Showing posts with label dolphins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dolphins. Show all posts

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Road tripping.


Sometimes I wonder if I should have been keeping a proper travel blog.  A blog where I write about where we've been, what the indigenous name for it is, how many miles above sea level, what it is famous for and what we did there. Then I could have our trip all neatly and tidily categorised. Then we could read it back and have a proper record of this journey.

But on the road I am constantly hearing people talk about how far behind they are in their travel blogs and I know for certain that would have been me. I'd probably be stuck somewhere back at Uluru. And I wouldn't want to miss a detail and it would feel like homework and I'd be stressed.

Instead I've got this strange all over the place blog. Part travel, part personal, part craft, part food, part anything else I feel inspired to write about at the time.

There are certainly bits I've skipped over, but so much happens in one day on the road. So many miles, so many thoughts, so many plans, so many observations.

Just for fun here's a little summary of the past few days...


On Thursday morning we watched Piccolo's new born dolphin cub at Monkey Mia. It was born over night and I'm not sure there is anything cuter than a tiny little dolphin. Wowee!! Not too sure about the every 7-10 minute breast feeds though. That poor Mama dolphin.


We also watched Puck, another dolphin, struggle to understand why she was not the centre of attention for once and try to win it back with all manner of tricks.


And then, later on that morning we packed up and left Monkey Mia and the best caravan spot EVER!! It was not easy I tell you.



We spent that night at Denham, at the western most caravan park in Australia (WINDY!!) and caught up with lots of friends for handstands and later on for drinks.

On the way out on Friday we visited Shell beach. Like the name suggests, Shell beach is covered with tiny white shells. Its about four meters deep with them

We dug around in them, made piles of them, sorted through them and threw them in the air and into the water.

I wish I could share with you the tinkling sound they made as they hit the water. I loved that sound.



And then we visited the stromatolites.


At The Billabong road house where we ate our lunch, we looked at hundreds of photos of tattoos and I decided I don't think I want one any more. I don't know exactly what it was but something about them just made me feel like I do not need to belong to that club. I might change my mind. Who knows.


In Geraldton it was SUPER WINDY and apart from a bit of play ground play, we sheltered in the caravan and played clapping games, watched movies and thanked goodness we have a van and not a tent.


Also in Geraldton Farmer Bren was voted best plaiter in the family!!

I know!!


And I finally got my Textured Leaf dress. (Please excuse the caravan mess).

This dress arrived at Carnarvon post office long before we had passed through there. My Tassy friend Jo tried to pick it up unsuccessfully and then a few days later Fiona got lucky and brought it south with her. Yay! I adore it Wendy, thank you. xx

So there you have it. A couple of days on the road. Some of it anyway. Of course in this time food was prepared and eaten, miles and miles and miles were driven, podcasts were listened to, conversations had, games played, decisions made, music played, books read, a ukulele strummed, crocheted ends sewn in, photos taken............................................................................................................................................

Happy travels. x

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Adventure



Very early on in this trip, maybe even before we left home, I wrote a blog post describing it as a caravan adventure. It felt like that. It felt like we were taking a risk, doing something exciting and unusual. Someone, I cannot remember who, left a comment on that post challenging that thought. They said that hopefully it would not be an adventure because that meant that things hadn't gone to plan. That we would be taking risks. That the outcomes were uncertain.


Early this morning our family of five boarded a catamaran in Monkey Mia hoping to spend the next few hours sailing about watching the dolphins, sharks, dugongs, turtles and other sea life. 

Farmer Bren helped the crew 'heave ho' and then we settled in for the ride.



At first the trip was glorious.

The ocean was turquoise, the borrowed Polaroid sunnies gave us a giggle and let the girls see the water better, there was a pleasant breeze and an optimistic feeling on board.



We sailed for a while and we did see a couple of dolphins, some logger head turtles and some jumping fish, but try as we might none of the bigger sea creatures were anywhere to be seen.



