me & my monkey

Headed out under clear blue skies this morning heading northeast to Mt Magnet then across to Leinster, down to Leonora and set up camp 50 kilometres north of Menzies. We passed through the quaint village of Sandstone which tells the tale of mining booms and busts. Gold was discovered in large quantities around 1902 and the town itself was established in 1906. By 1907 it had a population of six to eight thousand, with all the infrastructure to support both the population and the mines. But the gold ran out and by 1919 the population had fallen to two hundred. Today the town’s hopes are once again pinned on a mining boom as nearby mining sites have received new interest with one being sold recently. The current population of fifty is hoping for golden times again.

Much of this afternoon was spent driving in extremely strong winds and Melva sent Jenny a text to say that the Coopers were leaving Kalgoorlie today instead of Tuesday. They would have had rocket assist with this wind!

We made the trip down the coast from Kalbarri, stopping in at Port Gregory with its pink lakes and not much else, then onto Horrocks Beach which is a thriving, upmarket beachside settlement. From there it was back onto the main drag and down to Northampton where we stopped in search of an elusive fruit bowl and had a walk through the street to view the old buildings. On to Geraldton in time for lunch on the foreshore then a short visit to the HMAS Sydney Memorial. The stainless steel dome is made up of 645 seagulls representing those poor souls lost in that battle, and granite walls list the names of all those who perished. A lone statue of a woman looks seaward, waiting for her lost sailor to return – very touching.

We left Geraldton and headed out toward Mt Magnet, stopping 50 kms west of Yalgoo to set up camp in the bush behind a roadside stop. We’re back inland, away from the coast and into warmer weather.

Time for us to leave Denham and Shark Bay. We stopped in at Shell Beach and were amazed by the mass of the cockle shells that had built up to a depth beyond that which we could see, there was just no end to this sight, all caused through the ultra high salinity in Hamelins Pool in this part of Shark Bay. We went into Hamelin Pool Beach to view the Stromalites. Again this was fascinating to see this colony that has existed since the age of the dinosaurs – Australia has such wonders that so many people know so little about. We left the World Heritage area and hit the North West Coastal Highway heading south to an early stop – we cannot get into Kalbarri until tomorrow night.

Time to contemplate some navel fluff before boarding the party bus again tonight.

After our dinner at the pub we came back to have our traditional glass of port (and a piece of chocolate – we live high on the hog here) and we cracked a bottle of Samuel Port, part of Dave’s collection. Its so old that it is actually called port, there isn’t even a ‘Best By Date’ anywhere to be seen. Jenny managed to break the cork off leading to a hurried but fruitless attempt to stop the cork going down in the port… sort of a storm in  the port. It is a truly special matured port to be shared on the shores of Shark Bay – there’s almost a story in that…

Cheers mate.

Luckily Jenny had read the pamphlet on the feeding of the dolphins at Monkey Mia so she knew that they only get fed three times in the morning with the first one at about 7.45 am and that the dolphins dictate when the next feeds will take place, so we made our way out early and got there about 8.15 am. Within 15 minutes the dolphins were back in for their next feed, so the battle for beach position began and only those brave souls prepared to get cold wet feet had a slim chance of feeding fish to the mammals (they only get one fish each per go). As there were only 4 adult dolphins that is how many people got to feel all gooey inside and the rest of us snapped unnecessary and unexciting photos of dolphin backs before it all faded to nothing after twenty minutes.

After the morning excitement we had to put our feet up for the rest of the day before we went out for dinner at the pub.