Attack of the Cockatoos (Part 2)

How could you say no to a face like this? We've had the cockatoos as dinner guests every night for over a week now. This one's name is Hopeful.

Occasionally a Lorikeet pair will show up too.

Though we like to think they visit for our charming personalities, it's actually the organic sunflower seeds. 

Hopeful hangs around a lot. 

This one is Pig Pen. He's dirty, greedy and a brat. 

This is Skinny. A wimp and definitely the bottom of the totem pole. Sometimes he even surrenders tasty treats to the pigeons. What kind of bird would stoop so low? A bird that will always be skinny.

Obviously we're not the first to have fed them. At most we had six distinct birds on the deck at once. But it's hard to tell them apart, so I couldn't tell you how many we fed.

Sometimes they take off quite quickly, when you scare them. Skinny barley seemed to notice.

This is Fatty. He knows exactly where the seeds are. 

But he's impossible to resist.

We're heading home in a few days. Though the sun and the sand have been wonderful, the birds have been especially memorable. 

-E

Attack of the Cockatoos

It's almost like that Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds" except instead of being stuck in a phone booth, it's our apartment. 

I fly my mohawk only when fed.

Everyday around dinner time about a half dozen cockatoos turn up on our balcony looking for dinner. 

Yummy, crust.

They are quite insistent, if unfed they will either defile any objects on your deck, or worse, enter the apartment and then help themselves to anything accessible. 

Hand over the German seed loaf, or the laundry gets it.

I can't help myself however. I've been researching what you feed urbanized cockatoos, so far the best successes is the high end sprouted loaf we bought from the fabulous German bakery downstairs (Brezel Bar - not that I suggest feeding their scrumptious treats to the birds!) Even then, some of the birds are persnickety eaters and will pick the sesame seeds out and discard the rest. 

Feeding our feathered friends.

We're still looking for organic sunflower seeds, apparently that's a favorite. Peanuts are also a favorite, but apparently they can be toxic (like dogs and chocolate) so we'll need to appease demands without the pb.

The Bold and the Beautiful

Today I joined "The Bold and The Beautiful" in a daily ritual that has been undertaken for many years by the folks here in Manly. I'm not talking about the television soap opera, I'm talking about the swim club.

It's early, but the surfers are already out.

I'm not sure if "The Bold and the Beautiful" is an appropriate name however. Maybe they should rename themselves to "The Crazy and the Mega Fit". 

Swimmers gathering.

For starters, everyone musters at just after the crack of dawn (6:45 am). You sign in and receive a safety briefing (hint: there is no safety, you're on your own), and then, when everyone is ready to go, you head into the surf in the only spot on the beach where the surfers are not.

Distinctive pink caps.

The surf.

You might wonder why the surfers ignore this spot. The surf is a little lighter, but mostly it's because of the hidden rocks.

Once past the breaking waves, you're now in 3 feet of surge. The group musters again, in open water, and then you all swim to the beach next door (Shelly beach). Other than the surge, there is also a current. On the way out the current is mostly with you, but on the way back, it's not. Overall, it's not a swim for beginners.

I'm having a good time, really.

As an added bonus, much of the swim is through a marine sanctuary, popular with divers and snorkelers. I saw a lot of fish this morning plus a darter and the cutest little penguin. I also had contact with a bluebottle jellyfish.

Bluebottles (source)

In this area of Australia, there are no deadly stingers like the box jellyfish. Bluebottles, while annoying, sting about as hard as a bee. I stuck my hand right in one while swimming today. It was a little shocking, but after smearing what remained of it down the side of my wetsuit (what else are you going to do?) I continued the swim and about an hour later I was fine.

A small piece of bluebottle tentacle, 

still stuck to my hand after the swim.

Between the waves, the current, and the bluebottles, amazingly over 100 members of The Bold and The Beautiful battle the 1.5 km course every single day.

Warning. 

And there is a good chance I'll do it again, maybe even tomorrow.

-E

Close to Perth

Perth is a bonus city for us. We had no specific reason to come here, it just happened that we were going to have a layover anyways, so we decided to spend a few days here instead.

Unfortunately we were having so much fun that we never did look into what to do while we were here. So today we mostly wandered around somewhat aimlessly.

