Caversham Wildlife Park

Last week I went to Caversham Wildlife Park with other international students at UWA.
Two of you answered correctly to my question from the last blog post. Yes, it was a close up of koala fur.

I got to see some snoozing koalas and was told they are not "koala bears" because they are marsupials. Koalas are not naturally found in Western Australia and they sleep about 20 hours per day. Because they only eat eucalyptus, koalas do not receive very much protein in their diet and have a very slow metabolism.

They were all very sleepy, probably because it was the hottest part of the day, and they just hugged the trees. We were allowed to pet them and they were very soft.

Here I am with a new international friend.

We also saw other native Australian animals including the Spotted Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) below. It is the largest marsupial carnivore in on the AUS mainland.

Here is a Quokka (Setonix brachyurus) which lives on "Rotto" or Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth. When people first arrived on the island they thought the Quokka was a breed of giant rat and named it "Rat-nest Island." The name has now been changed.

Robin and I with our new friend the wombat. Surprisingly, they can run up to 40km/hr and are mostly muscle.

Other wildlife highlights included the Long-nosed Potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) and a Perentie lizard. I love the names of animals and places in Australia! Maybe I will change my name to Annaroo.


My favorite part of the park was the kangaroo exhibit. I got to feed them out of my hand! There were several types of kangaroos in the park including the Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus). I thought the kangaroos walked oddly because they drag their tail behind themselves and then use it to balance. They also look really funny when they scratch their sides.

Notice the paw resembles the "Kangaroo Paw" flower I mentioned in a previous blog post.

This one tried to eat Gumby!

Look! A joey in the pouch! Later, I saw one with just a leg sticking out.

After Lunch we went to a farm show demonstration where I saw another sheep shearing and donkeys, goats, chickens, tiny pigs, guinea pigs, and this baby ostrich.

Australian Chickens! The white one had a blue head.

Here is another bird I saw. The one glaring at me below was a Bush Thick-Knee (Burhinus grallarius). I also saw black swans (featured on the emblem of Perth), ducks, geese, emus, cockatiels (Leptolophus hollandicus), a Rufous Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) and a laughing blue winged kookaburra. The other day I saw one in Perth in a gum tree whist I was swimming (just like the song)!



After the wildlife park we went to another Margaret River Chocolate Factory where Gumby hung out with a giant chocolate rabbit.

What is this?

Can anyone guess what this image is from?

Excursion Part Two

Day Three:

Last Thursday we went on a bushtucker river tour. Basically, we traveled by canoe up a river and made stops along the way to discuss plants, learn some history about the area, go swimming, have a bushtucker feast, climb through a cave, and have a canoe race back. I didn't bring my camera, but here is a photo of me canoeing. I'm in the back, steering.

The feast was really interesting. I tried emu and kangaroo meat, a witchetty grub, and other wild foods. The grub can be found in grass trees and is an excellent source of protein. One wild nut looked like a giant almond and also tried a tiny citrus fruit that was similar to a kumquat. After lunch we went to a limestone cave in the side of a cliff. There was a large honeybee hive that hung from the roof. We also did some spelunking into a tunnel. It was a tight fit and I got dirt all over myself but it was fun.

Next, we traveled to the most southwesterly point in AUS called Cape Leeuwin. Here is Team Perth where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. It was super windy! My ponytail is flying away!

Danger: Watch out for freak waves and swells, avoid slippery rocks and wet surfaces, supervise children at all times, and be aware of strong winds!

The lighthouse. Apparently, its beam has the power of one million candles and can shine for 26 nautical miles.

After the lighthouse, we visited the Gloucester Tree, the worlds tallest fire lookout tree. Of course, I had to climb to the top. Surrounding the trunk there were rebar pieces stuck into the the tree. It was a little like climbing a ladder, but a really high one. This picture doesn't really show how high it was, but the view from the top was amazing. There were two guys from Australia and France at the top enjoying a beer.

It was a little scary climbing to the top; I just tried to not look down.

Day Four:
On the last day of our excursion we took a discovery tour out of Pemberton through a old growth karri forest in the D'Entrecasteaux National Park. Here is the 4WD vehicle we drove in:

The rocks on the ground were very spherical, I'm not sure why.

Here is one of the grass trees that the grubs live in:

"Kangaroo Paw" flower: I have seen these in several different colors including yellow, green and red.

After driving through the forest we drove onto the Yeagarup sand dune system. The tour guide had to let air out of the tires so the vehicle didn't sink into the sand too much. It is the largest land locked dune system in the Southern Hemisphere. In fact, the dune is slowly taking over the forest and burying the trees. When it moves sometimes ancient forest remains can be found underneath the dune. It was really big and it was difficult to get a picture to accurately depict it's size. You should Google it...

It was really windy when we got there and I had a lot of sand plastered to my skin and embedded in my hair. We also rolled down the side and ran back up.

Here is one of ancient forests unearthed by the dune as it shifts position:

After driving around on the dune and going up giant mountains of sand, we drove along a beach to the mouth of the Warren River. Fairy Terns often nest on this beach, but they had already left by this time of year. There were several gulls and cormorants at the beach though. I also collected these shells:

I made this shell design.

Cormorants, not penguins

After the beach/dune/forest adventure we stopped for lunch at a shelter. I had a sandwich and a cuppa (cup of tea)!

