Mandurah boat trip

On Saturday we went for a walk along the Lido in Mandurah (1 hour South of Perth city) and decided to take a boat trip in the hope of seeing a few dolphins. As it turned out we didn't see any dolphins and just got a cruise around the wealthy waterways of Mandurah. Only the very rich and those fortunate enough to have bought in at the early development stages can afford to live here.

As if having a $3 million water front house isn't enough there are two luxury boats berthed outside to show that money doesn't matter in this household. I think the little one on the left is for the kids to mess around in on the weekend.

Class boat. Ideal for chucking a few lobster pots in or ripping for cod. Not!

According to the guide this residence is built on 2 plots and is newly on the market. Offers over $10 million are invited. To give you an idea of the size of this place it is quite a bit deeper than it is wide and the interior is supposed to be out of this world. Guess we'll never know.

This corner house is owned by the 1956 Olympic games Australian sailing champion, Rolly Tasker.

Pelican. These are really big birds!

K at a fairy shop in Mandurah. The unicorn was a bit distracted by the basket of jewel encrusted tiaras. I believe it's female.

Just to show we aren't making it up. When we got home the dolphins were chasing fish just outside the house. Couldn't catch them on camera but they were leaping out of the water and putting on quite a display.

Perth Motor Show

On Friday (ANZAC day) we visited the Perth Motor Show at the Exhibition and Conference Centre. Thankfully we paid the tickets online as the queues were horrendous. Not as good as expected but worth a visit. We were disappointed Mercedez and BMW didn't make a show. Was keen to find out what their latest models looked like; just out of interest as the pockets aren't that deep.

In case you're wondering ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It's celebrated every year (like our remembrance day) to honour those who fought at Galipoli in World War 1. Over 10,000 Australian and New Zealand men died in the attempt to capture Istanbul and knock Turkey out of the war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZAC_Day. There were some really interesting documentaries on TV on ANZAC day. A piece of history I don't believe is that well known back home, or maybe we just didn't pay enough attention in history class!

A Wacky races balloon display at the entrance

A Classic Ferrari

Ford's GT40. You probably know this already but the 40 stands for 40 inches. That's how high it stands off the ground

Nissan concept car

Girlie 3 wheeled bike

Holden's best on offer

K liked Toyota's RAV4

A less-girlie 3 wheeled bike

Million Puppet Project

The Million Puppet Project http://www.millionpuppets.com/
Send yours now and be a part of history!



An ariel display. Doesn't look as good in still picture as it did in real life. As with any live performance I guess!


A leafy sea dragon. Much like the real thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafy_sea_dragon


Flipper?


Pink fish

Camel machine

Space chick with dog

Lizard chick

Rude puppets

Cockatoo

Bruce the shark

Da Vinci's Machines

On Sunday we visited the Da Vinci Machines exhibition on the Esplanade in Perth. It was quite interesting and considering he was born in the 15th century his inventions, sketches, artwork, studies, etc really were way beyond their time.

A war ship. The cannon positions are designed for simultaneous fire so the forces cancel and avoid affecting vessel movement.


Basic Paddle boat


K learns how the archimedes screw works. Although the invention dates back to Archimedes in 250BC Leonardo found various ingenious uses for it.


The earliest bicycle was a wooden scooter-like contraption called a celerifere; it was invented about 1790 by Comte Mede de Sivrac of France. What's this then?

One of Leonardo's most famous inventions. A self moving car propelled by a complicated mechanism powered by leaf springs (balestre). The operator would hand-load the leaf springs and the stored energy is transmitted to the wheels by a complex set of gears. A small rudder wheel is used to steer the car.

Not sure this one will get off the ground, even with the fabric to make the wings

Another flying machine