And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him, In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended, And at night the wonderous glory of the everlasting stars.

Banjo Paterson (1889)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Shark Bay Holiday

Having recently found quite a few speciemens of Barking Geckos, it reminded me of the fun we had showing one to my brother-in-law Simon and his daughter Rachel, who had come out from England for a holiday. Young Rachel wasn't so sure about animals in Western Australia, especially a leaping angry gecko!


Meet the family - my wife Liz, Simon and Rachel at the Stromatolite (ancient marine organisms) viewing platform. Still smiling after a two day journey up to Shark Bay.



The reason for our Shark Bay journey, to see the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) at Monkey Mia. A local boat trip is a must, as it's also a great place to see Dugong, turtle and ray species.




It's a rugged coastline near Kalbarri, about half way between Perth and Shark Bay.




A popular coastline spot near Kalbarri to see marine mammals and fish. In the short time we were there, we managed to see a number of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaengliae), pods of Bottlenose Dolphins and small sharks.






Some of the fantastic gorges and cliffs of Kalbarri National Park, an excellent place for many arid zone birds and reptiles. Unfortunately due to the mostly cold and rainy weather and our limited time we had little chance to really explore the area for animals. I must get back there soon!

1 comment:

Madibirder said...

Beautiful coastline photos at Kalbarri. Love the colours.