Its hot and beautiful, bpoked in to the resort, unpowered site and dinner $20. What can I say , on the way saw the stramolites, had brekky at the Billabong Road house, fish and chips of course, and had my photo taken for the wall , tomorrow the dolphins
-- Edited by Frangipani on Thursday 28th of August 2014 09:21:04 PM
Great pic's Fran, is that your Teddy in the pic too at Billabong?
Just a tip on the awning, best have the legs attached to the body of the van, I had that model awning too the legs are very fragile and you get more strength for the awning if it is attached in the brackets. Being on the coast the winds can be very strong at time.
Glad you got to your destination ok, that meal looks great!
-- Edited by Vic41 on Thursday 28th of August 2014 09:43:57 PM
sufil said
12:36 AM Aug 29, 2014
Looks like you are having a good trip. Enjoy the dolphins.
Glenelg said
03:36 AM Aug 29, 2014
goodonya and lovely pic's having a great time by the looks of it.
Blue said
06:54 AM Aug 29, 2014
we were there around 18 months back and were lucky to see any Dolphins at all..
we saw 2, a Mother and her Baby
the day before not one Dolphin turned up...
there's all new rules and regulations about feeding Dolphins or even being in the water with them etc...
basically, its nearly a waste of time going there... you travel hundreds of kilometres and you may not see one dolphin..
I would never bother going again...
they are living on the past reputation..
-- Edited by Blue on Friday 29th of August 2014 06:55:05 AM
barrie said
07:10 AM Aug 29, 2014
Totaly agree with you Blue I found it a rip off and after speaking to others who have been they agree
kandagal said
09:44 AM Aug 29, 2014
I was lucky 3 years ago to be a volunteer with the dolphins at Monkey Mia. it was a wonderful experience & yes the volunteers get to go into the water (with a bucket holding some fish) & stand by a dolphin. Then we would pick a person from the crowd standing at the water's edge to come & feed a dolphin one of the fish. Other duties included defrosting the fish for the feeds. Cleaning the fish room. Taking weather observations, measuring tide fall & rise. I'm not sure how man dolphins are actually being given fish at the moment. Before it was only 5 mature females. Dolphins eat about 10kg of fish a day but the maximum they were fed a day at the site there was 1.5kg. That meant the mothers still had to fish for themselves & in the process taught their babies how to fish.
Dougwe said
10:01 AM Aug 29, 2014
You are really enjoying the playground Fran, keep it up and the info as well.
Monkey Mia is on my list of places to visit one day as is the Margaret River area. The "Wild West" is getting closer for this little black duck, well big goose anyway.
jules47 said
10:06 AM Aug 29, 2014
Glad you are enjoying yourself -we are heading south, currently in a free camp at Dongara , so we have missed you, unless you are heading back to the get together?
pugs said
06:17 PM Aug 29, 2014
Great piccys Fran,you really are a girl on the go,good on ya and enjoy.Pugs
Hylda&Jon said
07:31 PM Aug 29, 2014
Vic41 wrote:
Great pic's Fran, is that your Teddy in the pic too at Billabong?
Just a tip on the awning, best have the legs attached to the body of the van, I had that model awning too the legs are very fragile and you get more strength for the awning if it is attached in the brackets. Being on the coast the winds can be very strong at time.
Glad you got to your destination ok, that meal looks great!
I tend to disagree about the legs attached to the van, ... as long as the awning has been secured properly.
This is how I did my awning:
I put the legs on the ground with pegs through the holes in the foot of the legs to stop them moving then attach 2 spring loaded tent ropes to either pole pegged into the ground. This way the tie down ropes will pull the metal legs away from the van preventing awning movement. I also had 2 long anti flappers on each side to prevent flapping in the wind. Also a curved bar from one side to the other supporting the underside of the annex helps prevent flapping. Another tip is to have one end a few inches lower than the other (one leg set shorter), this lets water run off the low end easily, and not pool on the awning.
Either way, use common sense and bring it in if you are getting worried otherwise you will get a very restless nights sleep.
That's my 2 cents worth.
BTW, We were at Monkey Mia 3 years ago but in about April and we saw between 5 and 10 dolphins being fed for 3 days running morning and afternoon.
Even my wife tried to feed them but she must have smelt bad because they shied away.
