“A” got everyone up bright and early today so we could head to Monkey Mia for the Dolphin Experience. Let’s just say, I think everyone would’ve preferred the sleep in as the dolphin experience was quite underwhelming and far different to how it was when “G” and “A” were kids. These days, you are only allowed onto the beach at the designated time to watch the ~3-4 dolphins come close to shore where the volunteers eventually feed 2 of them, as that’s all they have permits for, 3 fish each. That’s it, then you are ushered back off the beach again 😀

We had a quick look in the information centre then hit the road to Ocean Park Aquarium which is just south of Denham via Little Lagoon to see the view. We arrived at Ocean Park around 9:15am and scored ourselves a place on the 9:30am tour. The tour was incredible, made all the better by the informative guide, Emily. We also got squirted by a cranky squid but thankfully just with water and not ink!!

We learnt lots of interesting tidbits like:
– How squid brains are like a donut with their throat going through the middle so if they don’t chew their food properly they can give themselves brain damage.
– How a fish disguises itself as a “cleaner” fish and then takes bites out of other fish.
– How sea snakes can hold their breath underwater for 2 hours.
– How stonefish can live on land for 24hrs!
– How flathead carry their own antidote to their poison in their spines – if you get spiked by one, you just need to rub the bit that got spiked on its belly as that’s where the antidote is.
– How dolphins play with puffer fish as they get “high” off their poison!
– And loads of other cool things.
We all really, really enjoyed the Ocean Park Aquarium and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

Back in Denham, we walked down the main street, checking out the shops and visiting the Discovery Centre which had lots of information about flora, fauna and shipwrecks in the area. Slightly further down the road was the “The Little Shop, A Must Visit” …… or not! It was a bit weird and tiny so we were out as fast as we went in! Back down the main street and it was time to visit the bakery for some lunch which we enjoyed sitting on the foreshore.

The boys wanted a relaxing afternoon back at the apartment so that’s exactly what we did, relaxed and spent some time taking photos across the road at the beach.

This evening we went to the Waterfront Hotel for a delicious dinner and dessert. “G” had bangers and mash followed by sticky date pudding, “A” had whiting with mash and veg followed by lemon meringue pie and the boys shared a cheesy, garlic cob, mash and veg followed by sundaes. We had a brisk walk home as it was quite chilly and are now chilling out in front of the TV.