Day 20 Monkey Mia and Kalbarri

Lined up along the beach to feed the dolphins.

They were late, but they finally showed up.

The 'Windows on Nature' overlook.

Albert, Anja and I, sporting the latest in fly deterrent.

An echidna.

Red Cliff, by the town of Kalbarri.

Thursday, September 29^th.

This morning we got off to yet another early start. We had to make tracks as we had a breakfast date with dolphins. We arrived at Monkey Mia by 7:30 and although there were lots of people waiting at this famous site, the dolphins were late. We waited for at least a half hour. Everyone was lined up along the beach and were not allowed to enter the water. Dolphins have been coming to this spot for about 40 years because people feed them. At first people fed them as much as they wanted but, gradually they realized this wasn't good for them and they were losing most of their young to starvation or abandonment. So now they only give each dolphin three fish and then select from the crowd who will be allowed to feed them. Four dolphins eventually showed up and swam in the shallows waiting and nuzzling the guides who were in the water. One of our girls got selected along with a couple of other people.

After that we had to drive some serious miles to get to Kalbarri National Park. We stopped a couple of times for toilet stops at Billibong Roadhouse, where we had lunch, and at a quiet stretch of the Murchison River. We also stopped along the road into the park because Damien was amazed at the amount and variety of the flowers again.

When we finally got to Kalbarri we went on two hikes. One to a lookout over the Z-Bend where the Murchison River flows through the faults of the sandstone and changes direction a couple of times, and the second one was to the Windows of Nature overlook. This is an interesting sandstone arch and is quite different from the ones in Utah. We stayed there for a while taking photos and posing. The men's toilet here had an amazing view of the river gorge as you were standing at the urinal. Then as we were leaving we came across an echidna on the road.

When we got to the town of Kalbarri we drove to Red Cliff, which is a high headland that overlooks the town and the sea. We got there just in time for the sunset which was lovely. Then we drove into town for the bottle shop before driving to our new hostel, one of the YHA chain. Here we were given three rooms, so, the ten of us were able to divide in half. I am with my German friends for our last night.