Maybe it has changed since then. I hope not.
Cheers
Jon
-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Friday 29th of August 2014 07:40:02 PM
Great pic's Fran, is that your Teddy in the pic too at Billabong?
Just a tip on the awning, best have the legs attached to the body of the van, I had that model awning too the legs are very fragile and you get more strength for the awning if it is attached in the brackets. Being on the coast the winds can be very strong at time.
Glad you got to your destination ok, that meal looks great!
I tend to disagree about the legs attached to the van, ... as long as the awning has been secured properly.
This is how I did my awning:
I put the legs on the ground with pegs through the holes in the foot of the legs to stop them moving then attach 2 spring loaded tent ropes to either pole pegged into the ground. This way the tie down ropes will pull the metal legs away from the van preventing awning movement. I also had 2 long anti flappers on each side to prevent flapping in the wind. Also a curved bar from one side to the other supporting the underside of the annex helps prevent flapping. Another tip is to have one end a few inches lower than the other (one leg set shorter), this lets water run off the low end easily, and not pool on the awning. That's my 2 cents worth.
Well we can agree to disagree, most people in the industry will tell you that an awning has more strength in the fixed to the sides mode rather than the carport mode.
I may add that the type of awning on the van is not the roll out type but the wind out type with hinged supports under the awning that fold out and the legs are a bit more flimsy that the normal roll out awning.
As I said in my previous post, I had one the same on one of my RV's (motorhome).
"I've seen what the wind can do and it's not pretty. Different people have different ideas on how to peg down a roll out awning. I always add guy ropes with pegs on the usual angle to the rope and also leave the arms connected to the motorhome as it was pointed out to me by a repairer mate that they are locked into the bracket mounting and give a greater resistance than when pegged out to the ground where the pegs go straight down and can pull straight up if the wind gets under the awning as they have no angle to resist the upward pull. It was recommended that they should only be stood vertical when used as an annexe with multiple pegs holding the whole wall down giving greater resistance as wind can't get under the awning roof."
and;
"We never set the awning out in carport mode with the legs disconnected from the caravan. it's a very unstable and weak way of erecting the awning and makes the awning very susceptible to wind damage. When we roll the awning up depends on wind direction more than wind speed. If the wind speed is forecast to increase we may only roll the awning halfway out as it significantly reduces the leverage the wind puts on the awning, but stills gives us good shelter."
and;
"We always leave the legs attatched to the van, then tie down with rachet straps and pegs, learnt the hard way a few years ago said to xxxxxx in a blow 'hold your end down' looked around and she was 3 mtrs off the ground,but it was okay she was still hanging on, the awning attatching screws at the top pulled out,easily fixed."
-- Edited by Vic41 on Friday 29th of August 2014 08:25:34 PM
Memem said
08:43 PM Aug 29, 2014
I have mixed feelings about Monkey Mia. Our family lived in Carnarvon mid 1960-s to late 1970 (dad worked at the tracking station). We used to go to Monkey Mia and play with the dolphins as much as we liked - even the dog came too!
We are heading over west in 2016 and I'm not sure the new, organised Monkey Mia will give me good memories. sometimes it's good to go somewhere fresh.
Blue said
09:33 AM Aug 30, 2014
I reckon I took this picture on the way to MM...
Blue said
09:36 AM Aug 30, 2014
by the way..
one of the reasons that they stopped feeding the dolphins by the bucket load was that,,, one day.. while "tourists" were feeding and throwing all of this dead stinking fish into the water
a shark suddenly appeared snatching a baby dolphin killing it in front of everyone...
you can imagine the horror and fright especially with the kids..
not to mention the people in the water..
and as they say in the Daintree, a fad animal is a dead animal..
roadtourer said
09:17 AM Sep 1, 2014
Great photos Fran looks like you're having a great time on your trip! Keep the posts coming :)
-- Edited by Frangipani on Thursday 28th of August 2014 09:21:04 PM
Great pic's Fran, is that your Teddy in the pic too at Billabong?
Just a tip on the awning, best have the legs attached to the body of the van, I had that model awning too the legs are very fragile and you get more strength for the awning if it is attached in the brackets. Being on the coast the winds can be very strong at time.
