Eighth and Last Entry - Rockingham!

Well this is it! The last post from the trip! Kind of nice having these posts to write because it reminds me of our great adventure. On our final day we woke up early, or rather, got up early since none of us got very much sleep, and set out for Rockingham. After a quick breakfast we boarded the boat and went out to Penguin Island. 

We didn’t really spend that much time on the island exploring so we only saw the penguins that lived in the discovery center (these were birds deemed unfit to survive in the wild.) 

Video of a little penguin cleaning itself!

At one point the penguins seemed to get upset about something and a street fight broke out. No rules, anything goes ... until they forgot what they were yelling about halfway through.

And for those of you interested in what a baby seagull looks like:

They start off so cute! What goes wrong!?

After watching the funny little penguins we boarded another boat and sailed up to Seal Island. You are not allowed to go on to the island, but we saw numerous sea lions playing and lazing about. 

Sleepy little baby seal...

Sleepy baby!





Couldn't tell if I liked the faded color version or the full color version better... 

Again subtle difference but couldn't decide on which one I liked better.

Bouncing seal!

Very very sweet looking creatures (although they can be pretty aggressive.) Apparently, they are dangerous even when they are playing with you because they start to think you are a seal and nip and bite you the way they would to another seal. 

Here's one last video of a seal waddling out of the water.

After a leisurely swim and some shell seeking, we got back into Winston for the final leg of the journey. The final count was 3501 KM! Quite the journey. 

Zoomed out so you can see how much of Western Australia we covered. Going up to Coral Bay in October so will have covered just about the whole thing before I leave.

Here is a picture of Winston the Big Mean Fly Eating Machine.

Winston you dirty boy you.

Hope you all have enjoyed the posts. This has been such an adventure for me, for sure a trip I will never forget.

Perth Zoo

This weekend was pretty low-key as I came down with a bit of a cold. By far the most exciting (and active) thing I did all weekend was go to the zoo today. The zoo was divided into three sections – Australian Walkabout, Asian Rainforest, and African Savannah. One of the first things we saw was a reticulated python (don’t worry mom I decided not to put up the photo of it cause I knew you would cry :) ). These snakes can grow up to 10m (33 feet!). Later on in the Australian part was Simon – the saltwater croc. 

Apparently, saltwater crocs can grow up to 7 meters (over 21 feet) and can weigh up to 1,000 Kg (about 2200 pounds).

 Pretty scary stuff. On a cuter note, were the Little Penguins. As the name suggests, these are the smallest type of penguin and are native to Australia. This little guy appeared to be sleeping but had his foot raised – almost as if he was dancing.

 Another highlight was the orangutans. They were pretty fascinating as their faces were so human-like. Although they appeared to be a little sad, it was pretty incredible when they would look at you.

           Does anyone else see a slight resemblance to Vigo Mortenson above?

 Very piercing – I find it hard to look away from the eyes in some of these pictures.

 Unlike the Sydney Zoo, and to my disappointment, there were no sections were you could play with the animals. I did get some nice shots of a most active little Koala. Seeing him climb up a tree set the record for the most movement by one of these little guys so far. Him being awake was impressive enough! 

Among the other interesting animals I saw were:

Meerkats

Cheetahs

Sun Bear Catching a Fish

 Otters

and naturally ... some Kangaroos

Pretty wild to think that I will be starting my third week of classes and have been in Australia for a month already. Also if anyone thinks that one photo might look better with a border, or as a black and white, or in a collage - feel free to let me know and I will try it out! Thanks all for following along.