Abingdon Miniature Village

Out with the old and in with the new. Ever since we went to the Pinnacles back in September 2007 we've wondered if we should upgrade from a half decent digital compact to a D-SLR and the recent trip to Denmark, and Elephant Rocks in particular, has pushed us towards purchasing a semi-professional D-SLR to make the most of the time we have left in Australia.

The Canon EOS 40D looks really big in this picture but the photograph exaggerates the truth somewhat. It is still considerably bigger but not cumbersome, heavy or uncomfortable.



Abingdon Miniature Village, www.abingdonvillage.com.au 60 minutes South of Perth.

A proper English attraction with tea-room, gardens and all the trimmings. There were over 20 miniature buildings in total. While we were there we heard the voices of many visitors but they were all British. Must have been a real home-from-home as you don't see any old buildings in Perth.


County Hall, built between 1678 and 1682

Secret Garden entrance

The Cricket green

Village green. Cricket on the lawn!

The birthplace of William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Secret Garden

The Winner!

Albany - Whale World

Day two of our holiday in the South-West of Australia. We visited Whale World, at the site of the last commercial Whaling Station in Australia. This was a fascinating visit and recommended to anybody visiting Albany. Find out more http://www.whaleworld.org/

K at the wheel of the Cheynes IV whalechaser.


The skeleton pictured below was once a 22m long pygmy blue whale that beached itself in Albany harbour in 1973. The pygmy blue whale is a smaller variety of the blue whale, which is the largest creature to have lived on earth (up to 34m long). Hard to believe this skeleton is only 2/3 the size of a fully grown blue whale!


K on whale swing.


C at the wheel.

The Cheynes IV whalechaser.

And another. Note the big harpoon gun on the bow.

After we left Whale World we stopped briefly at the nearby blow holes. Unfortunately the sea wasn't rough enough for the water to blow but there's plenty of pictures on the web if you want to see one blowing. To find out more about blow holes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowhole_%28geology%29.

Looking down the rock face to where the blow holes are located. Despite the relative calm weather you could still hear the loud rush of air as the water surged in the blow hole.

Elephant rocks and Greens pool

Last stop on day 1 of our Denmark (South West Australia) holiday. Elephant rocks and Green's pool are right next to each other, separated by a small headland.
Forgot to mention it on the earlier Denmark entries but the climate on the South-West coast is far more pleasant than in Perth. Instead of the 35-40°C it was a modest 25°C. Average temperature is 16°C in winter to 25°C in summer. I'm sure it gets cooler and warmer than this on occasion but far more tolerable than Perth at the height of summer.

Incredible, large, Elephant-like rocks. Note the Girl sitting on the rock to the left taking a photograph. She is in the foreground so will give an idea of the size of the rocks.


Another view looking down into the peaceful bay sheltered by the Elephant rocks.


Descending the staircase to the Elephant rocks beach.


Apart from small ghecko-like lizards this was the first decent sized one we've seen outside a glass box (it was about 30-40cm long). Doubt it's dangerous but there were no volunteers to try and pick it up.

K at the beach.

C & K sandwiched between two rocks.

K at Green's pool.

C & K. Picture taken looking back up the hill from Green's pool.

The descent to Green's pool.

Pentland Alpaca farm

Pentland Alpaca Animal Farm. Fourth stop on day 1.

Kaitlyn loves animal farms. Feeding greedy goats. They were head butting each other to get the food.

Man do I need a haircut!

That's better!

Big Billy goat gruffs need food too. He didn't have much competition to deal with but Kaitlyn said he was a big softie.

The Elvis Presley of the fowl world.

Feeding time.

Dinosaur & Reptile World

Third stop on day one was at Dinosaur World.

It's not real bones, only castings but is probably quite close to the original and supposedly to scale. Glad I wasn't around during the Cretaceous period!


Another nasty looking brute (Tsintaosaurus). Despite the big horn this was a quite placid creature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsintaosaurus


We stopped at the local meadery for a look on the way to the next place of interest. Bartholomew's Meadery; Bzzzzzz!