A Day Down Under

I've gradually been working my way through our Australia photos. It's embarrassing to take this long after a trip to post them. And there are so many I realize I should post them in sections anyway. So here I'll just cover a single day of our trip - Sept. 27.

We had stayed overnight in the campground in Denham. First thing in the morning we drove to Monkey Mia where they have been feeding the dolphins for years. It's a big tourist attraction to see the dolphins up close. From there we drove to Kalbarri. It was spring in Australia and there had been some rare rain, bringing out the spring flowers. Against the red sand and drab bush the flowers were beautiful splashes of color.

It was a long weekend and school holidays so we were a little worried about finding somewhere to stay in Kalbarri. People were telling us that everywhere would be full. But an act of kindness paid off for us. When we stopped for gas a women asked if we could give her a ride to where her car had broken down. We did and along the way got talking about where to stay and she told us about a riding stable just outside town that had places to stay. It turned out to be a really nice place and they had both camping and rooms. We decided to splurge and got a room ($50).

We went to the Seahorse Sanctuary just outside Kalbarri where they breed seahorses for the aquarium trade so that they won't be taken from the wild. They also breed pipefish and peppermint shrimp. It was pretty cool to see them and learn how they breed them.

We stopped at a beach and watched the surfers. Pretty good waves here. The lady at the seahorse place suggested we watch the sunset from the beach and cliffs at Pot Alley, It was a beautiful sunset.

Here are the photos:

2008-09-27 Australia