Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Today we joined a bunch of backpackers for a canoe trip down the Murchison River. Once again we were the only old farts but at least we didn’t get stuck on a sandbar, like some of the others did. It was sunny and warm and surprisingly the guide let us go on our own, while he drove downstream to cook up a big brekky for everyone. I guess they don’t worry too much about people drowning in the river, since it’s pretty much waist deep in most parts. Prior to the guide telling us that, he explained how to inflate the life vests that we were required to wear, and he said after pulling the cord and inflating the vest, you simply stand up and walk out of the river. That gave us a clue that it was pretty shallow. Although we saw lots of cool looking birds, my pics didn’t turn out so well, since I kept turning the camera off every time I tried to take a picture. Bill had put the camera in the underwater case so it wouldn’t get wet, but it’s hard to see the buttons and even harder to push them, and I kept forgetting which ones did what, so I got very few pictures.

In the afternoon we drove out to one of the river gorges for a hike along the riverbed. It was surprisingly hot in the sun, since this is late autumn, but the temps out here during the summer months reach nearly 130 degrees, so this is definitely the right time to visit.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Road trip to Kalbarri National Park, Coral Bay, Exmouth and Shark Bay.  We left yesterday, around 5:00 pm, although we actually had to backtrack to find a gas station, and we hadn’t even left town yet. We’d been warned about the scarcity of gas stations as you drive north, but we didn’t expect to encounter a problem before even leaving Perth. So we didn’t actually get on the road until around 6:00, then drove as far as Geraldton, where we spent the night at a B & B. The house was a 120 year old two-story, set on a hill with great views of the ocean, even from the first floor.

The B&B owner suggested we check out the local museum before heading up to Kalbarri, since it’s less than a 2 hour drive. First we walked to a memorial at the very top of a hill overlooking the city, which memorialized the seamen from a ship sunk off the coastline during World War II. After touring the museum we headed for Kalbarri National Park, which was wonderfully quiet. Only two other rooms in our motel were occupied, but we were told that next month, during school holidays, the population would expand from 2,000 to 10,000.

We drove to several coves along the coastline, and hiked for a while just as the sun was setting. The above  pic shows some of the fascinating sandstone, some of which looks like stalactites or soda straws like you’d find in a cave.

This is a photo of the Kalbarri coastline.

 

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Haven't posted any Aussieisms in a while, but I've written some down.  A daycare is a "creche," and a "panel beater" is a body shop.  Interestingly, Aussies don't say "potted plants" they say "pot plants" which as you can imagine, leads to some misunderstanding for Americans.  The first time I heard an elderly women talking about her "pot plants" I was really surprised to think she'd be growing marijuana. 

The locals like to say "good on ya" just as we'd say "good for you."  They also say "How ya goin?" instead of "How're you doing?"  

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Went out to a school with the education group again today, but this time it was teenagers, and the girls were much more afraid of the animals than the 5-year olds were. Lots of screaming and giggling, probably because there were boys there too. Most of the girls would only use one finger to touch the animals, and no one asked any questions - very different from the little kids, they asked tons of questions.

While at the center, one of the volunteers brought in two tiny joeys she's caring for at home, and this is a pic of her feeding one of them. It weighs only 124 grams, or 4.4 ounces.  She said at this age they are very unlikely to survive, although she raised one that did and it's now pregnant with its second joey.  This volunteer said she has 16 other joeys at home, all at different stages, but she can leave them alone because they just stay in their pouches all day, and she hangs them up on hooks along the walls.  They stay in the pouch until they're about 18 months old, so it's a very long term commitment.  These tiny little ones have to be fed every 3 hours, and it's important to keep them at the right temperture. 

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Today I attended a meeting for our American Women's Club 4th of July fair, since I volunteered to run the bake sale. I figured with less than 200 members, how big could the event be? But I soon found out at the meeting that last year there were 4 to 5000 people that showed up, since the locals are happy to party with anyone. So, I am now hoping that lots of members volunteer to bake things, or my little Susie Bake oven will be working overtime. I'm not sure it's even big enough to hold a cookie sheet, it's so tiny, and one side of the oven bakes hotter than the other, so you have to turn things around half way through.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Today was my first time taking animals out to a school, and I'll need to observe several times before talking about the animals myself.  The kids were really cute, so excited to see the critters, although 5-year olds don't have a very long attention span.  When the lead volunteer, Margy, brought out the echidna, she asked the kids if any of them knew what kind of animal living in the Australian bush might want to hurt an echidna.  The most popular answer with both groups of kids was either "lions" or "tigers," but my favorites from two little boys were "monsters" and "murderers."  We had a hard time keeping a straight face with those answers.  

Henry, the black cockatoo, decided he wanted to sit on my shoulder during the entire second session, and to keep him from squawking in my ear, I let him bite on my sweatshirt zipper, but surprisingly he didn't ruin it.   The kids in the second group seemed much more hesitant about touching the animals than the first group were, and two of the little girls loudly announced they did not want to touch anything.  Of course that was right after their teacher made an ugly grimace when we took the python out of its bag, so maybe the kids picked up on that.  The Tawny Frogmouths sit so completely still during the daytime, that all the kids assumed this one was stuffed, until we took him off the perch and popped a tiny mouse into his mouth.  Margy says the little kids get upset if the mice are big enough to actually tell they're mice, so we have to give them the really tiny ones. 

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Amazingly, this is my 100th post, how time flies.  My American Women's Club had their monthly meeting at a Mexican restaurant tonight, and husbands were invited.  The food actually wasn't too bad, the closest thing to Mexican food we've had since we've been here.  However, there were the names of various Mexican cities painted on the walls, and I don't think even one was spelled correctly.  Oh well, at least the food was somewhat authentic tasting.