Had to put this in as not a sign you would be likely to see in NZ, lol
After a DRY night (saints be praised, lol) we were up at 6am to get to Monkey Mia for 7.45am to catch the first dolphins in for their feed. Due to the weather the water was very murky compared to the crytal clear sea the last two times I have seen these dolphins. Nevertheless, there is something compulsive about watching these amazing creatures and have more video and photos of them than I can show in this post (move over David Attenborough)
I think this is "Surprise" who is about 30yrs old and the matriarch of this group. Only the female dolphins get fed at Monkey Mia as the males form their own groups and do not have a lot to do with the females unless it is breeding time. (Apologies if I am repeating myself from earlier visits here). Because I have fed a dolphin before, I stepped back at feeding time and as it was a cold and windy day, grabbed a hot coffee in between feeds. I was very pleased to see 'Finn' who is nearly 9mths old and is the daughter of 'Nikki'. Last time I was at the beach it was the first time the baby had shown up with her mother and the time before that, Nikki was still pregnant with her calf. It is the first baby that has survived for her and a shark chomp out of Finn's dorsal fin would suggest that it is not her mother's lack of care that is likely to take her out now. I had hoped to go on a camel ride which they do from the beach this time, but they were not there, so missed again :(. Mid morning after both feeds had occured, we headed back into Denham to get petrol and a few supplies to last us until Kalbarri. We had lunch back at the Nanga Bay resort, then broke camp, loaded up and headed out. Didn't think there would be anything too different to see on the way to Kalbarri so chose to be the passenger and snoozed most of the way. Petrol was $1.71 in Denham which should have been cheaper, but I put the premium lot in by mistake %**% otherwise it should have been about $1.40 something as petrol had dropped overnight - Sods law, lol.
Picture of Kalbarri which is where the Murchison river meets the tide. The line midway in the photo is a bar that mostly has breakers breaking over and behind it with calmer water in front on a good day. This was taken late Monday afternoon. The WM, uncle and kids hired a kayak and two paddle boats, and paddled over to the bar and back while the WMH, aunt and I sat in the sun and just enjoyed the scenery.
Whilst in Kalbarri, we stayed at the 'Bishop's" house which is owned the the local diocese. If it is free, anyone can rent it out. So for the next four nights we stayed snug and dry because, you guessed it, there was more rain. How good was it to wake up early next morning and here it on the roof, to turn over, and go back to sleep again, lol. Woke up to everyone watching a movie next morning and we all had a lazy day. I spent the time catching up on my posts.
Wednesday morning the lads all set out to go fishing but within half an hour, the WMH was back as he had rolled his ankle going down some uneven stairs before he even got to bait a hook. He was in much pain, so did the whole RICE thing then the WM, T and I went shopping! We found an amazing little antique shop that had all sorts of china, war memorabilia and australiana . I would have liked to get several things but resisted. We poodled through a boutique, health food shop and the grocery shop before heading back for a late lunch. I stayed behind playing cards with the WMH as I had bought a Samba set of cards that morning (three decks and played along similar lines to Canaster), while everyone else went to the Gorges for photos and walking (can you see a pattern evolving here, lol)
It was a bit overcast the next day, but the decision was made to go out to Bluff point as there were walks along the coast that could be done. Got to the lookout to see whales out aways from shore as they did their whale thing. No big leaps, standing on their tales, but could see them coming up on top of the water at least. Best of all for me was that there were a few wild flowers just coming out so spent my time searching out and photographing them.
This flower is called the Murchison Rose. I did not see this last year and these photos will probably not do it justice, colourwise. I thought it looked to be a reddy, salmony (invent new word) colour. What fascinated me was the similarity to our Pohutukawa with its stamens and leaves in particular (or have I been away to long, lol)
This is a view of just up from Bluff Point and looks like much of the Kalbarri coastline. The WM, aunty T and one of the boys walked along the cliffs to the next two points up the coast while the rest of us went in the vehicles wild flower spotting along the way until we all met at 'Grandstand' which was the beginning of the next 8k track called the Birgurda Trail.
