Penguin Island, Rockingham

On Sunday we went to Rockingham and visited Penguin Island. It's only half an hour from where we live so easy to get to. The penguins are the smallest of the penguin species. They are sometimes called "Little Penguins" or "Fairy Penguins". They are native to Australia and tiny when compared to the likes of giant Emperor Penguins which are over a metre tall. They have an unusual life cycle due to the temperatures. Penguins are normally associated with cold climates but these penguins actually molt and lose their winter feathers and body fat when the temperature rises.

In Rockingham they also have dolphin trips and one of the tour operators gets you in snorkelling with dolphins. Billy Connoly did it with the same operator on his Australian tour. We may do that in January but gave it a miss this time.

Getting on the ferry was easy. The Island isn't far away. You can swim or paddle a kayak across if you want. Some people even walked across (at low tide the sand bar is no more than waist deep).



On the Island there's an opportunity to see the penguins during feeding time.



I'm being a statue.



A colony of Pelicans have settled on the Island but access is restricted to avoid scaring them off, hence the distant photo. These are big birds but you already knew that from "Finding Nemo".

Another picture from the Island.

It's that good lookin' guy again!

Christmas Pageant

Unfortunately the photos were taken in the dark and are mostly blurred or poorly lit. Shame really it was an excellent night. They showed it on TV's Channel 7 on Sunday evening. Not as good as being there but still good. The parade is around 2km long and the route is 2.4km so there's plenty to see. Over 3000 people were expected to line the route and despite getting there an hour and a half early we were still 3 rows from the front. Some people set up deck chairs and tables and had eskys (big ice boxes full of food and drink) with them. I expect they had been there since about 6pm (the event started at 8.30pm). We'll know next year!

There were some pre event displays. This is a pic from the Ford Club cars that passed through. There were also Porsche Club cars but the pics don't do justice so not included.

Brum, Fully lit although he looks a bit dull with the quick shutter speed (to avoid blur). Wish I knew a bit more about photography!! This display was about the size of an artic lorry (to give you an idea of size).

Good lookin' guy with two parade kids lookin' for a photo opportunity.

Super Fast Fins

Saturday afternoon before the Christmas Pageant. See below view from the front garden/pool area. Sailing lessons start in January. Never done it before but we have all been out on the local sailing club open day trip and are keen to learn a bit more. Power boats are better (see earlier post if you missed it).



Kaitlyn did a bit of a brainiac experiment comparing fins and feet. Fins win hands down.

The Maze visit

Today we visited The Maze http://www.themaze.com.au/. It was a mild day (23°C) with clear skies; very pleasant. There's plenty to do, with crazy golf, disc golf (using frizbees and throwing them along the course to finally get them in a basket), kangaroos, emus, koalas, barbeques, picnic areas, etc. We guessed you'd seen enough kangaroos and Koalas in previous blog posts so we skipped them this time.

Off to a good start. Kaitlyn stands by the entrance equipped with guide book and map.

Then the trouble started. After 20 minutes Chloe and Kaitlyn were completely disorientated and didn't know where they were.



Chloe finally lost it and ran around like a lunatic searching for the way out.



Finally made it out and had a go at one of the Pine Mazes.

Kaitlyn and Dad having a go at the Crazy Golf.

The last hole was on a slope so if you didn't get it right the ball rolled back down. It was a par 5. Kaitlyn, the jammy so and so, holed it in 2 while Dad took 8 shots, making Kaitlyn the overall winner by 1 point.

Yuk. Can you guess what it is yet? The Jewel spider (Austracantha Minax), one of the weirder Australian spiders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austracantha_minax

We drove past the same vineyards we visited back in August. Quite different now. If you look close enough you'll see bunches of tiny grapes near the post.

A reminder of what the vineyards looked like in August!

Scrapbooker of the Month!

After $1,000,000 of lessons and purchase of $2,000,000 worth of tools, paper and other junk Delia entered her first scrapbooking competition and WON. She was extremely happy having stayed up until 2 in the morning to complete it.

Guess what the prize was?.....................

Another $50 worth of scrapbooking junk to fill the house! Delia and Chloe are happy!

Jacaranda Festival, Applecross

The Jacaranda Festival is an annual event held in the nearby suburb of Applecross every November when the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom. It is a bit like the St.Combs summer gala but maybe a bit bigger.

Many Companies showing their wares, animal petting zoo, wine tasting, variety of food stalls covering all Nationalities (Indian, Thai, etc, etc).

Freo street carnival and more

Fremantle is the largest metropolitan retail centre outside of Perth and attracts over 2 million visitors annually. The city is renowned for its cosmopolitan atmosphere with strong southern European, particularly Italian, influences. Attractions include the WA Maritime Museum, Prison, Fishing Boat Harbour and the famous Cappuccino Strip. Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC, although born in Scotland, was raised in Fremantle and spent the early years of his musical career there.

We headed over to see the annual street carnival.

Street stilt dancers. The " ladies" are puppets.

The Ring leader's magic wand is a little misplaced.

Peck Peck

Silly street dancin' dude

Cool Bananas

The last few days have been particularly hot seeing the temparature rise to 39 deg C. The pool got up to 29 deg C, which I'm told is very hot for November.

D, C & K have been attending Scrapbooking classes. It's not just pretty pictures you make!

Red Bull Weekend

A busy weekend started off with an invite for a meal on Friday evening. We had a lovely time and Kaitlyn made a new friend.

The weekend kicked off with a trip to Dad's office to view the Red Bull Air Race on Saturday morning. The office is on the 15th floor and has great views across the river where the Air Race was taking place.

Sandwiches, Cookies and refreshments were provided. The Air Race took place over the weekend. All had a good time and we could see the Air Race although the view would probably have been better from the South side of the river. Maybe next year we will try and get seats on the grandstand.

Kaitlyn thoroughly enjoyed herself and also managed to keep herself occupied with a white board and marker pens.

We were invited to a friend's house warming party on Saturday evening. A good time had by all.

Mike and Phil tried to look serious for the camera but ended up just looking stupid.

Sunday morning started up with a trip to the South Perth Sailing Club Open Day. We all went for a jaunt on a sail boat to get a taste of what sailing was all about. Everyone enjoyed it and M, C & K are keen to sign up for lessons.

It was a gorgeous day on Sunday with temperatures reaching into the 30's. Time to test the kayak on the river. We headed to Point Walter with Andy and Heather for a day at the riverside.

You would have thought that was enough water activities for one day but alas the beckoning of the cool (22°C) pool water was too much of a temptation for some.

Surprisingly it wasn't too cold and this will likely become a regular occurence over the next few months, especially as the weather improves.

Kayak test drive

The week kicked off with Kaitlyn test driving the new kayak in the pool, preparing for the real thing.

She really enjoyed it and got the hang of turning. Within 1/2h she was handling the kayak really well and was ready for action on the river....

Serpentine Falls and 'the new Toy' (Kayak)

We visited Serpentine falls this weekend. It's less than an hour South of Perth. Better in the summer I expect as you can swim in the upper pool. Very few people there on this occasion but it is still just spring.





2 large water pipes shadowed us on the way up to the top of Serpentine falls


A decent sized grass plant

Here's our latest acquisition. A Finn Gizmo (Fisher). It has 2 storage compartments, a viewing pane and water bottle holder. Kaitlyn is really looking forward to using it in anger

Crocs. The big craze here. Kaitlyn wanted her's on the Blog (complete with add-ons, locally described "Jibbitz")