To Broome and Back!: Day 87. Carnarvon to Denham. (Monkey Mia) 06/08/2015

A wicked bird woke us very early this morning with a very loud call. It was still dark so John got up to shoo it away from the nearby tree and our fellow camper next door had also been out with a torch trying to move it. Anyhow, the bird achieved success as we were up and ready to leave by 8.15a.m.

We drove to the Overland Roadhouse intending to stay the night. We arrived quite early and after a coffee and an inspection of the Roadhouse we decided that we would not stay there overnight. A quick call to the Blue Dolphin caravan park in Denham to secure a site was successful so we departed for the 125 kms journey immediately. The road was generally flat and the scenery was very boring and uninteresting.

After setting up camp and having lunch we drove around the township of Denham and were pleasantly surprised. It is a very nice little town right on the shores of the area that is called Shark Bay. Fishing would have to be the most popular pastime here as we saw a great number of boats and trailers on the foreshore.

We then drove the 27 kms to Money Mia along the Shark Bay World Heritage road. We passed a number of travellers along the way all enjoying the pristine scenery of the bay. On arrival at Monkey Mia we visited the Visitor Centre before walking along the beach front, where we saw some fishermen cleaning their catches of some very nice sized snapper. We weren't the only ones watching. A huge Pelican was keeping close watch waiting for some morsel to be thrown its way. The Monkey Mia Resort is in a very lovely waterfront setting. The bay has sparkling Azure blue waters and there were a great number of boats, catamarans etc. moored in the bay. The Resort is large and looked to be well patronised both at the Hotel and the Caravan Park. We were enjoying a front row seat on the garden area of the Resort when John spotted the fin of a dolphin, so we bolted up the beach to the to get a closer look. We saw two dolphins frolicking at the waters edge and we spent some time observing them and taking photos. The dolphins come to the beach each morning but only 3 dolphins get to eat the offered fish and this is to ensure the dolphins maintain their natural behaviour and do not spend too much time in the shallow waters where they are unable to feed their calves. Only the female dolphins are encouraged to feed as the males get too aggressive and boisterous.

On the drive back to camp we stopped at Nicholson’s Point where there were a number of people fishing off the beach. The sky was getting darker and it looked very much like rain. We can’t believe that after all these weeks of daily sunshine we are going to get rain. By dark it was raining so we decided to stay inside, have dinner and watch some television tonight as we have good coverage. Tomorrow we head to Kalbarri to catch up with Jude and Rod. Not sure where Don is.