September 30, 2010

Drove out to New Norcia with my AWC group, to tour a monastary built in 1846.  Lots of gorgeous artwork, wood carving, etc. and we got a special tour of the bakery, since one of the ladies was friends with someone there.  They still bake bread and biscotti in the same oven they've used for over 150 years, pretty amazing.

This is one of the chapels, and a monk living there some years ago carved all the woodwork himself.  The ceilings were all done by the monks too, as well as the paintings. 



Here's a stained glass picture showing the aboriginal concept of the madona and child, and the one below shows an aboriginal nativity scene, complete with grass trees, a kangaroo, emu, and a kookaberra.

September 27, 2010, continued...

On the way to Kalgoorlie, we had to pass this monster truck bed (actually 2, one behind the other)  and they were so wide the traffic on the other side of the road had to be stopped to allow these things to pass, since they took up both lanes.  These were headed to one of the mine sites, and they are the bed of the dump trucks, which are enormous. 

Here's a pic of the super pit, and if you double click on it you can see the dump trucks going up the side.

This is one of the mining vehicles, so massive it's hard to believe anything could be that big.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Well we finally made the drive out to Kalgoorlie, the site of the Super Pit, the largest producing open pit gold mine in the world.  It's about a 6-7 hour drive from Perth, so we spent the night in an old, historic hotel.  We saw this framed poem in the lobby, and thought it was an interesting bit of Australia/American history.

Here's the accompanying explanation of the poem.

And here's the gift he sent to the hotel/barmaid.  Sounds like Hoover was a true romantic. 

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Yesterday we drove about 2 hours out to the Dryandra Woodland, and on the way we passed mile after mile of these canola fields -  gorgeous yellow flowers for as far as you could see. 

Saw this echidna while we were out hiking.  He tried hiding under some rocks, but there was only enough room for his beak, and he eventually decided we weren't going to hurt him and waddled away.  If the ground hadn't been so rocky, he probably would have dug in, and they can basically disappear into the ground in a matter of minutes - they are incredibly strong, fast diggers. 

We passed this mob of kangaroos, and for the first time ever we saw a couple of them boxing.  These two young ones started hitting each other, and then the bigger one came up and smacked both of them, then hopped away.  As soon as he left, the two smaller ones started pushing each other around again.  Pretty funny, just like kids.  

  

We decided to stay until dark to do some night spotting, and saw several cute possums. 

                                                                                   

Friday, September 10, 2010

Josh and Ai had a baby girl, Yumi Laurel, weighing in at 8lbs, 8ou, and just over 21 inches long!   How exciting, and we got to see her the very next day in the hospital via Skype.  She is gorgeous, can't wait to see her at Christmas when all the kids come over to visit.  Here's her picture, taken off Skype.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Left the "Bates Motel" as quickly as we could, and headed to Hervey Bay for a half day whale watching trip, which we scheduled just the night before on Bill's laptop.  Reportedly the humpbacks stop over in the bay to take a rest from their migration along the coast, and we were lucky enough to see multiple whales, some with calves.  The captain turned off the engines and for 20 or 30 minutes we got to watch 3 jueveniles "spy hopping" around our boat.  They were almost close enough to touch, and when they swam underneath the boat, it rocked like crazy, and it was a very big boat.   Great way to end our trip, flew back to Perth from Brisbane that night. 

Monday, September 6, continued...

When the tide went out we were able to do a reef walk, seemed so strange to realize we were walking on the reef, but as long as you stay on the sand and off the coral, no damage is done.  Interesting to see all the strange critters like these big sea cucumbers and beautiful clam shells. 

Unfortunately we had to leave the island today, but it's been very relaxing and low-key.  There are no locks on the doors so no keys to bother with, and they say there has never been a problem with theft.  Everyone was very friendly and there is a fairly large marine research station on the island, associated with the University of Queensland. 