While we were waiting for them to arrive I got this shot of one of my favourites - this is a grevillia - we have red grevillias up at school and as soon as I have recharged my camera batteries I am going to get some shots of them. (am hoping I have spelt the name right, can not put my hand on my flower book at the moment, lol)
After all that strenuous exercise, hem, hem, it was decided to have fish and chips for lunch which was followed by another bit of shopping. While we had our meal at the tables outside the shop and I was amused to see the antics of the pelicans as they sat on these lamp posts across the road down at the wharf.
Managed to get this photo with two of them perched on the same pole. A third one tried to land but was not allowed - their beaks would open and snap at the bird trying to land. Could watch pelicans for hours too.
After a DRY night (saints be praised, lol) we were up at 6am to get to Monkey Mia for 7.45am to catch the first dolphins in for their feed. Due to the weather the water was very murky compared to the crytal clear sea the last two times I have seen these dolphins. Nevertheless, there is something compulsive about watching these amazing creatures and have more video and photos of them than I can show in this post (move over David Attenborough)
I think this is "Surprise" who is about 30yrs old and the matriarch of this group. Only the female dolphins get fed at Monkey Mia as the males form their own groups and do not have a lot to do with the females unless it is breeding time. (Apologies if I am repeating myself from earlier visits here). Because I have fed a dolphin before, I stepped back at feeding time and as it was a cold and windy day, grabbed a hot coffee in between feeds. I was very pleased to see 'Finn' who is nearly 9mths old and is the daughter of 'Nikki'. Last time I was at the beach it was the first time the baby had shown up with her mother and the time before that, Nikki was still pregnant with her calf. It is the first baby that has survived for her and a shark chomp out of Finn's dorsal fin would suggest that it is not her mother's lack of care that is likely to take her out now. I had hoped to go on a camel ride which they do from the beach this time, but they were not there, so missed again :(. Mid morning after both feeds had occured, we headed back into Denham to get petrol and a few supplies to last us until Kalbarri. We had lunch back at the Nanga Bay resort, then broke camp, loaded up and headed out. Didn't think there would be anything too different to see on the way to Kalbarri so chose to be the passenger and snoozed most of the way. Petrol was $1.71 in Denham which should have been cheaper, but I put the premium lot in by mistake %**% otherwise it should have been about $1.40 something as petrol had dropped overnight - Sods law, lol.
Picture of Kalbarri which is where the Murchison river meets the tide. The line midway in the photo is a bar that mostly has breakers breaking over and behind it with calmer water in front on a good day. This was taken late Monday afternoon. The WM, uncle and kids hired a kayak and two paddle boats, and paddled over to the bar and back while the WMH, aunt and I sat in the sun and just enjoyed the scenery.Whilst in Kalbarri, we stayed at the 'Bishop's" house which is owned the the local diocese. If it is free, anyone can rent it out. So for the next four nights we stayed snug and dry because, you guessed it, there was more rain. How good was it to wake up early next morning and here it on the roof, to turn over, and go back to sleep again, lol. Woke up to everyone watching a movie next morning and we all had a lazy day. I spent the time catching up on my posts.
Wednesday morning the lads all set out to go fishing but within half an hour, the WMH was back as he had rolled his ankle going down some uneven stairs before he even got to bait a hook. He was in much pain, so did the whole RICE thing then the WM, T and I went shopping! We found an amazing little antique shop that had all sorts of china, war memorabilia and australiana . I would have liked to get several things but resisted. We poodled through a boutique, health food shop and the grocery shop before heading back for a late lunch. I stayed behind playing cards with the WMH as I had bought a Samba set of cards that morning (three decks and played along similar lines to Canaster), while everyone else went to the Gorges for photos and walking (can you see a pattern evolving here, lol)
It was a bit overcast the next day, but the decision was made to go out to Bluff point as there were walks along the coast that could be done. Got to the lookout to see whales out aways from shore as they did their whale thing. No big leaps, standing on their tales, but could see them coming up on top of the water at least. Best of all for me was that there were a few wild flowers just coming out so spent my time searching out and photographing them.
