Caversham Wildlife Park

On Sunday Nic and I went to Caversham Wildlife Park.. Caversham is a small park that gives people the opportunity to see some of the animals of Australia up close. Anybody can go and touch and feed the kangaroos, pet the koalas, take a picture with a wombat, etc. I have wanted to go to Caversham since day 1 of arriving here. I especially wanted to go with Nic here. 

This was our last day at Scarborough, so after we checked out and moved our luggage back to Currie Hall we hopped on the bus. Before leaving, I mapped out our trip on the Transperth website. This is the farthest I have ever travelled on bus and I obviously don't know the area so I was nervous we wouldn't find Caversham. Transperth said it would be about an hour and 3 buses to the park. We successfully found the first 2 buses of our trip but when the bus driver dropped us off our 2nd stop he could tell we were lost. He was nice enough to stop and pick us up again and took us to the right bus stop. If it weren't for him we would have never found Caversham. We had really bad timing though.. On Sundays the buses only run every hour instead of every 15 minutes like on Monday-Friday. The bus to Caversham left just 5 minutes before we were dropped off so we had to wait an hour for the next one. Luckily there was a Subway down the street so we went and grabbed lunch and watched a netball game (which is like basketball except you don't dribble and there is no backboard) on the TV.

After the hour, we hopped on the right bus. Luckily this was a direct ride to Caversham so there was no chance of getting lost. The entire trip there took about 2 1/2 hours but we eventually made it and even had plenty of time at Caversham. 

The AU definition of wild animal park is much more true to its name than in the U.S. We literally walked right up to kangaroos, koalas, and even a chubby wombat they call, "Big Bubsy."  The first stop of the day was the kangaroo habitat/exhibit, which is basically just a huge enclosure with a fence around it.  There were literally hundreds of kangas of all sizes and colors in this large area.  They were very relaxed and you could tell they are use to people coming to visit.  I immediately began scoping out any of them that may have joeys either in their pouch or along side them.  We found one little guy right off the bat, but mommy was very nervous about us coming so close so we backed off for a bit.

Enjoy the pics.. I know there are a lot (especially of the kangaroos).    

We didn't want to disrespect the kangaroos in any way..

I'm pretty sure the joey in this mom is way to big to still be in her pouch.. I think it is about time she cut the cord (:

You can see the joeys feet sticking out

I loved the albino ones

High five!

Nic in between the big daddy's 

Me and Kanga

Lazy sit wallaby.. Just like Kona!!

Nic, Big Bubsy, and Me

The donkey was hoping we would toss some food in its mouth

At the petting zoo

My new bff's!

Watching a sheep getting sheared

Milking a cow

This was Nic's favourite part of the day (:

Looks like I had a pretty tight grib..

Ran into Steve Irwin at Caversham.. Crikey! 

Koalas have the best life ever.. eat and sleep all day long.

"A dingo ate my baby"

Here is a picture of a kookaburra mama (: I'm sorry he had to be eating a baby chick... I'm still looking for one in the wild to take a picture of. I hear them all the time.. but as soon as I have my camera they disappear. 

Tazmanian devils.. vicious little guys.

They are on the same diet as the kookaburra.. dead chicks. 

Transperth's Words of Wisdom

Hillary's Harbour & AQWA

The next day, on Saturday, the weather was terrible. It was super windy and throughout the day there were scattered showers. Because of the weather we didn't want to go to the beach so we decided to go Hillary's Harbour and AQWA (Aquarium of Western Australia) instead. Hillary's Harbour is where many of the fishing and whale watching tours take off from. It also has many shops, cafe's, and restaurants. We were hoping we could snorkel with sharks at AQWA but when we called they said they were booked for the day. 

At Hillary's we ate the best fish & chips Nic and I have ever had. I usually don't like fish & chips because I am very picky about the fish I eat but this was an exception. The fish was obviously fresh and the batter was perfect..

We were actually disappointed with AQWA... It was neat to see all of the marine life of Australia but the aquarium didn't do a very good job of explaining what kinds of fish we were looking at. Maybe the problem was that we were comparing it to the Long Beach Aquarium which is huge. I don't even think AQWA is 1/3 of the size of LBA. The shark exhibit at AQWA was probably the best shark exhibit I have ever seen though, even better than Sea World's in my opinion. They had the biggest sharks, sting rays, and sea turtles I have ever seen. It was pretty amazing. The set up of the exhibit was very similar to Sea World's with the moving floor and the sharks swimming above us. I am a little sorry that I saw them though... it makes me nervous to swim in the ocean, even though you are more likely to be killed by bees than by a shark...

