Sunsets and Swan Valley Nov. 29- Dec. 3rd in Perth

Marmion Beach at sunset

T

Terry and Blaise

Flat Mrs. Abbbott can't wait to taste the chocolate!

Workers making chocolates at Margaret River Chocolate factory.

Packing the chocolates.

This mannequin is made from chocolate.

Grapes growing on the vine at the Houghton winery.

Wine store and tasting at Houghton winery.

Blaise and Terry at the Houghton Winery. The trees with the purple flowers are called Jacarandas.

Linnea at the Houghton winery.

Inside the winery.

Flat Mrs. Abbott by the Swan River.

Getting ready to go kayaking.

Linnea kayaking on the Swan River.

Terry kayaking.

We saw the Burwood Casino while we were kayaking on the river.

Terry and Linnea.

Braeden in front of the kayak and Blaise in the back.

The big lights are at the WACA where the cricket games are played here in Perth.

An Australian Darter drying its wings at the edge of the Swan River.

We kayaked to Claisebrook Cove, East Perth.

View of the city of Perth in the distance.

Huge home in Claisebrook.

Australian Darter.

We have enjoyed another week of trips to the beach and a sunset on the Indian Ocean. We took a trip to the Swan Valley where we went to the Margaret River chocolate factory and visited some wineries. On Friday we went kayaking on the Swan River.

Fremantle, Guildford Grammar School and Perth Zoo

I accidentally erased this picture of a Dugite. It belongs with the Perth Zoo pictures. This venomous brown snake can be up to 2 metres in length. When I was riding a bike on Rottnest Island in 2004 I saw a Dugite slither across the road in front of me.

Derek and Blaise rented mopeds in Fremantle.

These trucks are called utes in Australia.

These pictures show what a police vehicle looks like and how police officers dress in Western Australia.

The Round House in Fremantle. This was a prison from 1831-1899.

The Fremantle Hotel was built in 1898 at the height of the gold rush boom.

I love the architecture of the old buildings in Fremantle.

This is the boys boarding school where Terry taught in 2004.

Flat Mrs. Abbott outside the chapel at Guildford Grammar School.

Peter and Terry inside the chapel. Peter is an administrator at Guildford.

Altar in the chapel.

Peter and Terry in the staffroom at Guildford Grammar School.

The school is building a new library with grant money the government gave them.

Funny how the Australian government can give money to build libraries and in B.C. we just cut back on libraries.

This is where they put the boats in so the boys can practice their rowing.

One of the boarding houses.

Outdoor bbq picnic area for the boys.

Heritage building owned by the school. It has a dining room for anyone to go to for meals.

Flat Mrs. Abbott is ready to see the animals at the Perth Zoo.

First we go and have a look at the reptiles.

This is a Frilled Dragon or Frill-necked Lizard.
It is the largest of the Australian family of lizards.

The Frill-necked Lizard is named this because of the large frill around its neck that extends when it feels threatened. In the picture above the lizard's frill isn't showing because at first it didn't feel threatened. When more people stood around and looked at it, it began to put its frill up.

Flat Mrs. Abbott looking at the lizard.

A Diamond Python. They live on the east coast of Australia in New South Whales.

Western Blue-tongued skink.

Another skink. Central Australian Aborigines like to eat skinks.

Blaise and a Monitor Lizard.

Flat Mrs. Abbott and the Monitor Lizard.

A Motorbike Frog. The frog gets its name from its call which sounds like a motorbike changing gears. They are often seen in ponds in suburban Perth.

A Splendid Tree Frog. They have the largest poison gland of any Australian amphibian. It covers the entire back of the frog's head and is easily visible. These frogs are found in caves and crevices but they can also be found in shower stalls and toilets in North Western Australia.

This is a Little Penguin or Fairy Penguin. Little Penguins are the smallest of all penguins. They are the only species to live permanently in Australian waters.

Fairy Penguins are 37-43 cm long and weigh about 1.2 kg.

Little Penguins have streamlined bodies, small wings modifed as flippers and a tail that acts as a rudder.

The Fairy Penguin is very cute!

This is an old cage where they used to keep bears.

A Estuarine or Saltwater Crocodile can be between 3 metres and 7 metres long. They live in estuaries and swamps of Northern Australia and Eastern Queensland.

Derek, Blaise, Braeden and Elliott (Australian friend of Blaise and Derek's)

Blaise sliding down the slide.

Elliott had fun sliding down the slide too!

I think this is a boab tree.

Koala resting in a gum tree.

Picture of red back spiders. Red backs are poisonous spiders that live in Perth.

This is a female Asian or Indian Elephant. Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants.

In the wild adult elephants can eat as much as 150 kg of food each day.

While we were watching the elephants the workers at the zoo brought the elephants a big plastic container that looked like a very large milk container. Inside the container
there was food for the elephant. It contained branches with leaves, carrots,apples, horse pellets, bananas and bread. The female elephant kept picking the container up with her trunk and banging it on the ground so that the food would come out. She also kept stomping on one end of it so the food would come out. Only a little bit of food came out at a time. It would take quite awhile for the elephant to eat this way.