This flower is called the Murchison Rose. I did not see this last year and these photos will probably not do it justice, colourwise. I thought it looked to be a reddy, salmony (invent new word) colour. What fascinated me was the similarity to our Pohutukawa with its stamens and leaves in particular (or have I been away to long, lol)
This is a view of just up from Bluff Point and looks like much of the Kalbarri coastline. The WM, aunty T and one of the boys walked along the cliffs to the next two points up the coast while the rest of us went in the vehicles wild flower spotting along the way until we all met at 'Grandstand' which was the beginning of the next 8k track called the Birgurda Trail.
While we were waiting for them to arrive I got this shot of one of my favourites - this is a grevillia - we have red grevillias up at school and as soon as I have recharged my camera batteries I am going to get some shots of them. (am hoping I have spelt the name right, can not put my hand on my flower book at the moment, lol)After all that strenuous exercise, hem, hem, it was decided to have fish and chips for lunch which was followed by another bit of shopping. While we had our meal at the tables outside the shop and I was amused to see the antics of the pelicans as they sat on these lamp posts across the road down at the wharf.
Managed to get this photo with two of them perched on the same pole. A third one tried to land but was not allowed - their beaks would open and snap at the bird trying to land. Could watch pelicans for hours too.
We returned to the antique shop and this time I weakened and bought a nut loaf tin which is a cylander baking tin with a lid at both ends. Apparently, everyone used to make this kind of loaf over here back in the day, lol. Am being sent the recipie by aunty T. It reminded me of the time Mum tried to bake a loaf in a baking powder tin. I am not sure what there was too much of in the mixture, but it blew the lid off while baking in the oven to much hilarity from us kids at the time. I think they were known as 'poom' cakes after that - I am sure Kay will get the story right if I am wrong. (they tasted great anyway). Found an excellent gift shop we had missed the day before for a look around and then it was back start packing and tidying before we decamped the next morning.
Had a good trip back to Geraldton, a bit of rain but not toooo much while driving. Could not get over how green the paddocks were along the way though still not as many wild flowers as this time last year. The WM's family went touristing after dropping me off in town to poodle about the shops as I tried to find a few things that I wanted. I had no sooner hopped out of the car after they had gone, when after crossing the road, I found myself flat on the footpath, not quite sure how I got there. As I lay there momentarily like a beached whale (nano seconds of have I broken anything?) the only person who appeared to have noticed or came to my aid, was this little old lady on a walking stick. I assured her I was all right whilst trying nonchalently to pick myself up off the footpath as though nothing had happened. I had put my hand out to save myself somehow so the heel of my hand and somewhere on my right leg took the brunt of the impact. I got an split in my hand about an inch long and had a sore neck for a few days but no other damage. It caused great hilarity to others when I related my nosedive at lunch which we had at the Camel Bar. We then did a huge grocery shop, the boys got haircuts and the girls got bits and pieces for school, finally leaving Gton at 5pm. Once again I was not driving and must have fallen into a deep sleep not long out of town as next thing I knew we were in Mullewa (an hour later). It was dark by then and the dirt roads were slushy to say the least. We could tell there had been heaps of rain by the water covering stretches of the flood plain areas, and on the sides of the road. We were only about 10k away from school when I saw the WM slow down in her car to avoid two kangaroos when one of them swerved and ran right at the ute. It happened in a flash and the next thing the left front wheel went up and over and we had run over the second kangaroo!!!!! the first one having dodged us and gone to the side of the road. Thank goodness it was only a small one and not a fully grown beast head on. By slowing and putting the headlights up to full, we avoided the next two making it safely back in one piece.
We unpacked everything straight away and I bought my stuff back in the ute, the first thing I did was to start with the washing machine as I washed every single thing I had taken away with me. It was good to be back though it is always a little wierd being on ones own again after being with people for an amount of time. I stopped washing at around midnight and decided to call it a day. Great trip, with some great photos and lots of laughs.
2 comments:
Love the pelican photos and story. They have such beady little eyes; like guinea pigs, they always appear to be looking straight at you. (Or am I paranoid?)
Sounds like a fantastic holiday - glad to know you are back safe'n'sound. I bet the kangaroos have sent out an all-points message too. Be very careful next time you are out in that vehicle.
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