We took the boat back to the mainland, then drove to a small, historic town called Marysborough.  I booked a hotel that was described as being quaint and historic, but turned out to be a derelict, falling down, positively scary place and we felt lucky to wake up the next morning without having been bludgeoned in our sleep.  When we tried to check in, there was no one at the desk, and although we kept calling the number, no one responded, so we left to get some dinner.  However, Marysborough basically rolls up the sidewalks at 6:00pm because there was not a restaurant open, which explained why no one was manning the hotel desk - after all, it was almost dark outside!  If there had been anything else availbable, we would not have gone back to the hotel, but since it appeared to be the only place in town, we checked in and held our breath.  The hotel apparently has a rather large number of "permanent residents" and the sign on the soda machine said, "If you continue to put slugs in, the owners of the machine have threatened to take it out - you have been warned!"  Very high class clientele.  Anyway, we left as quickly as possible the next morning, and headed for Hervey Bay.

Monday, September 6, 2010

While Bill went diving, I joined the bird walk, to learn something about the over 100,000 birds that nest here every year.  These are Black Noddies, and there are over 70,000 of them.  They're fairly quiet though, at least compared to the Mutton Birds, which thankfully do not arrive until next month.  We were told they sound like cats being strangled, and they keep it up all night long. 

I also saw this White Breasted Sea Eagle and its mate - huge birds.  They nest on a nearby island but come to Heron Island to hunt, and this one had a smaller bird in its talons.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Bill went diving, again, and then we both went out on the snorkel boat to the outer edge of the reef.  We went to a beautiful site called the Heron Bommie, with tons of fish and turtles.  This big loggerhead came up just as we were all getting back on the boat. 

Saw a 7 or 8 foot nurse shark, asleep on the bottom, but by then Bill's camera had fogged up so he couldn't get a picture.  These are some of the fish and coral around the bommie. 

Saturday, September 4, 2010

The resort was wonderful, very casual and laid back, and the weather was incredibly humid but temps were only about 75 degrees.  As soon as we arrived Bill went in to snorkel, and our room was just a few feet from the beach.  We walked down a little ways to an area called Shark Bay, which turned out to be aptly named.  Standing on the beach, I was amazed to see dozens of sharks and stingrays swimming around, and I questioned whether or not I really wanted to get in the water.  While I was standing there, a huge eagle ray jumped out of the water right in front of where Bill was snorkeling, but he didn't even see it.  When he came out I mentioned the huge number of sharks, and he said he hadn't seen ANY.   So I made him go back out, down the beach a little further where I'd seen so many, cause I needed some pictures for my blog.  And then he did see a bunch, and got some decent pics.  They're mostly 3-4 foot long reef sharks, and they acutally pay no attention to snorklers and divers.

Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef

Friday, September 3, 2010

We drove on the rest of the way to Gladstone, where we parked the car at the marina, then took a taxi to the small airport.  Then a fabulous helicopter ride out to Heron Island, located 72 kilometers from the mainland and right on the Great Barrier Reef.    This is a picture of the reef, and the water was clear enough to spot stingrays, turtles and whales.  

Below is the island from the heli, only 42 acres and a major nesting site for several species of birds as well as green sea turtles and loggerheads.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Below:  Australian Brush Turkey

The second day of Bill's conference, and I drove to Burrim Forest Park to hike.  Some beautiful waterfalls and colorful goannas and birds.  Seems strange to see koala crossing signs on all the roads, instead of kangaroo signs. 

After the conference ended we drove north as far as Gin Gin, a small town on the main road.

Noosa N.P., Queensland, AU

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The start of a business trip/vacation in Queensland.  We flew to Brisbane (Brissy) rented a car and drove north about an hour and a half to Coolum Beach.  Stayed at the Hyatt Regency resort which was very nice, and while Bill attended his meetings, I drove to Noosa National Park, only 20 minutes away.  Almost immediately I spotted this little koala in a tree, and although he was initially asleep, when I returned from my walk he was awake and I could have reached out and touched him, he was so low in the tree.   Since they sleep about 22 hours a day, it's unusual to find them awake.

In the rainforest, lots of the trees are wrapped up in vines, and look like a tree inside of a tree, like this one.

Saw this big goanna climbing a tree.  Some are dark gray like this one but others are covered with yellow polka-dots, that start out small on the head and then get larger towards the rear, ending up in stripes on the tail.  This is a pic of the coastline in Noosa N.P. 

