27 June, 2017
Today we slept in a bit since we arrived at what would have been midnight Melbourne time, then went to a park overlooking downtown Perth before deciding to go to a wildlife park nearby.
The park is like a state park up on the hill above the city. We saw only a tiny bit while we were there. The botanic gardens were nearby, with a floral clock. There was an elaborate memorial for veterans. One was for all veterans. The other was and obelisk put up after World War One with the names of all of the men who died in battle or because of their service on it. The names of the men and women who died in battle or due to their service in World War Two were put on bronze plaques which were affixed to the outside. We noticed that the ground underneath the grass was very sandy as well as ground dug up nearby where they were building a new highway. It is near both the desert and the ocean.
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| Marian and Kathi |
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| Joshua and the eternal flame |
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| Perth |
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| The Memorial |
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| The Floral Clock (there is a hand and the roman numerals are there). |
As we were planning what to do next, I remembered that Randy had mentioned a wildlife park in his itinerary. I looked it up on my phone (thanks Google!) and found it. We went to the Caversham Wildlife Park which is in another state park. They had meet and greets with actual koalas and wombats at specified times so we did those. You can pet the animals and take pictures, but they don't allow you to hold them.
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| Marian and Kathi |
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| Me, Randy, and Joshua with a koala |
We also went to a Farm Show where they show you how the dogs steer and corral sheep, how to use a whip to direct the sheep without hurting them, how to shear a sheep, and how to milk a cow. We left as they allowed people to try milking the cow to go to the meet a wombat show.
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| The Farm Show |
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| Shearing the Sheep |
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| Shearing the Sheep |
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| The shorn sheepskin |
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| Joshua and I with a wombat |
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| Me with a Diamondback Snake |
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| A bettong |
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| Kathi and Marian with a Wombat |
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| Joshua with a Diamondback Snake |
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| A kangaroo joey |
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| Possum |
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| Rainbow Lorikeet |
We walked around and saw many of the animals that are native to Australia. Although the penguins were a disappointment.
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| Southern Brown Bandicoot |
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| Parrots |
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| Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby |
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| Add caption |
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| Gang-Gang Cockatoo |
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| Galah |
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| A blue bird that we saw just flying around--not part of the exhibit! |
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| Barn owls |
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| Kookaburra (sits in the old gum tree . . .) |
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| Kori Bustard |
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| Dingo |
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| Penguins |
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| Quokka |
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| Black Flying Fox |
The last thing we did was the Kangaroo Walk, which was way cool. The kangarros are out in the open and you can walk up to them and touch them. You are not allowed to touch their pouches or the joeys, however. And there is one fenced off area where some of the kangaroos go where people are not allowed. They had a big barrel of Kangaroo Food that you could take and feed the kangaroos from your hand. It was amazing to touch them and get right up to them. At one point a whole bunch of them came from under a fence and hopped straight at me--magical!
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| They're all racing toward me! |
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| A peacock among the kangaroos |
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| Yes, that's a joey in her pocket--head and legs sticking out! |
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| Now just the joey's legs are sticking out! |
