Our Second Honeymoon Part 4

In the morning the next day, we woke up early again to head to the Dolphin Discovery Centre. Why not, since our entry tickets were valid for a month! This time, we arrived just in time to meet...

Tangles, a matriach whose dorsal fin was entangled in a fishing net that eventually ripped the tip off...

... and her baby Shadow, just under a year old.

heading back out to sea...

We decided to wait a while more just in case the dolphins returned, or some other dolphins came. They didn't. :)

We had to leave by 9.00 am, as we had one more place we wanted to visit before checking out of the hotel at 10.00 am - the mangrove forest boardwalk.

this is nothing compared to the ones we have in Malaysia - but they are definitely much cleaner! Not a hint of litter to be seen anywhere!

So we went back to the hotel, packed, checked out, and left Bunbury for our final journey...

Our Second Honeymoon Part 3

We decided to do some shopping in the city after lunch, satisfied with our experience with the dolphins in the morning. We decided to revisit some of the places that we'd been before the last time with Preeta, Ka Sing and Chueh Poh, mainly to collect some souvenier coins that we didn't get previously! First stop, Cape Naturaliste!

Don't be fooled by the glaring sun... this far south, it was quite cold and windy!

The Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, which we didn't visit the last time we were here.

Fields of Gold... stretching towards the sea...

We decided to turn into this road that led to Sugarloaf Rock, something we didn't attempt during the last trip. A few kilometres down the road, we were awestruck by what we saw...

We then headed back towards Bunbury, stopping by at Busselton Jetty to fulfill a request by Chris and Jane'nette. :) We ended up with quite a few snapshots as well. Again, so much has changed. During winter, the currents were strong and the water muddy. Now, they're crystal clear!

We arrived back at the hotel, just in time for another sunset... this time with clouds. What a world of difference it makes!

Our Second Honeymoon Part 2

Morning at the hotel...

We woke up early the next morning, got ready, had breakfast, and set out for the Dolphin Discovery Centre at Koombana Bay.

The Dolphins were known to visit mostly in the morning, and since these dolphins are wild, a visit from them was far from certain. However, we arrived at about 8.20am, only to see two dolphins swimming away into the distance. They had come and gone... we were so disappointed!

For Kevin, swimming with dolphins is quite high on his list of things to do before he dies, dolphins being his favourite animal since young. He was really hoping to be able to get up close with them here, though it doesn't really constitute swimming with them. They do have packages where you are taken out to sea to swim with wild dolphins, but its rather expensive! He's written a short article about dolphins in his other blog, if you happen to be interested.

waiting... and hoping...

Anyway, we went back into the Discovery Centre to have a look at the exhibits while we waited, hoping that the dolphins would return.

BISKIT, a dolphin fetus, recovered from the mother who had died...

A dolphin skeleton

Agnes at the touch pool

 

In less than half an hour, the volunteers came into the centre to announce that the dolphins had returned... what joy! We ran to the beach and went into the water to stand in a line with the rest of the visitors.

As this was the last weekend before school reopened, the number of visitors were relatively few, which we were grateful for...

The same two dolphins that were here earlier in the morning... they came back for us! ;)

introducing Levy...

and her 3 year old calf, Eclipse...

all wet, but worth it!

mission accomplished!

 time for lunch... which we had at a chinese restaurant!

 

 

Our Second Honeymoon Part 1

For the next two months, we'll both be occupied during the weekends due to confirmation classes at Church (more info about this next time!), and that's the reason we decided to allocate the last two weekends of January for some travelling! First it was Rottnest, then it was another trip down to the South West - but not as far as Margaret River this time. On this occasion, we chose to visit a town that we'd missed in our last two trips down south - Bunbury. Our main objective? To get up close and personal with some wild dolphins at Koombana Bay, where they've been known to visit the beaches to interact with humans. You can say this is kind of our second honeymoon, since we didn't have time to celebrate our first year anniversary in Malaysia with such a tight schedule!

So after work on Friday (for both of us), we began our 2 hour drive down to Bunbury...

Oh how things have changed... the green pastures that we saw in spring have now turned to a bright golden hue in the dry heat of summer. They were still beautiful in their own way.

Our balcony

The fact that it's summer also gave us lots more daylight for our outdoor pursuits. We arrived at Bunbury and checked in at the hotel at about 7.00pm, just in time for the sunset. And this was our first cloudless sunset... won't find one like this in Malaysia.

You can actually see the sun disappearing below the horizon

We then drove into town for dinner...

before wrapping up for the night in preparation for our mission the next day... did we succeed? Stay tuned to find out!