Denham and Monkey Mia

Hi

I can't believe another week has gone, time flies when you are having fun! which I am.

I stayed  in Kalbarri till Tuesday and it rained for the rest of my stay. I drove to Denham which another beautiful spot on the coast. The water is crystal clear and the water wasn't cold, not that I went swimming, the dogs did. The caravan park was on levels and people with dogs are put in the not so good areas ( this happens in all Caravan Parks ). Others got a lovely view of the ocean but I only had to walk a short distance to enjoy the view. The ground was crushed shells so not so comfortable under foot and stuck to your thongs ( and dog paws ) so I managed to bring some with me when I left.

I scootered ( 24kms) to Monkey Mia on Thursday morning. Had to be there at 0745hrs as feeding starts at 0800. You are not allowed to touch the dolphins even if they swim up to you. They are fed only 1.5kgs fish per feeding as they don't want the dolphins to lose their hunting instincts. Apparently, years ago, the public could feed them anything and this happened all day so the dolphins never left the shallows. Baby (pups) dolphins can only suckle in deep water so when their mums were being fed by the public the pups never got fed and they died. There are only 3 feedings a day and they are before 12md. and only the adult females are fed and it's amazing to watch the others, including the pups, stay out in the deeper water.

After the dolphins I went on a Catamaran for a 2 1/2 hr tour to have a look at a Black Pearl Farm and also some other marine life. We were hoping to see
some Dugongs as this area has the type of water grass they eat, and is the largest area in the world. Anyway we didn't see any but did see more dolphins, sea snakes, green, loggerhead and leather back turtles. The latter being camera shy.

The Blue Lagoon Black Pearl Farm is the one owned by Jamie ( well his family ), the guy on The Farmer Wants a Wife. He was there and gave us a talk about farming pearls. I didn't ask him the obvious question but the skipper on the boat said no he was still single. He was very friendly and does have lovely blue eyes. Pearl farming is quite interesting but very tedious. The shells have to be cleaned regulary and a Nucleii has to be implanted often as this is the start of the pearl. The size of the nucleii has to be increased x 4 times during the life of the "shell". This means that the shell is brought to the surface opened slightly, the 'old' nucleii removed and the slightly larger one reinserted. Calcium forms around the nucleii which 2 years down the track, will become a black pearl. The colour of the pearl depends on the inside 'lip' colour of the shell. Hope that didn't bore you too much.

I'm now in Carnarvon and it's another lovely spot. I may decide to stay here a week as there are lots of nice walks and again, there is another river. The mouth of the Gascoyne River is here and I will investigate tomorrow when I go out on my scooter. The people next door are happy to look after the dogs as they have been here since April and are staying till October so have done all the touristy things.

Well that's it. Now for photos

 Jamie

 Green Turtle

View of Monkey Mia from boat

Hope everyone is well

Lots of Love

Jo, Kaiser, Chardy and Shiraz
xx     woof     woof         woof