"Spring" Break

I have returned from my fall (spring to me) break adventure! I traveled up the coast of Western Australia with four other people; Amanda, Annie, Robin and Jens. There was a lot of time on the road (approx. 3,000km). We left last Friday out of Perth and headed for Kalbarri. This trip made me realize how large Australia is. Here is a map of our route along the coast:
We drove most of the first day and stayed at Riverside Sanctuary that night. It was a "station stay," and used to be a sheep shearing station. I only saw one sheep there so I think they bring it out for demonstrations a few times a year. They also had some emus and an ostrich. We ate dinner in the barn where there was a kitchen and water.

We swam in this river after driving. It was so refreshing.

Here is the group:Me, Jens, Annie, Amanda, and Robin

Day two was also another driving day up to Coral Bay. We tried to find a place to stay in town but everything was busy because it was Easter/ANZAC weekend. We ended up driving 70km north for another station stay at Bullara Station. It was similar to the first but appeared to be an actual working farm. They had a baby kangaroo and sheep. I met a group of children who had named each of the sheep names like Chocolate, Coconut, and Spot. We stayed made dinner in an outdoor cooking shelter and I took a shower with a bunch of giant grasshoppers in an outdoor shower.

The roo had been rescued because its mother had died.

The next day we drove back to Coral Bay to hang out on the small beach before our snorking/kayak adventure we had booked the day before. It was really crowded there.
The snorking tour was fun. I got to see bunch of fish and hard corals. We had to kayak out to the reef and then jump in the water with flippers/snorkels on. I have a huge bruise on my leg from getting back in the boat.

That afternoon we continued on to Exmouth where we stayed at a caravan park. It was also really busy with families. We set up our giant tent and ate lentil-tomato-cheese quesadillas for dinner.


I woke up very early the next morning to attend an ANZAC dawn service. ANZAC day commemorates all veterans and people in service from Australia and New Zealand. It originally started as a rememberance day for soldiers who fought in WWI in Gallipolli, Turkey. There were a lot of references to the "Digger" (men in the trenches) spirit during the speeches.

Later that day we drove around the point to the Cape Range National Park and stopped along the way at several beaches including the visitors centre and a turtle hatching center. We ended up at Turquoise Bay where we went snorking. There were many hard corals and fish to look at and there were jellyfish in the water. I got stung on my knee slightly, but I survived. We also went to another beach that had unique shells and corals washed up on the sand.

This is one of the hard corals. I love the pattern!

The following day we hung out at the beach again and then started the drive back to the Coral Bay area. We drove until almost dusk, when the animals start crossing the road and driving becomes dangerous. We decided to stop at a campsite off the side of the road (for free!). There was no running water and the bathroom was really creepy. It rained almost all night and the tent was muddy and soaked the next morning. I still had fun though. Here we are eating oatmeal:
After the soggy night we headed south for Monkey Mia. It continued to rain until 10am and there were large puddles of water across the road. Before going all the way to Monkey Mia we stopped at the Stromatolites. These are formations or mats or cyanobacteria that trap sediments and form structures. Today, they are found in highly saline environments where they are mostly undisturbed by grazing animals. They were responsible for adding oxygen to the atmosphere about 3.5 billion years ago. Without them, we would not have oxygen and would probably not be here. For more information see: Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve.

We continued the trek up to Monkey Mia where we stayed at the Dolphin Resort campground. We set up our 12-person tent and went swimming in the water where I sighted a stingray. That night we went to the "Monkey Bar" and listened to a musician play his guitar and sing Cat Stevens, the Beatles, and John Denver among many other great songs. I enjoyed watching the "older" crowd get into the music.

Here we are eating tacos on the beach.

The next morning we went to a dolphin feeding. The resort only feeds the dolphins a few fish each in the morning. It was exciting because they came almost to where we were standing in the water and they would look at us by tilting their heads in the water. I learned that older dolphins get spots on their bellies kind of like humans getting wrinkles when they get older. There was also a male dolphin who had been attacked by a shark and had a huge chunk of flesh hanging off his back.

All of the dolphins are identifiable by their dorsal fins.

After watching a short film in oceans, narrated by David Attenborough, I went for a 10 min camel ride along the beach. The owner of the camels, Hank, was obsessed with his animals and they were the only thing he would talk about. His camels seemed very happy as evidenced by the picture below:

Camellia and I

The next day we traveled from Monkey Mia to Leeman along the scenic Indian Ocean Drive. We made it to a caravan park and had dinner along an interesting beach. It was full of seaweed and the water was a brown color. There was hardly any sand the the surface was limestone with round pools carved out by wave action. That night we watched the royal wedding on the television in the cooking shelter with some Australian families. We drank tea and ate Tim Tams, an Australian chocolate cookie. Annie and I tried a "Tim Tam slam" with tea. You bite the ends off the cookie and use it like a straw to suck up the drink before it disintegrates into a chocolaty mess.

