Our First Dud Weekend!

This past weekend Mike & I headed to Perth to check out the 'World's Biggest BBQ'. We had seen/heard advertisements for this event which was sponsored by the Lottery Corp (lotteries are big down here also!) and hosted by Surf Life Saving WA - groups from Broome all the way down the west coast around to Albany participated.

We had high hopes of Life Saving demonstrations and competitions, similar to the event we had caught the end of the last time we visited Scarboro beach. We even booked a hotel room in Perth to be sure we arrived at the beach early.

Alas, when we got to the beach, we found the BBQ but discovered that there were no Life Saving demos or competitions scheduled by the Scarboro club. The weather was cool and mostly overcast and quite windy. So our beach plans quickly evaporated.

As usual however, there were many surfers at the beach on a Sunday, so Mike did manage to catch some reasonable photos of them at least.

Guess we can't complain - one weekend of poor planning over the past 9 1/2 months isn't too bad of an average!

Spring has Sprung for Fathers Day

Friday night had us once again sharing time with friends from Pinjarra High School. The annual fund raiser for the chaplaincy was lots of fun. They held a trivia night at the local church in Pinjarra. So Mike & I headed out with Richard and Phillipa for dinner at the hotel in Pinnie and then spent a mentally stimulating evening where we managed to beat out the other teams from the school. However we still failed to score high enough to place in the top 3! But the real highlight of the evening was the many treats brought for sharing - we had a very fattening evening of chips, candies - including the best licorice I have ever tasted, nuts, chocolates, wings, trifle and more. We hardly had to eat for the rest of the weekend!
With September 1st, we are now officially experiencing Spring in WA. Anyone who has done research on Western Australia is probably aware that the area is renowned for its wildflowers. I'll leave it the wildflower website to give you all the details, but we'll try to include some visual display here thanks to Michael. We will likely make a trip into the country to experience them in the wild, but to start with we decided to check out the full variety at King's Park.

The Red and Green Kangaroo's Paw is the official flower emblem of Western Australia, so naturally I need to include them. Also at right above is the Black Kangaroo's Paw. It is a bit rarer and less 'flash' but still delicate and unique.

One of the most spectacular displays of mass colour comes from the everlastings. These are the ones I want to see in their natural state! They are a carpet of colour in a range of shades from whites, pinks and mauves and also yellows. The bees are everywhere and seem to be quite content in their garden of Eden!

And not only the bees enjoy the wildflower season, but the birds are also thrilled with the new selection of treats. The Red Wattle Bird (at right) is very aggressive in claiming it's territory and can be quite vocal in keeping other birds away. This however is one of my favourite birds for another reason. We have a few around the house in Mandurah since Theresa has several bushes that attract them. But these birds also like the occasional insect to eat. They routinely make the rounds of the house snatching up all the insects in the corners - primarily spiders. They are amazing to watch as they hover deep in the corners to snatch their prey. The best pest control going!

There were many more native WA wildflowers, but also in bloom at this time are the South African flowers. Since we won't see them in the wild, we've included them here also. The wattle bird above is resting on an Aloe Vera plant. One of the most familiar is the Bird of Paradise. It is impressive to see the large displays which grow year round here. This flower at left is also from South Africa, and unfortunately I cannot remember the name - any one who knows please comment!

And once again, although we have now been to King's Park several times, we found a new trail to follow and this is one of the path side plants in the bush we encountered. I believe this one is one of the many orchids which are found native here, although I am not positive.

Sunday brought Father's Day (finally!), and the weather this weekend was much nicer. Kyle and Mike were able to visit the local field to kick around the footie, and we were able to take a nice stroll along the beach. And even though he had Father's Day last weekend, we tried to make the day relaxing for Mike and didn't make him do anything too strenuous.

Something Fishy at AQWA

Since Patrick has not experienced the reef life here, and he will not get a chance to go snorkeling, we took a trip to the Aquarium of Western Australia just north of Perth on Sunday. It was also great for us to see the same fishes up close and personal, but safely. We did not have to worry the jelly fish swimming around us, or whether the reef sharks were getting too numerous, or whether we were drifting too far and at risk of being pulled out by the rip. So although a bit more sterile, it was much more relaxed.

Michael was able to use his 'good' camera this time since everything was behind glass. You will likely notice the colours are more vivid also since the lighting was much better.

The highlight of the aquarium is 'the shipwreck coast' aquarium. It is 40 metres long, 20 metres wide and 4.5 metres deep and holds 3 million litres of seawater. You can walk or stand on the conveyor belt through 100 metres of tunnel which wraps through the tank and the sealife is all around you. There are several species of sharks (nurse shark here), rays (including some gigantic manta rays), hundreds of fishes as well as turtles and eels. The tank is so large, that it was quite dark however and it was difficult for Mike to photograph.

