Monkey Mia

Last night was fairly wet with rain falling for most of the night. The morning weather reports on the radio were all about the cold start to the day. Apparently Newman (long way inland) experienced frost on the footy oval. Denham was rather mild with 14 DegC in the morning.

After a quick breakfast we were in the car heading for Monkey Mia (25km) to see the Dolphins. By the time we arrived the first feeding was over and we had to hang around waiting for the marine mammals to return.

The weather this morning was a bit overcast but as the morning went on the sun broke through and finally, after a long wait and a couple of false alarms, the Dolphins were back to please the crowd. There is a 30min time limit on the interaction and while the animals cruise up and down to check out the crowd a presenter and identifies each individual to the crowd and gives a history of the animal. Eventually, the buckets get dragged through the water and the Dolphins know the food is nigh and they line up next to the bucket. At Monkey Mia they only feed the same five individuals every day regardless of how many turn up. Today there were 3 of the ones that get fed and probably another 5 individuals just hanging around.

A few spectators are picked to hand the feed (a dead fish) to the Dolphin. The amount each animal gets is accurately recorded and monitored to ensure they receive a maximum of 1.5kg each per day which is about one tenth of their total food intake, so they don't forget how to hunt and survive without humans.

On the way back to Denham we stopped to offer assistance to a car with open bonnet on the side of the road but luckily they could drive on and we followed them just in case. Back in Denham, into the bakery for some fresh bread and then into the caravan for lunch.

The afternoon was spent on a 50km stretch of coastline south of Denham exploring lookouts and beaches. At Eagle Bluff we ran into the couple with the car problems from this morning and they told us their internet research on the car fault led them to believe that the car battery is not being charged.

When we returned back tonight we noticed that they were still out and about. After dinner Alexander and I went fishing to the town jetty and caught our first squid, some more garfish and two nice whiting. By the time we had finished filleting and returned back to the caravan park it was nearly midnight but there was still no sign of the people with the broken car. I decided to report the missing couple first thing tomorrow morning.