Friday, August 27, 2010

Many of the things that we find to be different here seem to revolve around grocery shopping, for instance:  Instead of listing the most commonly purchased items on the signs at the ends of the aisles, some of the stores here list things like plastic spoons or coffee filters, even though they're located on the same aisle as the paper towels and toilet paper, yet those things are not listed.  Just seems like people would buy paper towels and toilet paper a lot more often than plastic spoons or coffee filters. 

Then there's the weird sizing, like the fact that tissues are larger than paper towels, since the tissues measure 8"x12" and the paper towels are only 9"x9".   And even though I always hand the check-out clerks my cloth bags, they invariably ask me if I want plastic.  ???  Why would I give them a cloth bag if I wanted plastic?  And once when I gave the clerk 2 bags, since I bought a lot of heavy items and I was walking, she actually asked me what she should do with the second bag. 

And apparently restaurants are highly regulated, because they have some strange laws to follow.  I went to lunch with a friend, who ordered fish and chips, but she asked that they only bring her one piece of fish instead of two, because she could not eat both.  The waitress explained that by law, they could not do that, since 2 pieces of fish comes with the meal.  When I suggested the waitress give her a doggy bag for the extra piece, she explained that by law, that was not allowed.  She suggested that she could bring my friend a whole bunch of napkins and then she would turn her back and not watch if she chose to wrap the fish up and put it in her purse.  Strange.   On another occasion 5 of us had lunch at a local winery, and we ordered a tasting tray.  However, one of the foods on the tray had only 4 instead of 5 little sausage things, and when we asked if they could bring one more, so that everyone could have a taste, they said they would have to bring 4 more, and could not bring just 1, since 4 came with the tray. 

One thing that is very different here from the States, and that I think works very well, is that pedestrians do not have the right of way, and so the responsibility is on the walker, not the driver.  There is no such thing as jaywalking, so if you're walking and think you can make it across the street, you just go for it, and you would have no one to blame but yourself if you misjudged the traffic and got hit.  People cross the streets this way all the time and I've never seen it to be a problem.  You just have to watch the traffic and walk fast. 

Then there is the cell phone system, which leaves a bit to be desired, at least the customer service part.  I decided to check my bill on line one day, and I saw that the calls are charged at .30 per minute plus a .35 connection fee.  Then I noticed that the first call on the list was for 2 minutes, which should have amounted to a total of .95.  However, the charge was for $2.50, so I called and asked the customer service rep to explain the math to me, because it did not add up.  After a long pause he came back on the line and replied, "How about I give you 30 free minutes?"  I said that would be fine but I still wanted an answer to my question, and after another long pause he responded, "How about I give you 60 free minutes?"  At that point I just said O.K. and hung up, because I gave up.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Drove down to Dwellingup yesterday, and took a train ride out into the forest.  Then we hiked for a while and saw this mass of caterpillars, all clustered together on a tree.  Gross. 

We were surprised to see so many grasstrees, this was by far the thickest area for them that we've ever seen.
The docent said they are very slow growing, and only grow about one foot every 10 years.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

While walking in Kings Park last week, I stopped to take some pics of this ring-necked parrot and his buddy.  I guess I was there so long, they thought I was a rock or something, since this one walked right up to me and took a nibble on my ring first, then tried my finger a couple of times.  I was kneeling down with one hand on the ground, and since their beaks are very powerful, I decided I'd better move my hand and show him I was alive, before he bit down a lot harder. 

So far, I've managed not to get bitten at work, but people do often enough. 

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Last weekend was the Avon Descent, a white water race which is considered to be one of the best, and people from all over the world come to compete.  However, this year the water levels were extremely low, the worst ever, since Perth has had very little rainfall this winter, so the race was a real challenge, to put it mildly.  Many of the competitors dropped out by Sunday, since their boats got damaged by all the exposed rocks on Saturday, and only two of the power boats actually finished the race.  Here are some pics showing boats getting stuck on the rocks, which happened continually, and most of the kayakers had to get out, pick up the kayak, walk around the rocks, and then try paddling again, until hitting the next rock.  It was kind of pathetic actually, but they are a tough and determined bunch, even though it took roughly 4 to 6 hours longer than normal to finish the race.  One boat split into two going through the rapids, and they actually taped it together with duct tape and finished the course. 

