Dolphins, sharks and dugongs

Dophin at Monkey Mia
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Yes, Melbourne Cup – what an experience! The whole country stops! We were lucky enough to get into a pub with time to spare but it quickly filled up and it was really quite an event – National Anthem and all. Very emotional and an experience not to be missed. Shame about the hot tip though Sam!

Quick beauty tip, girls : Forget Botox. The simplest way to increase the volume of your lips is to submerge your head in a bucket of salt water for half an hour 4 or 5 times a day. To speed up the process you might like to wear a mask and snorkel – this helps by a) you don’t have to keep coming up for air and b) it makes your bottom lip pout naturally and so it is stuck in this position. I haven’t quite worked out how to do the same for the top lip – perhaps by wearing the snorkel upside down. I’ll try that next time.

Our little runaround vehicle
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Oh and don’t waste the salt water – mix with a small quantity of sand, throw it over your hair and you have the beginnings of dreadlocks. It’s THE look in Western Australia.

We continue to move from one beautiful spot to another -Coral Bay, Paradise Beach, Sandy Beach, Shell Beach, Turquoise Bay, Shark Bay … we’ve done them all, and did have some inkling as to what to expect before we got there. Then they fooled us… Monkey Mia. Not quite what you would expect but the dolphins that this town is famous for and that crowds flock to see were wonderful. They come to the beach at 7.30 every morning (yes, another early start) and they are fed from the beach. Wild dolphins but with a daily breakfast habit. Lovely – they came in so close as we paddled in the shallow water.

The long road into the park .....
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After that we went on a wildlife cruise – oh and while we’re out at sea would you like to see a pearl farm and buy an expensive pearl. V. interesting and the black pearls were stunning – I have a ring to prove it!!!! The wildlife cruise on the catamaran was great – saw lots of dugongs (closely related to the elephant I’ll have you know) and lots of brown shapes under the water that were apparently dugongs.

Yesterday Patrick had another bit of fun – we hired a 4wheel drive so that we could go out into a National park that is inaccessible otherwise. Lots of exciting driving on sandy roads just like real desert - miles without seeing anything.  Amazing!We saw an old sheep station and some more lovely secluded beaches. You just can’t believe that you leave one beautiful spot and find another. We spent 4 nights in Denham and Monkey Mia and left this morning to drive further down the coast to Kalbarri. At lunch time we turned into somewhere to have lunch and discovered another idyllic spot with a campsite so decided to spend the afternoon on this beautiful, totally deserted beach and stay in the campsite. Wheels … freedom! I’m really getting into this campervan lark.

Unwinding after the long drive
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Talking of which I have discovered the joy of cooking in a kitchen where in order to reach anything you need you just turn round!!!! All these years I’ve been walking miles each time I cook at Bullen and now I have everything at my fingertips. On top of that, if I feel a little tired while cooking, I could just stretch out on the bed to gather my strength . The conversation between Patrick and me hasn’t dried up yet either – we find the fact that we both have to repeat everything as our hearing doesn’t seem to be so good, makes each conversation last that bit longer.

Dugong just gone under the water
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So all well here still. Tomorrow we head off for Kalbarri – unless we find another beauty spot on the way to stop at. More beautiful beaches by all accounts but the name doesn’t give too much away this time.

PS - This easy life in a campervan - I bent down this morning to get something out of a handily placed cupboard and have wrecked my back.  Patrick is suffering from toothache so we might spend tomorrow looking for the medical centre - I've seen lots of advertisements for physiotherapists.  Still, Emily will be able to give me some exercises when we're back in Sydney as SHE'LL HAVE FINISHED HER DEGREE BY THEN .... GOOD LUCK ON TUESDAY BUBS - LAST EXAM EVER!!!!!!