Damned Downpours and Darling Dolphins

Well dear readers, when last I left you, we were in the middle of a storm.... and what a storm it was - raging all night! I was kind of enjoying it in the early part of the night - lying on the floor of my tent in my swag watching the tent billow and buffet around me. Then it got stronger! And the tent was blowing right down flat onto my face before standing up again. Then I heard a zzzzzzzzzzt and the zip flew open on my tent window and it started flapping wildly in the wind. I got up to zip it up and bang in some more heavy duty sand pegs. Mum and Dad also got up as the awning to the caravan was in danger of being ripped off. We managed to get the awning in (and got VERY wet) and then when I went to get back to bed, I found my tent had finally collapsed. I pulled my bedding out and shoved it on the caravan floor and then went off to the loo. When I came back mum and dad had started to pull my tent down.

Eventually I tramped off to the back of Fred where I curled up with a pillow and sleeping bag and slept for the rest of the night.This morning we woke up and Nic, John and I took off for Monkey Mia to see the dolphins. Mum and Dad followed a little later (we were all needing just a wee bit of space as our moods reflected the poor night's sleep just a little).

We arrived at Monkey Mia to find the dolphins had just come into the beach for their first feed of the morning. We stood on the beach, absolutely entranced as the dolphins swam backwards and forwards right in front of us. Occasionally they stopped and looked up at us - wonderful stuff. Nic and I competed for the "most prolific photographer" award - I thought I had won today - but Nic still managed to outdo me with at least a gazillion photos!

The pelicans weren't half bad either!When the dolphins came back for their second feed, Nic, Uncle John and I all got picked to feed them. It was wonderful to have such a close encounter with these extraordinary creatures.

Mum and Dad turned up for the final feeding of the dolphins for the day and then we mosied over to the restaurant for breakfast. We enjoyed a relaxed meal looking out over the beautiful beach.After this we went and looked at the interpretive display and watched a film. Then, after a short cuppa, Mum and Dad headed back to the campsite whilst Uncle John, Nic and I went out for an afternoon on the Shotover - a beautiful ocean racing catamaran. Nic and I got to be the grinders to help wind out the sail (I am sure there is a more technical term for what we did - but I wouldn't have a clue). Anyway for just a moment I got to pretend I was one of those brave and superfit people who go out on the Sydney to Hobart doing really tough looking things on expensive boats!Paddy thought the whole sailing thing was a bit of a hoot too!We had a wonderful afternoon sailing around over the seagrass meadows and, whilst we didn't sea a lot of wildlife (other than some dolphins and a sea eagle), it was a wonderful afternoon.Finally we headed back to camp at Denham. We managed to catch a gorgeous sunset on the way back. Thanks to Nic for some of the photos on today's blog - the good ones are hers!

Tonight I will sleep in the car again - the swag is damp and it isn't worth putting the tent up for one night and risking the weather again.

Finally, a word on the beautiful word 'beautiful'. Nic tells me she thinks I may have used this beautiful word just a little too often. She even offered to find me a thesaurus list of words to replace beautiful. So from now on I am trying really hard not to use the word 'beautiful' in this blog (even though it is a beautiful word) - so if one does manage to sneak in here and there, please forgive me.... I am doing my best - it's just that everything is so damned..... beautiful!