Friday, July 30, 2010

Went hiking last weekend and saw these huge ants, called Bull Ants.  Bill put a coin down to get some perspective for a picture, and the ants came out immediately to check it out.  As soon as I took this photo one ant, all by himself, pulled the coin, comparable in size and weight to our nickel, down into the hole.  So they're not only big but strong too, and apparently they've got a bite to match.   

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Been a long time since I've posted anything, just been busy at the wildlife center mostly, we got our first baby bird of the season in this week.  Someone also brought in a galah which was obviously a pet, they're a beautiful gray parrot with a pink head, and this one was very friendly and talkative.  He kept saying "kiss kiss" and he climbed onto one of the volunteer's shoulders and she said "Oh, I think he's whispering sweet nothings in my ear."  Just then another volunteer walked up from behind her and said "No, actually, he's masturbating on your head."  Birds are funny. 

Last week when we took some of the animals out to a school with 4 and 5 year olds, we took along Henry the black cockatoo as usual.  The volunteer showed the kids the difference between the tail feathers of the male and female birds, and then Henry showed off his tail feathers by opening up his wings.  The volunteer then asked the class, "So how do we know Henry is a boy?"  And a little boy raised his hand and said, "Because he's named Henry!"  Can't argue with that logic.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Yesterday was our club's  big 4th of July bash, and estimates on attendance was 6 to 7 thousand, it was crazy.  Luckily the weather was beautiful, no rain at all, so most of the time people were outside.  We sold out of nearly 4 hundred dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts in an hour and a half, and some people drove 2 hours to get them.  I ran the bake sale and we sold tons of stuff, but everyone kept asking for anything pumpkin, and we sold out of all of it very quickly.  Bill got stuck making popcorn, and the line never went down, although the line for hotdogs was about 5 times as long. 

It was fun but hectic, now time to start planning the Thanksgiving dinner, which thankfully is for members only.  Here are a couple of pics from July 4th.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Well June is almost over, half a year gone already, and we're definitely into winter now.  The last couple mornings have been freezing, right around 32 degrees in fact.  It does warm up during the day, as long as you're in the sun, but it's far from shorts and t-shirt weather, although that's what lots of Aussies are wearing these days.  I don't know how they do it, it is definitely cold right now, and our heater is not working. 

Last month the strangest thing happened while we were watching the ABC Nightly News from the US.  We tape it since it comes on here at 3:00am, and there was a segment about Berkeley requiring incoming freshman to have their DNA tested.  They were showing scenes of students around the campus and the reporter stopped to interview a few of them.  Then they showed a couple of students sitting on the steps of a building, and I said to Bill, "that looks exactly like Josh."  He replied that of course it couldn't be since Josh lived in Seattle now and hadn't been at Berkeley for 15 years, but I insisted on rewinding it several times and although it was just a side view, I was certain it was Josh.  Of course it made no sense, especially since this guy was smoking, (and I knew Josh NEVER smoked) but I took some pics of the TV screen and emailed them to him.  I was so glad to hear I wasn't crazy and it really was him, although why the network would intermingle 15-year old file footage with current stuff is beyond me.  So bizarre to be sitting in Australia and see my son on TV, only from 15 years ago, truly strange...  When I spoke to him later he noted he never thought he'd get ratted out on the smoking thing by a film crew 15 years after the fact.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Well, today Australia made history with its first ever female prime minister taking over.  I think the way their system works is that if the current prime minister appears to be losing popularity, like this one was, then his party can replace him with someone else, until another election is held.   Not sure when that will be but this is the first time they've had a female running the country, so things should be really, really good from here on out.

