Stuart (Glenn's employee), Glenn and Gerson
Jessie saying a leisurely good-byeDIARY/PHOTO JOURNAL - Page 2
Week 7 - April 30, 2018 - May 06, 2018
Week 7 saw us finally get Cinderoo on the road, albeit for a short trip to make sure all was working well. Unfortunately, we had an A/C compressor issue that had us cut our trial week short; however, we had a fun start.
We said goodbye to Glenn and his wife Julie (and of course, Sarah, LuLu and my favorite, Jessie) and started off on our trial run.
Stuart (Glenn's employee), Glenn and Gerson
Jessie saying a leisurely good-bye
It's official! We are on our way
Heading out for our trial run and Cindoo looks great!
We headed a bit south of Perth to Barna
Mia (Mi-ya) Wildlife Sanctuary that is part of the Dryandra Woodland. This
sanctuary is home to many endangered nocturnal animals - bilbies, boodies,
woylies, dalgytes, wurrups, quendas and imposter opossums. As they are
protected in large enclosures, they come out for their nightly snacks. We
were able to watch their activity with the use of special red-lights and we had
quite a turnout.
Deep within the Dryandra Woodland and one of the
Grass Tree - grows about 1cm (1/2") a year
last remaining Eucalypt forest remnants in Western Australia.
Possum - this opportunist snuck into the enclosure
Quenda is quite endangered and was a rare sighting
There are bilbies, boodies, woylies and a quenda
Mother Nature has a sense of humor when she designed the Bilby
We could not stay away from the ocean for too long so we turned westward to Bunbury and stayed a day just wandering around and enjoying the view from a lookout tower.
Gerson sampling the flavour of Bunbury.
Spectacular view from the tower
Working our way back to Perth, we stopped at a few places along the way to take in some of the interesting sights. One notable place was Lake Clifton, home of extremely rare Thrombolites, ancient forms of microbial communities that are ancestors of the initial organisms responsible for some of the oxygen forming on our planet. They may look like rocks, but they are very much alive and have been for over 2,000 years.
Lake Clifton and its very special Thrombolite communities
We heard a bit about Mandurah and had a very nice day in town. Reminiscent of years-ago beach towns in Southern California, we waxed nostalgic as we walked the beachfront. And, it did not disappoint when we found a little restaurant nook that was selling fresh crab (which was so good, we bought a few frozen ones for steaming later).
Tree full of Corellas
Gerson and his new friend, Australian Pelican
Got Crabs?
With an additional repair looming for Cinderoo, we decided to hasten our drive back and make a quick stop out to Penguin Island, just off the coast of Perth. Although you could walk the sandbar out to the island, the passage is restricted and you are required to take a five-minute ferry ride. The namesake Penguins are rescued (abandoned, under nourished, injured) from the surrounding area and visitors are allowed to watch them in their pool-enclosure. They sure were fun to watch and so cute!
Rescued penguins - and yes, they have a bluish hue
Penguin Island, although small, has a lot to offer. We wandered around the ocean-carved rock formations and found some great photo opportunities. We happened upon many pelicans and cormorants as well. The end of the visit was capped by a bit of snorkeling, and although we did not see a lot of critters under water, we were visited by a rather large male sea lion that hung out with us for several minutes.
Just having fun with some of the rock formations
It was a bit of a challenge to get to some parts of the island
A beautiful Nephila - golden orb-weaver spider (only about 3")
Australian Pelicans flying in formation
View to the southeast side of Penguin Island
Our curious sea lion
Coming back in to Perth and this cool bridge they are building to access their
new stadium
We arrived back in Perth and stopped in at Glenn's shop
for a few tweaks to Cinderoo before heading over to our campsite in my cousin's
driveway for the weekend. As most businesses do not trade on the weekend,
we took advantage of the opportunity to relax and hang out with the relatives.