At Hillary's Harbour

This is where the shops, cafe's, and restaurants are at Hillary's Harbour

Standing on the Harbour

This was a really strange fish at AQWA.. It just floated there in the most shallow part of the tank.. It even had part of its head sticking out of the water

A little whale watching...

View of the Indian Ocean from AQWA (:

Nic Loves Kangaroo Too!

On Friday night I took Nic to Little Creatures in Fremantle. Little Creatures is the local restaurant/brewery in the Perth area. They are known for their beer and "Pipsqueak" cider which they brew in Freo but they also have great food. I told Nic that he had to order the kangaroo kabobs in Australia because they are actually very tasty. Nic had no problem eating a cute marsupial and agreed they were really good. 

Scarborough Beach

Nic arranged for us to stay in a timeshare for 2 days right on Scarborough Beach. Even though Scarborough is only about 20 minutes from UWA it was nice to get away from Currie Hall for the weekend. The place we stayed  had 3 bedrooms with 5 beds. It was huge! We thought that Jaime, Alaina, and a few others would be staying there with us but they ended up taking a road trip sooner than we thought. The timeshare was great! We had our own kitchen, living room, and dining area. We even had our own washers and dryers! Finally I could wash my clothes without having to either wait for a dryer or risk getting stains on my clothes from the dryers at Currie. 

The view was spectacular and was literally on the beach. From our window, we could see Rottnest Island, where we took a day trip later in the week. Every night at around 5pm windsurfers would be out on the water. I have never seen so many windsurfers out at one time before. I didn't realize it was such a popular sport.

On Friday morning we decided to go directly to Scarborough because it was going to be a really nice day and we wanted to make sure we had some time to just relax on the beach. We looked at the weather report and it said we were suppose to have showers the next couple of days. Fortunately, we were able to spend a few hours on the beach before any rain came. It was very relaxing. I even got to take a little nap. Scarborough Beach was absolutely beautiful. White sand and bright clear blue water, like in a postcard. But don't let the bright blue water fool you... it is freezing! You have to remember that it has only been Spring here for 3 days now. I know back at home it has been in the 40's (105+) but here it has ranged from 15-20 degrees(~60-65). Sorry (: I decided that since I have been in the water both times at Cottesloe Beach that I would pass at Scarborough. Nic, of course, couldn't pass up the opportunity. He couldn't come all the way to Australia without going in the ocean. He was in the water less than 5 minutes.

Taking a snooze
He is so crazy
Just like a jacuzzi 
This is the open living room/kitchen of the timeshare. I was trying to figure out Transperth
The view from the timeshare.. I took this around 5pm
At Scarborough Beach
The sunset

Flagpole and clock by the bus stop

Nic is here!!

On Wednesday avo (afternoon), I picked Nic up from the airport. He bought his plane ticket about a month before I had even left for Australia so we've had this trip planned out for a while. It is hard to believe that he is here because it means my study abroad semester is almost half over. This was definitely a long awaited trip for the both of us. I was so excited for Nic to finally see where I have been living and meet the people I have met out here and Nic was ready to get a vacation from Redlands (he missed me a little too). My trip to the airport was the first time I had taken the bus by myself so I was very nervous. I did have a few issues but I was at the airport on time and was there to greet Nic at luggage claim. It was really nice seeing him again in person (I really hate Skype...the internet at Currie is extremely slow and we always get disconnected so it is hard to have a conversation). All of his luggage arrived here, even his suitcase full of food and toiletries... thank you Cathy (: 

His first day we walked to the business building and I gave him a tour of the UWA campus. He said he was really impressed with UWA, especially the number of birds that live here. I think every other sentence on my tour was about a bird I like or think is pretty. I will write a post about the birds soon..

After the tour Nic and I met others for dinner at Currie Hall. I know what you are all thinking.. "Why would you take him to Currie Hall for his first meal?" First, it was convenient and I didn't want to go far since he just had a 23 hour flight. Second, I knew it was schnitzel for dinner and the last time we had schnitzel it was edible. Trust me, we will be eating out the majority of his time here.. I need a break from chicken and rice.

After dinner, I took him to the city. We walked around and rode the Perth ferris wheel. The city is very pretty at night and because everything closes at 5pm here, its quiet. Here are some of the pictures we took from his first night here.

Everybody loves Target

Of course, Nic couldn't do a "normal" pose. He had to try to do a hand stand just to prove that he could. 
I wanted Nic to see the kangaroos.. I was disappointed too when I learned they were not real kangaroos on my first day here. 

The city at night.
The ferris wheel.

Inside the ferris wheel... We couldn't get a good picture from inside the car. We soon realized after we paid to ride the ferris wheel that the view is much better outside than inside. Oh well, it was something we had to do...