Having swum over top of the rays up at Coral Bay, it was quite spectacular to be underneath as they swam directly over you in the tunnel. And being so close to the animals, you get a much greater respect for their size. The turtles are massive - you could ride on their backs - and their necks would even impress the Godfather!

Outside we caught the sealion training session. While they do not train them to do tricks for display purposes, they do train them. The keepers need to be able to handle the seals, and they also try to mimic some of the wild behaviours. The seals here were both born in captivity, so they also try to teach them what would be learned actions in the wild. One example is teaching the male to 'bark'. This is not a trait they would do if not trained since they are not exposed to the normal activities which would induce it. Similarly, they teach them to jump which mimics the natural behaviour of avoiding predators (such as killer whales). Not quite the same motivation, but uses all the same muscle groups - kind of like us going to fitness classes!

On the drive home once again we had mixed showers and sunshine. It doesn't seem to stay totally overcast here - it is always so windy that the clouds blow in and out constantly. This type of sky makes for great rainbows, and we have seem many so far. This one (and it was a doubler at times) stayed with us for much of the drive home. It really was quite spectacular - it doesn't translate well in the photo, but it was very wide with the full spectrum of colour.

And oh yeah, as for the rootbeer - they really DO NOT LIKE IT down here. So guess we'll have to suffer through it on our own - wish you were here to share it with us J (I hear you've become a fan also)!!!

A 'Two Four' of Anniversaries

Michael and I celebrated 24 years of marriage this past week. He brought some lovely flowers home, and we went out for a very nice dinner to mark the actual day. Notice my tricky method of getting Mike into the photo (his school photos were delivered :-)

The weather has certainly turned to 'winter' with rain and clouds along with the cooler temperatures. However, we are getting nothing like the weather on the east coast of Australia. Had we succeeded in our original exchange match, we would likely be living in a shelter at this point. There has been extensive flooding, road washouts and closures, ocean transports beached, and billions of dollars in damage - all right near where we were originally assigned. We definitely lucked out exchanging to W.A. with Theresa in many ways.

When the weekend came about, both boys had their own plans for the start of the weekend. Patrick stayed behind for Friday evening with the Gravity folks. Some of the team went rock climbing then out to a bar on Friday night, and Pat joined them, not returning here till late Saturday. They have quite the international contingent up there - there is mix of levels from Patrick up to Ph.D. candidates, male and female, from all over the world - from India, some Chinese, a French, 3 Americans, Patrick from Canada as well as Aussies. They eat on their own for lunches, but have communal dinners when they tend to cook mostly Indian dishes as they all enjoy their curries.

Kyle had plans to go mini-putt on Saturday, but the weather was not co-operative and they had to switch to bowling - which worked out fine also. So since both boys had their own plans, Mike and I took advantage and did a one night get-away on Friday night to Perth (anniversary was a good excuse).

We got a good last minute deal which included brunch at a nice hotel (views from the hotel photoed here). And the rain held off enough on Saturday morning for us to be able to walk around Perth (some more of the photos) to do some shopping without getting soaked. Mike managed to find a good pair of sunglasses (when the sun shines, you really need them!) thanks to birthday monies from his parents, and we bought some other stuff including A&W Rootbeer. Rootbeer is not available here, and it is one of the things Kyle has been missing. I splurged and bought enough for him to share with some friends, so we'll see what they think of it!

By Saturday evening, we were all back home as a family for a night of cards, and then Sunday was off to the Aquarium of WA (tomorrows posting!).

Walk-a-Bout Weekend

Some Aussie Trivia for you: Western Australia celebrated June 4 as Foundation day - that was our long weekend just past. Meanwhile, the rest of Australia celebrated the Queens Birthday on June 11 - while WA will celebrate that on October 1. Even Labour Day is recognized on different dates around the country. I keep having to lookup what the public holidays are of course as they differ from ours - this is one of the links I use.

So for us in WA, it was a normal weekend. Mike & I joined the Exchange group for a walk 'around the bridges' in Perth. It was a lovely 10km loop around the Swan River. I walked with a teacher who has been on 2 previous exchanges to Britain, and is going to New Brunswick in January. So we had lots to chat about and the walk went by very quickly.

The waterfront has been very nicely preserved and enhanced with bird wetlands and pathways. Michael finally managed to get some shots of the black swans which the area is well known for.

