Sunday, October 17, 2010

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.

Friday, October 15, 2010

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. 

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

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.