steve comes to visit

My brother Steve spend a week of his three week Aussie adventure with us down in the tempermental south. There was a biting cold wind from the Antarctic when we hit the Great Ocean Road but 35 degree Celius weather a day or two later. However, he persevered despite Mother Nature's inconsistencies and his bum foot to clamber over the tidal pools at Anglesea, meet salty old lighthouse keepers, feed cute as possums, and pose in front of the iconic not-quite-12-anymore Apostles. We kept him readily supplied with cheap wine and tim tams. Or so we would have you believe. Fun was had by all.

Scooterin Perth

There's no cooler way to tour Perth. It's Fonzi cool. Video & photos of perth, fremantle, & Rottnest Island (quokkas!!.) Also included is a journey on the Highway to Hell that leads to the gravesite of Bon Scott. Hopefully he didn't & we don't end up there.

monkey mia

Way back three, four weeks ago, we flew to Western Australia for our last two week holiday. One surprising highlight on our Perth to Exmouth tour was a visit to famed Monkey Mia for the feeding of the wild dolphins. I don't know why it was such a surprise that it would be so cool but I guess we thought it would be a bit hokey. Of course it wasn't--I mean, we got to see these beautiful creatures up close! For a prairie girl like me, they are like real life unicorns: a creature of mythology in the flesh.

We had to wait a while for the dolphins to make their appearance (much to the disgust of a German tourist who was quite angry that they didn't keep to their ETA of 8 am). Finally, five dolphins showed up--four females, one with her very lively and playful young son. The park has a policy of only feeding mature dolphins as, in the past, the baby dolphins would become so reliant on the fish that they never learned to hunt. They also ration the amount of fish so it is more of a snack than a meal but the dolphins still show up. Below, this one is checking us out--they can't see 'up' very well so they need to roll on their side to get a good look. Lucky Damo got choosen to feed one!



We also got to see my new favorite bird: the pelican. I just adore the way they look with their big black eyes and waddling steps on their flat paddle feet. They're very graceful in the air and while standing still but clumsy-cute walking on the sand. They are also quite aggressive if you get close, lashing out with their giant pointy beak, opening it impossibly wide to threaten a chomp.