goes there and yet it is beautiful.  It is apparently one of the few places the River Gasgoine comes to the surface as it's an underground river.........  As we are stamping (snake avoidance tactic) around the undergrowth suddenly there is this huge Indescribable  noise as easily 200 Corella's take to the sky screeching a warning to each other due to our presence, the sky was literally full of them, an amazing site and one we attempted to duplicate so as to capture on the Camera but failed miserably, so took photos of Black Swans, Ospreys, Bee Eaters, Ibis and Llamas instead.  Llamas! I hear you say, Yes, Llamas they were in the back garden of someone who also had a kangaroo, chickens, cockerel and dogs all within the same space.  Nothing ordinary about the folk in Carnarvon........
Back in time for the Spud you like social gathering and I am obviously out to impress as I have a shave.........  We sit down next to an Australian couple and then another couple we met at Coral Bay join us. Spud you like is excellent and everyone drinks the drink they had brought along whilst eating.  So the six of us are getting on great but no one is drinking and yet one couple have a Esky on wheels full of drinks...... So I commit the cardinal sin, I go get a bottle of red and invite others to drink from it, OMG, I have never heard so many pathetic " No, I'm alright" in my life, but when I start to pour it into their glasses they were suddenly elated and relaxed, this then allowed the couple with the Esky who obviously suddenly felt relieved to dive in grab a bottle and refresh their glasses......  I suddenly had drinking partners and a good night was had by all...... Hic

    Carnarvon Jetty from above

   Would you walk on this.......

    Black Swans

    Chinamans Pool Nature Reserve