| The beach at Bird Island in Seychelles is one of a kind, completely encircling an island like the iris of an eye. Keep on walking in the same direction, and within an hour or so you're back where you started. About half of this circuit is on a beach of exceptional softness and purity. The rest is firmer beach on which nest no fewer than a million sooty terns. This extraordinary bird stays on the wing for years at a time, returning to dry land only to lay a single carefully-protected egg. Meanwhile, a vast flock of terns wheels over the island awaiting the opportunity to join in the fun. The shores of Bird Island are also patrolled by Esmeralda, believed to be the world's longest-lived giant tortoise.
Monkey Mia is the strange name of a beach in Western Australia where, 40 years ago, a fisherman's wife, Ninny Watts, threw her husband's excess catch to a passing dolphin. The following day, the dolphin returned, looking for more, and afterwards started to bring other dolphins for company. Right from the start the dolphins seemed to like being petted and stroked, and soon a 'family' grew up of dolphins who wished to interact with the humans who had waded out to greet them. Pebbly Beach, half a day's drive south of Sydney, is the place to see kangaroos in the wild.
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