That night was the first time I felt cold all week. I think it was because we were further south than before. The next morning was also cold, but we left early to get back to Perth. We made it back safely with a few detours in the city.
Now I am back at uni, but I will be leaving for Melbourne next week for another adventure!

Fun Things

1. Sailing Class: My last beginning sailing class was last weekend. I am sad it is over, but I get a certificate in the mail! Below is one of the boats that started sinking halfway across the river. It had to be towed back in with the motor boat.

2. The Beach: I can go to the beach on weekdays here. The water is warm and there are seagull friends sleeping in the sand.
3. All-you-can-eat, pay-what-you-feel Indian food:New favorite restaurant: Annalakshmi.

Freo Coffee Crawl

Last Sunday I went on a "coffee crawl" with people from my residential college, Trinity. I got to go for free because I won tickets to all Trinity events! We went to three places in Fremantle. The first stop was The Dome, a coffee chain. I got this chai latte:

I love chai!

Next up was San Churros. They serve rich chocolaty drinks. I got the "Aztec" hot chocolate but it was rich I couldn't finish it. It was so intense and had chili pepper in it. I also shared some churros (which were dipped in chocolate) with other people.

Here are Kelly and I enjoying our drinks. Soon after this was taken, Kelly fell into a chocolate coma.

The third and final stop was at X-Wray, a funky place with this interesting chandelier:

Here I am peeking behind some of my coffee crawl companions.

I got peppermint tea at X-Wray and we shared some fries to combat the sweet flavors from San Churros.

I was full for a very long time after this.

Tour of UWA

Here are some photos from the University of Western Australia (Uni) campus. It is much bigger than Willamette and takes about 20 min to walk from one end to the other. Luckily, I am not studying business so I don't have to walk that far. This is where the campus is located in Perth:It is right on the Swan River which runs through the city to the ocean.

This floating house was on campus for a few weeks for the Perth International Art Festival. Sadly, it was taken down, but I got this picture! It was made out of fabric samples sewn together and strung between a few trees. It would be fun to make one.
Here is one of the rocks outside the Geology/Geography building. It is an agmatitic granitoid from the Darling Scarp. According to the sign,"Agmatites are metamorphic rocks in which at least two components derived from different sources have been imperfectly mixed." In this case, it was a basalt and a granite.

Between the Geology and Geography buildings. Most of the older buildings are made from limestone and the newer ones are made to look like they are made of limestone.

Inside the geology entrance- I have 24 hour access because I am taking GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and have to use the computer lab.

Here is a floor design-PANGAEA!

This is one of my favorite places on campus, the sunken garden. The only problem with it is the mosquitoes, or mossies (as the Australians say).

Here is a building you would not find on the Willamette campus. I can only imagine what is inside. Giant Megafauna?

This is the Science Library. It has four floors and is always busy. There is a cafe attached to the side where they serve organic food. I have yet to go there, but I like the logo- it is made out of a calcium and an iron molecule! Ca-Fe

And on your left is the Chemistry building- it looks really imposing to me.

This is the Guild Village which contains just about everything you would ever need. It includes: a career/support centre, the medical centre, student administration, three atms (each from a different bank), one Westpac bank, a chapel, Matilda Bay Dental Surgery, STA (a student travel office), printing services-where I got my lab coat, a secondhand bookshop, student centre/reception, a pharmacy, an eyecare centre, "Talking Heads" hairdresser, and the bookshop. You could easily live here. There is also a cafeteria just around the corner as well as the University Tavern, shown below:

Below is in the Art building. There was a play going on so all these chairs were here.

I also whistled at a peacock.

These look like snakes to me.

Here is my second favorite spot on campus- the outdoor movie theatre. I have seen two movies here in the evening as part of the Art Festival. I saw one Italian movie, The Double Hour (La Doppia Ora), and The Human Resources Manager. Both were very good and it is always fun to watch movies outside.

This is the "tropical grove."

And here is a mailbox by the other library- notice the surrounding "moat."

Lions with wings?

This is one of the old limestone buildings.

And here is the tunnel I take every day to go from my residential college to the uni campus.
And that concludes our tour! I didn't even have to walk backwards. This isn't even half of what the campus looks like, but hopefully you get a feel for it. Most of my classes are located in the geology/geography building but I do have a few labs near the end, about a 15 minute walk. I am still getting used to the long treks to class; a change from Willamette.