More Monkey Mia

The next few days of Monkey Mia were full of action and excitement! An early morning beach fishing session was fruitful. It was a very low tide so we could walk out quite far. Elliott caught a couple of bream and Tyler had his bait taken a couple of times. A tip from our camp neighbors saw us using steak as bait instead of squid! Tyler and I headed back in while Elliott and Jas stayed fishing on the beach  and Jas caught a flathead!

We had a few swims in the pool despite it being freezing and windy but helped by the fact a small spa sized pool had water fed by an artesian bore. It was stinky and stained our bathers but at least we had a warm soak. We did a couple little swims at the beach right outside our tent. Carting all the sand toys and the stand up paddle board to the beach is wonderful when it is only steps away!

A big morning was had with two very excited boys as we boarded the Aristocat 2, a catamaran skippered by a woman raised on the boat who steered with her feet! We saw dolphins and turtles and then were driven to the sea grass meadows a couple of kilometres off shore to see the dugongs! We saw at least half a dozen - including a mum and bub. The best ones to observe were the dugongs that were napping - they stay very placid and half asleep on the surface of the water so that they don’t need to swim up too far to take in breaths every couple of minutes. Seeing the dugongs was an animal highlight for us all. On the way back Elliott and Jason had a sit on the net at the back pulling them along fast in the water.

We went back on the Aristocat for a sunset tour the next day - a short cruise using the sails and with no screaming kids. The boys loved observing all the complexities of sailing this big catamaran.

The next day Elliott and Jason went kayaking to see rays and turtle - exhausting with the wind. Tyler and I utilized the oven in the camp kitchen to make homemade bread ;)

After another quick swim and a game of mini golf and big chess we headed into Francois Perron National Park. We had been nearby at Little Lagoon a few days earlier but all the stonefish warning signs were a bit off putting. At the old Perron homestead we sat in a bigger and hotter artesian bore fed pool. It was so hot - it said 40 degrees but felt much hotter in the sun. We all loved having another hot soak at the end of a very busy stop!











































 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jurien Bay

Image
On the road with another long drive day to our last stop at Jurien Bay! We stopped in at the Hutt lagoon which appears pink-more so from the lookout point and even more so with polarised sunnies. A quick drive through Gregory and Horrocks and then we had a lunch stop at Geraldton to pick up a new toaster and a bike puncture repair kit! Made it to Jurien Bay to the worst site of the trip-but at least it had a jumping pillow and you could walk to the IGA! The next morning was spent by the foreshore where there was a great playground and skatepark. In the afternoon we went to the Lobster Shack in Cervantes for lunch and a lobster factory tour. Elliott and Jas held a thrashing lobster! A very stinky place very heavily geared towards huge volumes of international tour buses!! Onwards to Nambung National Park and the Pinnacles Desert. The boys were surprised by the amount of pinnacles. They also now have a track which you can drive through with your car which was a bit of fun! Our last full ...
Read more

Wooleen Station

Image
A full off grid experience was had at Wooleen - no power or water and bring your rubbish and poo out with you! ;) Our campsite was about 20km from the main homestead on the cliffy banks of the Murchison River. There were 3 other campsites there about 100m apart - grey nomads rotated through. Arriving was a huge shock to the boys as there were soooo many flies….endless flies on their little faces! Pink and grey galahs and black swans had homes near us. Also spotted some budgies! Apart from bird noise in the day it was probably the most silence we’ve ever experienced at night. Visits around points of interest on the homestead include an old shed with lots of old farm stuff, a rocky outcrop and wildflower spotting. We collected firewood for a camp fire on the last night. Jason and Elliott enjoyed stargazing with the telescope but you could see so many stars and the Milky Way just with the naked eye. Tyler got sick on the last night with vomiting and fevers but better now!   Can you sp...
Read more

Kalbarri

Image
On the way to Kalbarri we stopped in at Shell Beach (we stopped at the stromatolites on the way in but the boardwalk to view them had been damaged in a cyclone a few years prior and not fixed - so couldn’t see a thing!) The boys couldn’t believe the millions of cockle shells - throwing them in the air and making ‘shell angels’ in them. A few shells were smuggled out under the boys hats - whoops! Arriving at Kalbarri we had a little drive and bike around town. More marine wind warnings and very cold. The boys were mesmerized by the huge size of the waves! We could hear the pounding surf from our campsite at night. Not beach swim weather but luckily we could have a dip in the Murchison River just past the river mouth. Very shallow water due to seasonal low tide and sandbars. Tyler turned 6 here the next day. He got a few presents (Lego was built immediately) which had been hidden under his bed for the last six weeks. A waffle breakfast and chocolate cupcakes for morning tea and then off ...
Read more