Glad you got to your destination ok, that meal looks great!
-- Edited by Vic41 on Thursday 28th of August 2014 09:43:57 PM
we were there around 18 months back and were lucky to see any Dolphins at all..
we saw 2, a Mother and her Baby
the day before not one Dolphin turned up...
there's all new rules and regulations about feeding Dolphins or even being in the water with them etc...
basically, its nearly a waste of time going there... you travel hundreds of kilometres and you may not see one dolphin..
I would never bother going again...
they are living on the past reputation..
-- Edited by Blue on Friday 29th of August 2014 06:55:05 AM
Monkey Mia is on my list of places to visit one day as is the Margaret River area. The "Wild West" is getting closer for this little black duck, well big goose anyway.
I tend to disagree about the legs attached to the van, ... as long as the awning has been secured properly.
This is how I did my awning:
I put the legs on the ground with pegs through the holes in the foot of the legs to stop them moving then attach 2 spring loaded tent ropes to either pole pegged into the ground. This way the tie down ropes will pull the metal legs away from the van preventing awning movement. I also had 2 long anti flappers on each side to prevent flapping in the wind. Also a curved bar from one side to the other supporting the underside of the annex helps prevent flapping. Another tip is to have one end a few inches lower than the other (one leg set shorter), this lets water run off the low end easily, and not pool on the awning.
Either way, use common sense and bring it in if you are getting worried otherwise you will get a very restless nights sleep.
That's my 2 cents worth.
BTW, We were at Monkey Mia 3 years ago but in about April and we saw between 5 and 10 dolphins being fed for 3 days running morning and afternoon.
Even my wife tried to feed them but she must have smelt bad because they shied away.
Maybe it has changed since then. I hope not.
Cheers
Jon
-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Friday 29th of August 2014 07:40:02 PM
Well we can agree to disagree, most people in the industry will tell you that an awning has more strength in the fixed to the sides mode rather than the carport mode.
I may add that the type of awning on the van is not the roll out type but the wind out type with hinged supports under the awning that fold out and the legs are a bit more flimsy that the normal roll out awning.
As I said in my previous post, I had one the same on one of my RV's (motorhome).
Here is a Fiamma video showing how they are erected, notice the legs are only put in the carport mode to support the awning while it is adjusted; http://www.fiamma.com/EN/service/video/operation/?video_ID=1&page=1
A few comments from another forum;
"I've seen what the wind can do and it's not pretty.
Different people have different ideas on how to peg down a roll out awning.
I always add guy ropes with pegs on the usual angle to the rope and also leave the arms connected to the motorhome as it was pointed out to me by a repairer mate that they are locked into the bracket mounting and give a greater resistance than when pegged out to the ground where the pegs go straight down and can pull straight up if the wind gets under the awning as they have no angle to resist the upward pull.
It was recommended that they should only be stood vertical when used as an annexe with multiple pegs holding the whole wall down giving greater resistance as wind can't get under the awning roof."
and;
"We never set the awning out in carport mode with the legs disconnected from the caravan. it's a very unstable and weak way of erecting the awning and makes the awning very susceptible to wind damage. When we roll the awning up depends on wind direction more than wind speed. If the wind speed is forecast to increase we may only roll the awning halfway out as it significantly reduces the leverage the wind puts on the awning, but stills gives us good shelter."
and;
"We always leave the legs attatched to the van, then tie down with rachet straps and pegs, learnt the hard way a few years ago said to xxxxxx in a blow 'hold your end down' looked around and she was 3 mtrs off the ground,but it was okay she was still hanging on, the awning attatching screws at the top pulled out,easily fixed."
-- Edited by Vic41 on Friday 29th of August 2014 08:25:34 PM
We are heading over west in 2016 and I'm not sure the new, organised Monkey Mia will give me good memories. sometimes it's good to go somewhere fresh.
I reckon I took this picture on the way to MM...
one of the reasons that they stopped feeding the dolphins by the bucket load was that,,, one day.. while "tourists" were feeding and throwing all of this dead stinking fish into the water
a shark suddenly appeared snatching a baby dolphin killing it in front of everyone...
you can imagine the horror and fright especially with the kids..
not to mention the people in the water..
and as they say in the Daintree, a fad animal is a dead animal..