Once again, the weather was fantastic (or as they say on the weather reports 'Fine'). We are still waiting for the really cool weather to hit - the day time highs are normally into the 20's at this point even though the nights and mornings are cool.

We had Richard and Philipa for dinner on Saturday evening to finally sample Michaels well loved BBQ ribs. We found a wonderful butcher who custom cut some rather meaty ribs. The food and company were, just like the weather, 'fine' (which you should realize means exceptional).

Sunday once again saw Freemantle Dockers at home, and Lisa again very kindly passed her tickets to Michael. He seems to be their good luck charm as they won the match despite going down early. Perhaps that is why she is letting Mike attend - she is quite a fan and naturally wants them to win!

While Michael attended the footie with Richard, Kyle was off to the movies with a friend. Patrick and I checked out Shrek 3 also. And so passed another relaxing weekend.

After a couple of painful drives into Perth on Monday mornings to drop Patrick at the university, we now have the bus route to Perth sorted out. Michael can drop Pat at the Mandurah station on Monday morning and he catches the express (faster than driving) bus into Perth, and then one bus over to the university. So Patrick was back off to Perth on Monday morning to head to Gingin for the week. It is working out quite nicely seeing him on weekends, and he has something very interesting to do during the week.

To Perth and back, to Perth and back, to Perth and back

This past weekend consisted of several trips into Perth. Friday evening was local - Kyle had a friend over for the evening and Mike went out with a group of teachers for his birthday and to help keep the local pub in business. They did a worthy job, and Saturday morning consisted of lots of R&R for Michael :-). The boys and I headed to the forum to do some shopping - Kyle picked up a birthday present (game for his Nintendo - no surprise) for himself with the monies kindly sent from family.

Saturday evening Mike & I headed into Perth to help Ted celebrate his 65th birthday. Ted is one of the key organizers of exchange teacher activities (along with Lindsay - you'll have seen their names mentioned under earlier events). There was lots of fantastic food, as well as an assortment of wines and beers along with about 200 of his family and friends including several of us exchange folks. It was a fun time and we were pleased to help him mark the event. And it worked out well for me that Mike was happy to be the designated driver this evening, given that he was not quite up to drinking !

On Sunday the four of us headed into Perth to the Western Australia Museum. Lots of classic museum content of course. Outside the building there is lots of interesting stuff also. There were many meteorites and interesting geological rocks. At right is a granite rock with crystalline structures inside - they looked more like fossils. There was a grape vine which is possibly the oldest in WA (Western Australia) at least 150 years old. As you can see, it is holding up better than the wall it stands beside!

We arrived right at lunch time - or at least according to Kyles stomach. So we headed over to the shopping area to grab some lunch before going in to the museum. En route, we passed a few interesting diversions including these buildings and this fellow playing a piano in the middle of the street (pedestrian area). Our hunger satisfied, we headed back to the museum.

The actual museum building is an old library. I enjoyed the building as much as some of the contents. As you can see in the photo, it has multiple floors with the wrap around aisles with bookcases lining the outer walls. As a museum, the bookcases are now replaced with displays of birds, animals and other antiquities.

Similar to Canada, Australia's westernized history is fairly short, so the relics date back to the time of settlement, with aboriginal history only before that time frame. There were several exhibits to demonstrate the lifestyle of the early settlers and they also highlighted the dependency many of them had on the aboriginals to survive.

There were lots of exhibits, with drawer after drawer full of display items as well as the display cases. Several caught Mike's eye as photo ops, some of which are included here. Naturally, the cameras were worthy of a shot!

We stopped by the Gaol (that's a jail for you non Aussie folks) which is also part of the museum. It is not preserved as a gaol, but you can still see where the cells were and the building again is quite impressive.

On the way out, we discovered that the 'National Treasures' exhibit will be coming to the museum later this winter (that means July / August) - so we'll have to come back for that. As you can see on the billboard (which could certainly have been better placed to allow you to see the beautiful building behind!), it includes Ned Kelly's armour. We'll have to see if it's as authentic looking as Mike's Hallowe'en costume was.

So having been to Perth both Saturday and Sunday, I rounded out the experience by driving Patrick (aka George) into the university on Monday morning. We hooked up with the research van which takes the group out to Gingin for the week. That was lots of fun - driving into Perth at rush hour on Monday morning, with a crash up on the bridge. Luckily we left very early and still managed to get there on time despite the normal 70 minute drive taking almost 2 hours. We are doing our part to keep the petrol stations in business also. Ah well, back to just the 3 of us for the weekdays, but at least Patrick is not quite so far away and he is thrilled to have this opportunity.