Having failed to establish if there was any space in the caravan parks in Denham due to no cell phone and intermittent internet coverage we thought it best to not muck around getting on the road. The main reason being that unlike NZ, a long weekend is coming up as Australia has Monday off as ANZAC Day holiday, something that perhaps we should adopt. Denham is also within the Shark Bay World Heritage area with its numerous attractions and as such is very popular with tourists and holidaymakers. The downside is that the area is 130km off the main road but not on a loop so we have to return via the same road.
On arrival however we had no problem finding somewhere to stay for a couple of nights so no drama. The town of Denham is a developing holiday town and has a pleasant feel to it although the information centre is a bit flashy and the person who served us a trifle on the snooty side. This possibly relates to the area having the “World Heritage” status and therefore somewhat full of their own self importance – ho hum… Once settled and having caught up with emails and talking to our family we headed out for a good walk of the town and surrounds. The nearby very blue and landlocked “Little Lagoon” was quite beautiful.
Our plan was to visit Monkey Mia to see the dolphins first thing Saturday morning and as if sensing our need to wake early the toddler in the tent behind started crying at around 0500 – reasons unknown – but continued doing so until sunup. No matter it got us on the road early enough to travel the 28km there to catch the first feeding (as well as the other two being there are only three feedings a day and all in the morning).
It is an interesting arrangement that exists with the dolphins as it contradicts the normal rules about feeding the wildlife but as it is managed very well by the Department of Environment and Conservation it seems to work with no perceived negatives for the dolphins concerned. They only feed a small group of adult females that are all related to an original group, bearing in mind feeding of one sort or another has been going on since the sixties. They are also only fed a minimal amount each day, certainly not enough to live off. The presenter gave an excellent run down on the history etc. This complemented well the audio/visual information in the centre.
Each dolphin has its own named bucket and a handler who manages the fish in it and they select people in the audience to feed each dolphin a fish stopping when they get to the last one in the bucket. At this point the handler raises their hand in the air. Once they all have a raised hand the last fish is fed to the dolphins and the bucket rinsed in front of them. The dolphins take this as the sign that the feed is over and off they go back out to sea. They may return to the beach again after no set period but always before midday for their second and third feeds. Being adult females most had young who just hang around in the background playing and doing baby dolphin stuff – very cool…
We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful location and experience and as if to reinforce the reasons wildlife should not be fed we saw Seagulls boldly feeding off scraps left on plates in the nearby restaurant and more than one Emu strolling around the shopping area. Signage everywhere saying not to feed them but being the opportunists they are they just helped themselves to any food they could get their beaks on. Also we heard from Shane from wildlife rescue about our Kiwi roo and it was good news. Kiwi was a bit stressed for a couple of days but now feeding well and on the path to growing up to be a healthy Red Kangaroo. Shane will keep us posted as to her progress which is great.