Our first stop was at the tiny University of Notre Dame, Australia. At first glance you might think it was a satellite school of Notre Dame in Indiana USA, but they're separate.

Keeping with the trend, we then hopped on the train, and visited the huge University of Western Australia. It's very pretty and looks a little like Stanford. It's often ranked as one of the top 100 universities in the world (but not for comp sci.)

Somewhere along the way we decided it would be a great idea to walk from UWA into Perth itself. On the far side of the campus is Kings Park, and beyond that, Perth CBD. No sweat. For interest sake, Kings Park is the largest inner city park in the world, at 4 sq kms.

Inside the Botanical Garden.

A laughing kookaburra.

Baob tree, 750 yrs old.

We didn't make it. After the park and about 10 kms of walking we called it a day and returned to Fremantle. But we got pretty close.

As close to Perth as we're going to get.

Tomorrow we're off to Rottnest Island (literally translates to Rats Nest Island in Dutch). Should be fun.


-E

Hotel Critters

Our hotel has a host of wild critters living on the grounds. Partially this is because the hotel is 5 kms out of town, and partially because the hotel provides a watering hole for the wildlife. (Actually, it was a watering plant pot, but same idea.) 

Cockatoos. Loud but pretty.

The watering hole.

Dragons. They tend to hang out as a pair and have tails 3 times their length.

Kangaroos (and Wallabies)! During the day, it was hard to get close to them. They like hanging out on the naval base however, because they sleep behind empty buildings in the shade.

Most of the time, during daylight hours, all you would see is this:

And as soon as the roo caught you watching, then all you'd see was this:

But at night time, everything changes. 

View from the vlamingh lighthouse

As far as I can tell, Kangaroo's are essentially overgrown nocturnal rabbits. Hungry, prolific, dumb as a post, super poopers, but still kinda cute. (And tasty too.)

The real problem with the kangaroos is that they like using the roads just as much as you do. Around Exmouth, you need to drive at 20 km/h at night or you will hit one. 

Or like us, one will hit you. No joke, we had come to a complete stop waiting for a number of them to cross the road and one literally hopped into the side of the car. We were t-boned by a kangaroo (thankfully he got up and bounded away.) He probably had no idea what had just happened.

It's like when they see headlights approaching, they actually jump into the road. If you're really lucky, they'll then proceed to block the road (or stay just a few jumps ahead of you continually looking back wondering why you are following them). Truly dumb creatures.

Warning, this kangaroo has a death wish.

But other than being serious driving hazards, at night they also come visit the hotel watering hole. Some nights there were over 20 roo's on the grounds (my night photos are terrible, so I'll spare you.) Here are a few pictures at dusk though.

After having seen hundreds of kangaroos this week, the iconic Aussie animal is much less interesting for me. They are, however, still kinda cute.

Awwhhh, so hopeful are those vacuous eyes. (This one is actually from the reserve and isn't wild, but the photo was to good to not post.)

Tomorrow we're off to Perth, so less wildlife and more nightlife. 

-E

Wildlife Habitat

On our last day in Port Douglas we visited the Wildlife Habitat. This is one of the smaller (and more expensive) zoo styled attractions in the area. They focus on local animals, running a large rescue and rehabilitation center, plus they have a successful breeding program for a number of endangered animals. 

What are you looking at?

I'm blue, I know.

Daytime Owl?

Tawny Frogmouth

(Normally hiding in the crooks of trees and very well camouflaged.)

For lunch they offered a really nice buffet. Afterwards they brought around a few lorikeets to visit. Having spent the last few days staring up at trees covered in these bright little guys, it was fun to get up close.

Next up, the marsupials. The wallabies take the cake. Fluffy, inquisitive and just the right size to put in your suitcase and take home.

We bought some 'roo food' and had a blast feeding them.

The wildlife habitat also had snakes, lizards and reptiles. This little wallaby followed us up the path to the crocs, still in hope of us feeding him. It was the only time we saw the croc move.

The kangaroos were also fun. These ones were bossy though, pushing the wallabies away and demanding food. (They are also not small enough for carry on luggage, so I can't see myself adopting one anytime soon.)

Last up is the koalas, passed out after having there own lunch buffet (also cute enough for carry on baggage, but they do sleep 19 hrs a day.)

Tomorrow we're leaving Port Douglas and heading to the other side of Australia.