Monkey Mia
Still in Shark Bay, we had to go and see the famous Monkey Mia dolphins.
Dean wanted to get some sunrise shots. It’s not often that Western Australians can see a sunrise over the sea. The place was very touristy, which is to be expected of a tourist attraction. We saw some dolphins waiting to get their daily handout. I was selected as one of the few people able to feed a dolphin – they could obviously tell I’m a biologist. I took my camera to get a feeder’s-eye view of the event. It was a pretty boring view.
Me feeding a dolphin.
A young and playful dolphin.
I contemplated withholding the food to try to entice the dolphin to ram me at 40kph, but I ultimately chickened out. Dolphins in the water waiting to be fed are surprisingly un-photogenic (unless they’re jumping out of the water), so I wandered away to play with some pelicans. The pelicans have their own feeding sessions to distract them while the cute mammals are being fed. When I moved too closely the pelican would open its mouth, either to scare me off or to try to fit me in. I think it could have done either.
Pelican.
Open wide!
I didn’t want to see what that hook felt like.
Hamelin Pool
I was looking forward to seeing the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool, as they’re a living example of what the earliest life forms were like. I had also read about Hamelin Pool in Bill Bryson‘s Down Under and was interested in seeing the place for myself. I thought there would have been more there. Just a caravan park, a museum that was closed, a board walk and a couple of signs. The site really downplays such an important part of our planet’s evolutionary history. I couldn’t even buy a t-shirt.
Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool.
Cool pelican shot!