There had been a lot of fires a few months before we got there. The guide told us that they had tried to do a controlled burn but the winds shifted and it spread out of control. When we drove to the beach one side of the road was green and the other was burned. Interestingly, the only plants that looked alive were the grass trees and a few other plants that looked like giant ferns. I'm sure in a few years it will look back to normal.


The last stop on our journey was one of my favorites. We pulled over on the side of the road and suddenly there were gnomes everywhere! It was gnome shrine where people left gnomes with the name of their group written on it. The trail of gnomes kept going! There were so many...




I didn't even see all of them, it was overwhelmingly packed with gnomes!

Team Perth with our gnome (Gnomeo) that we left behind:

...and that was the end of our excursion!

Waltzing Matilda!

Here is the unofficial national anthem of Australia performed by Slim Dusty:



Australian phrases used in the song:

swagman= tramp or wanderer
swag= clothes, cooking tools, bedroll etc.
billabong= waterhole
coolibah= species of eucalypt
billy= container used for boiling water or tea
waltzing matilda= to be "on the road" or travel with swag
jumbuck= sheep
tuckerbag= food bag
troopers= mounted police officers

I Skipped Spring

99°F | °C Current: Partly Cloudy Wind: E at 23 km/h Humidity: 30% Wed 95°F | 69°F Thu 90°F | 73°F Fri 89°F | 69°F Sat 87°F | 67°F

Yay! It's getting cooler!

Excursion to Southwest AUS- Part One

Day One:

We left Perth early in the morning and drove to Margaret River (about 277 km south). We stopped at a roadside café that served meat pies, lamingtons, drinks, and other refreshments. Luckly, I don’t drink coffee because the ordering process is confusing to me. You can order a long black, flat white, or a short black, and I have no idea what any of these mean. After driving for some time we arrived at the Busselton Underwater Observatory. It was located at the end of the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere (about 2mi long)!

Gumby in the 12 passenger van

This is a Lamington- yellow cake covered in chocolate frosting and coconut. Delicious!

Benjamin, a fish who hangs out by the window for extended periods of time.

Look how long this jetty is!

Around the beach and lining the roads were Norfolk pine trees. I learned they were originally planted in Australia for ship masts. The trees that naturally grew here were unsuitable so the English planted the Norfolk pines. I didn't get a photo, but here is one taken by someone else:

Source

After the jetty, we continued south to Dunsborough where we all went swimming. It was beautiful and the water was so blue! The beaches here are very different from the Puget Sound region. There are no rocks and the sand is very light in color.

Team Perth Swimming in the Ocean!

Later that afternoon we stopped by the Wardan Aboriginal Centre where we took a bushwalk with a guide who explained to us how Aboriginals lived off the plants and animals of the bush. I learned that the native people used the timing of flowering plants as an indicator of when it was time to hunt animals or move to the coast for a certain fish. The aboriginals that lived in this region were the Wardandi people. The guide showed us so many plants that I can’t remember them all, but the most impressive to me was the grass tree. It is found all over WA but only grows 1 cm/yr. The trunk is made of old leaf bases held together with a natural resin. The Wardandi people used the resin, combined with kangaroo poop and ash, to make a “plastic” for tools.

Other trees we saw were the Jarrah, Sheoak, and Banksia.

Also, never kill an albino kangaroo because you will never have any children and someone in your family might die.

Papery tree bark

I'm not sure what this is, but it looks like it could be a beehive

"Honky nut" from a gum tree

Aboriginal House- it would usually be covered in paper bark

Notice the spot on the tree where a shield was cut out of the bark. Eventually, the tree will regrow over this area.

This is the "plastic" a stick is rolled in the powder an held over the fire. This is repeated until a thick layer is on the stick. Before it cools, shells or sharp rocks can be embedded into the gooey plastic.

Day Two:

The bread for breakfast came in a labeled bag! I also ate muesli and yogurt and picked up a few tiny samples of Vegemite.

Our next stop was the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. I bought one bar of dark chocolate, but mostly I just looked around at all the different sauces and treats.

Wall of chocolate sauces!

The giant milk freckle was a wafer of chocolate with 100's and 1000's (sprinkles) on top

Our next stop was the Yallingup Shearing Shed where we fed sheep, watched a shearing, and saw a sheepdog demonstration. There were two dogs helping with the sheep; a border collie, and an Australian Kelpie. Both dogs were amazing and had not received any formal dog training. Instead, they had been bred to perform a certain job.

Baaa

Beautiful wool socks

Here is the Kelpie helping to herd the sheep. This dog would run on top while the border collie stayed on the ground.

We got to feed lambs milk. Look at their tails! They wagged like happy dogs! I learned when they get older a rubber band is placed around the tail. It eventually turns black and falls off.

Fun Fact: If you are developing a blister put sheep's wool around it.
Fun Fact #2: Sheep do not get sunburned after a shearing because the lanolin in their skin attracts dust to help block the sun.

Gumby and Pokey enjoying the sun on Smiths Beach.

I saw a Goanna lizard in the bathroom at this beach. It tried to intimidate me with its blue tongue and then ran into the stall where one of my group members was. Our tour guide told us they will bite people but are not dangerous. I could rename my blog Go(Anna) in Oce(Anna)!

After sitting on the beach we went to Mammoth Cave. It was nice and cool inside compared to the hot weather outside. We went on a self guided tour with earphones through the cave. Some of the stalactites and stalagmites looked like upside down ice cream cones, alligators, and elephant trunks. There was also fossil evidence of ancient macrofauna from 12,000 years ago, before the last ice age.
Part Two is coming soon...