And then the 'severe weather warning' that wasn't meant to reach us until this afternoon turned up.

We watched it in all its dark grey gloomy glory heading towards us from across the bay. 

At first we thought we would be able to outrun it back to shore. But then we realised we couldn't 'run' that fast. 

So we stowed all our valuables, donned borrowed yellow waterproof jackets and huddled under the  tiny bit of shade cloth shelter and waited.

And it didn't disappoint. We saw spectacular lightning, heard thunder that made us scream with fright and got absolutely and completely saturated. 

When we finally arrived back at the dock the crew offered us another sailing trip for free to take over the next few days. We declined ours because we are leaving tomorrow, but the truth is I think that all of us feels like we had our sailing on Monkey Mia adventure already.

We may have not seen many of the sea creatures they advertised but we had such an exciting and thrilling time. We explored unknown territory, experienced something potentially risky. Things hadn't quite gone to plan.

But we had a ball. We yelled at the crazy loud thunder, we laughed at each other as we got progressively wetter and started dripping, we huddled in tight to fit more people under the tiny shelter and we chatted with people from all over the world that we otherwise might have not even noticed.


After we got off the boat and had warm showers and changed into warm, snuggly clothes, we had a hearty lunch of pasta with pesto and spent the afternoon listening to the rain on the roof, watching movies, crocheting and writing in our journals. 

What an amazing, adventurous and cozy last day in Monkey Mia. One I am certain we will never forget.

Happy travels. x

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

On time and ageing


I've been thinking and wondering about age a lot recently. Age and time and years. Maybe its because I'm speeding towards a milestone birthday. Maybe its because I'm in one of the most beautiful places in the world and I have time to think. Or maybe its because at this time of the year all my girlies turn one year older.

I don't know.


Here's a bit of what I've been thinking lately:

I don't feel like I am old enough or mature enough or sophisticated enough to be turning forty. It's funny but I was having a big think about this on the beach early this morning, when two friends walked past discussing the exact same thing. Unless they are sick, almost every adult I talk to in life feels younger than their years. My own grandfather told me recently that he could easily switch the numbers in his age and be 39 like me instead of his own 93.

I have a husband and three kids, a business, a house and a car like a forty year old might, but I just thought that as a forty year old I might be more organised, neater, more settled and serious. Nope.

My farmer boy doesn't think like this though. He says he is what he is and age means nothing.

This younger than your years thing doesn't seem to apply to children though. The six or so kids I asked this morning all told me they felt well and truly the age they are or are turning soon.



Then there is the fact that so often adults struggle with aging while kids seem to be in such a hurry to reach their next birthday and their next and their next. On New Years' Eve this year as soon as the clock struck midnight and we had wished each other a happy new year, all the kids started excitedly comparing notes about the age they would turn next year (ie not this year's birthday but next.) My kids were terribly excited to be turning five, nine and twelve, but I was not exactly thrilled to be skipping straight to forty one.



And lastly, my kids love celebrating milesstones and cannot wait to reach them and celebrate them. Whereas I and a lot of other Mothers I speak to feel a twinge of sadness at these times. First days of school, birthdays, weaning, lost teeth, growing out of clothes... ouch!

This mother has never even given her last baby a haircut and she is four!

Birthdays and milestones mean time is passing and that means lasts and farewells and they are hard.

Late last night I carried my newly minted four year old back to the caravan. We'd had the most incredible day that had finished off with a pizza by candle light dinner with the entire crew and then an outdoor movie where every single child fell asleep. As I carried Miss Pepper to bed I nuzzled into her sleepy neck and started crying. My baby.

At the end of the happiest and most beautiful day I was crying because time was passing.

I was happy and grateful too of course.



There are 10 more days until my big day, I'll try not to bore you with my aging musings too much between now and then.

Happy aging. xx

ps. Monkey Mia with her dolphins, her crystal clear waters and our camp site right on the beach is possibly the most beautiful place we have been.

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