Day 49 - 50. 22nd / 23rd June 2024. Monkey Mia. Dolphin central

We packed up in Carnarvon and visited a market before heading to Monkey Mia. It was dry and pleasant enough, but as we exited the supermarket with last minute supplies, the heavens had opened up yet again. Did not expect this in a WA winter. Leaving Carnarvon we felt we left the storm behind us, but as we turned north west to go up to Shark Bay, we caught it again and it was here to stay.

With low visibility and then getting to a sodden caravan park, the only saving grace was that we had splurged for an ensuite. This allowed us the occasional reprieve as we unhooked the van and plugged in. Taking our lessons from Wyndham, we grabbed our laptops, some drinks and nibbles, a dry top and headed into the ample games room that the resort provided. It was totally miserable outside and we kept dry, but we were at Dolphin central and could hardly see the beach.

Next morning and the rain had cleared, the sun had come up and whilst windy, we waded down the beach to see the dolphins. The dolphin experience is a lot different to the old days as you aren’t able to go in and swim with them any more. You are invited to stand in the water next to them, which does give a unique close up view – but you are as likely to be right next to one as me barracking for GWS. That’s OK, to watch them play and swim is joyful and heart lifting. It certainly reminds me of the quote from the scriptures:

“…man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much – the wheel, New York, wars and so on – whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man – for precisely the same reason.” Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

The Shark Bay area is picturesque, stunning, varied and we visited various lookouts and beaches admiring the scenery for the afternoon. Highly recommend, 5 stars.

The learning on this part of the trip was the concept of the 26th parallel of which I was completely unaware. We passed a sign coming south saying we had crossed the 26th parallel, which was nice to know, but we had no idea of the significance. Coming back around the peninsula and heading north, we crossed it again. Not knowing what it is, we are unaware if the constant crossing of it was allowed or not, and if doing it a number of times meant that the parallelogram was broken.

It did relate to latitude, and that is all well and good, but we have crossed a number of parallel’s, so why is this one so important? Interestingly, it is at the same latitude as the border of the Northern Territory and South Australia. As we are roughly a couple of thousand k’s away from there, that seemed irrelevant too. I did find out that it is the divide that the government has used to draw the line where they change the some of the laws. From what I can gather, these laws are purely around alcohol limits, bottle shop opening times and having to show ID when purchasing from a bottle shop. Monkey Mia and the nearby town of Denham are actually above the line, but the laws have not been applied here in this primarily tourist area with a very low population of indigenous people. Seems that some laws can be irrelevant too.

Facilities: This was an RAC park that has stitched up the Monkey Mia dolphin experience and accommodation here ranges from a powered site to luxury rooms with Dolphin views. We had an ensuite, which rates very highly, and given it was a room to get out of the rain with as well, it was very welcome. Whilst small, it had a shower with a rain head, proper bathroom tiles and a glass shower screen. This excited us more than it should have, and extra showers were had. 9.5/10