This is a Sumatran Tiger. When we first stood looking at the tiger's home we could just barely see him. He was far away under a tree. We were really excited when he came closer to us and walked right in front of the glass.

Sumatran tigers are the smallest of the tiger subspecies. They are an endangered species. Unfortunately, poachers kill them for their body parts to make Chinese medicine.
Sumatran tigers are very fast swimmers.

Braeden measures himself against the Asian Elephant to see how tall he is.

White-cheeked Gibbons are a critically endangered species. The female is the golden coloured one with a black face. The male has black fur with white cheeks. The babies have a whitish coat for the first two years of their lives then it turns black. When they reach sexual maturity the males stay black while the females fur changes to the golden colour.

This is a Sumatran Orangutan. He seems to be is peering down to see what is going on below.

In the wild these orangutans live in the rainforests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Orangutans are a critically endangered species because of the loss of habitat. 80 percent of the orangutan's habitat has been lost by logging and converting the land to agriculture use.

Male orangutans are larger than female orangutans. They have a coarse, shaggy reddish coat.

This is a female orangutan.

Baby orangutan.

A Slender-tailed Meerkat. Meerkats eat insects, spiders and other small animals. They live in Southern Africa.

This is a Rothchilds Giraffe. They live in Kenya, Africa.
7 giraffes have been born at the Perth Zoo since 1995.

Spotted Hyaenas live on the the grassy plains of Central and South Africa. They are the largest of the four species of hyaenas.

Sun Bears live in South East Asia. They are nocturnal so they sleep during the day. Unlike other bears, Sun Bears do no hibernate.

This Sun Bear kept running back and forth near the edge of its enclosure. There is another Sun Bear in the enclosure beside this one. He was relaxing on a rock in the sun.

The Southern White Rhinoceros are an endangered animal. Humans are their main predators. Rhinoceroses are hunted for their horns.

The lion with the big golden mane is the male. The female lion is the smaller lion one laying down.

This is an African lion. He is one of two lions living in the zoo. There were also some lionesses living here too. A group of lions is called a pride.

A Galapagos tortoise weighs about 400 kg and can live for over 15o years.

Mark, Terry, Linnea and Jenny
celebrating a late Thanksgiving late and an early Christmas with a turkey dinner.

Derek, Blaise, Braeden, Jess and James

Jess, James, Mark, Terry, Jenny, Derek, Blaise and Braeden eating turkey dinner.

Doreen, Linnea and Dave at Lords Gym.










Nov.21-Nov. 28th. This was Derek's last week in Perth so we tried to do some touristy things. The week started with a trip to Fremantle so that Blaise and Derek could rent mopeds and Terry, Flat Mrs. Abbott, Linnea and Braeden took in the sights of Fremantle.

Fremantle is a beautiful and historic port city located at the mouth of the Swan River about 30 minutes from Perth. When we lived here in 2004 we used to go to Fremantle frequently to go to the weekend market or watch a parade or be part of a celebration.

Fremantle was established as a port in 1829 for the Swan Valley Colony. It has many historical buildings with beautiful architecture.

We visited the Round House which was the first permanent building in the Swan River Colony.

It was a prison and opened in Jan. 18, 1831. The police used it as a lock-up until 1899. You could be put in prison for disobedience, mutiny, breaking curfew, stealing, and other offenses including killing a pig or spearing a cow.

After they closed this prison down they opened another prison in Fremantle which was much bigger. We toured it last time we were here. It is closed now.

On Wednesday, Terry, Linnea and Flat Mrs. Abbott went to Guildford Grammar School in the Swan Valley to visit a teacher friend of Terry's who works there as the assistant headmaster. This is the school Terry taught at in 2004. It has a beautiful old chapel that was paid for by someone from England. The boys at the school go to chapel everyday. It is part of their school day. We went into the staff room and were introduced to the staff then Peter took us for a tour of the grounds in a golf cart. They have added some new fields and have started building a new library. Guildford Grammar School is an all boys boarding school for boys from grade 7-12. They also have a primary school for boys from grade 1-6.

Thursday we all went to the Perth Zoo. Elliott, a friend of Blaise and Derek's from Perth also joined us. We had a really good time at the zoo. I especially love the orangutans! Thanks to Derek for some of the pictures at the zoo, my battery on my camera died part way through the zoo trip.

On Friday we had a turkey dinner at our house here with our friends, the Giddys. We missed Thanksgiving because we were in Bali and we will be in Cambodia for Christmas so I decided we should have a turkey dinner to celebrate both holidays.

Finally, we ended the week with a visit to Lords gym and cafe. When I lived here I belonged to a gym called Lords and I met people there that I have continued to keep in contact with. Doreen and Dave met us for tea on Saturday and it was fun to catch up with them. They love to travel and so we have that in common as well as an interest in keeping fit.