Last Saturday we tried something we'd never heard of before, called orienteering.  Basically you go out to a forested area, they give you a topographic map and a compass, and you're expected to find several different electronic markers before returning to the starting point, with the whole thing being timed in case you feel competitive.  Well Bill loved plotting the course, like I figured he would, and I was just along for the hike.  It's all cross country, except for a short trail in the beginning, and most of the participants were running through the brush instead of walking.  Crazy people.  We finished the first, easy course in less than an hour so went back for a longer one, and that one took a little over 2 hours.  Bill used the compass and map to find the markers, and my sole contribution was to put the peg in the electronic thing to mark we'd been there.  If it'd been up to me to find our way we'd still be out there stumbling around in the bush. 

Friday, June 18, 2010

Well today I went out with the education group again to a school, and this time I had to present two of the animals myself.  I was not exactly prepared for this, but I stumbled through and did my best.  Now I really need to read all the info they gave me so I know what to say - I just assumed I'd have several more times to observe before being expected to talk. 

Things have been very quiet at the hospital lately, so I've had a chance for a lot of one-on-one training.  Yesterday I learned how to tube feed birds and bobtails, although I sure hope I don't have to do it anytime soon; I'm afraid I'd put the tube down the wrong way or too far and choke the poor things. 

I'm still trying to figure out all the different accents at the wildlife center, since there are volunteers from lots of different countries.  Yesterday a Scottish lady with a very thick accent was asking another volunteer where the "gat-ill" was, and I couldn't figure out what she was talking about.  Then she said, "You know, the lit-ul gat-ill," and I realized she was saying "little girl."  Wow, that was a tough one.

One of the supervisors was showing some of the new volunteers the charts, and she noted that the comments written down are always kept very professional.  But then she started laughing as she read a comment at the bottom of a bird's chart that was not doing very well.  It said simply "Poor littel lov."

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Went on a really interesting tour today with the American Women's Club, to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  They have been in existence for 75 years, and provide medical service to all remote areas of WA, via prop planes and the very recent addition of a Lear jet.  There is no fee for this service, and in many instances it is the difference between life and death, since medical centers are so far away from most places in WA.  The state comprises one third of the entire continent, so the area is huge and medical facilities are basically non-existent in the outback.   The service they provide is free of charge to anyone living or traveling in AU, and they have something like 35 doctors, 40 nurses and 35 pilots on call.

We got to see some of the prop planes they use, and a flight actually came in while we were there, with the patient being immediately loaded into a waiting ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital.  We went inside a simulator, and the plane is literally filled with medical equipment, making it a challenging place to be if you're claustrophobic.     

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Time to head back home, but we stopped on our way out at Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites.  They are described as the oldest living organisms on earth, and are only found in a few places, where the water is twice as saline as normal sea water.  They are extremely slow growing and some are up to 1,000 years old.  This pic shows how clear the water is, since these were all under water. 

It took us around 7 hours to get home, and there's not much to look at on the drive.  Gas stations are few and far between, and are usually located at a "roadhouse."  When I asked someone exactly what a roadhouse was, they said "a gas station, a toilet, and some really bad food."  And that pretty much sums it up, although some of them have some sad looking accomodations that you wouldn't stop at unless you were really desperate.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Today we took a morning flight over Shark Bay, in a little 8-seater plane.  We were the only passengers, once we dropped off a guy who'd just flown in and needed a ride to Useless Loop.  This tiny spot on the map had no airport, it was just a dirt airstrip and not a building in sight.  I wondered why the landing was so bumpy until I realized we were on dirt.  Our pilot was very, very young, looked to be about 14, but I'm sure he was probably at least 19.  The owner of the company and the pilot met us at the Shark Bay airport, and she said the pilot was "brand new."  Not sure if she meant brand new to the company or to puberty.  And while I've gotten used to hearing Aussies say "no worries" it's a little disconcerting when the pilot says it while he's fiddling with the airplane instruments.

But everything went fine and we flew low enough to see some dolphins swimming by.  This is a pic of the cliffs.

We had a little beach front villa at this resort, and just down the beach a short ways is where the dolphins   come in every day to get fed.  You can go out as far as your knees and let the dolphins swim around you, but you're not allowed to touch them.

There were some big pelicans hanging around too, hoping to get some fish from the rangers.