Penguin Island

28 03 2010

I’ve found that if you name an island after an interesting animal, you are guaranteed to not see that animal there.  Shark Island near Koh Tao?  No sharks for miles.  Seal Rock near San Francisco? Nothing but seagulls.  Turtle Island?  Yeah, they should’ve called it “You’ll Never See A Turtle Island.”  And the same goes with Penguin Island.

They claim the penguins go out during the day and only come back at night, but we’ll have to take their word for it.  They also claim that you can see penguins on the island during mating season.  Or you could, but the island is closed.  Your best chance then is molting season which is during summer.  So, we’ll go back then.  In the mean time enjoy the photos of No Photos Of A Wild Penguin Island as well as a few captive penguins that were rescued.  They are really cute.

By the way, they are called Little Penguins.  Seriously.  Too cute. -jp

Pinguin Insel – klingt als gäbe es Pinguine da, was!? Gibt es auch, nur nicht zu der Zeit wo wir da waren. Leider! Naja, sie hatten ein kleines Gehege, wo verletzte Pinguine gehalten wurden. Wir haben einen schönen Spaziergang über die Insel gemacht und an der Pinguin Fütterung teilgenommen und wir haben erfahren, wann die kleinen Kerle letztendlich auch mal auf der Insel zu sehen sind. Zwischen Ende September bis Februar sind sie dort und zu der Zeit darf man auch auf die Insel, da man während der Brütezeit nicht hin darf um sie verständlicherweise nicht zu stören. So, wir werden also nochmal hinfahren! -mk

Penguin Island is south of Perth, near Rockingham.

Gallery: http://gallery.me.com/the_np_bat_man#101260





Margaret River

20 03 2010

We finally got underway again.  It’s amazing how much time whizzes by when you get into the whole “real life” thing.  But it felt great getting back on the road, sleeping in the tent, seeing something new and doing stuff.

We went to the Margaret River region but didn’t make it to the town of Margaret River.  We did, however, see Bunbury, Busselton, Dunsborough, and Yallingup.  The sites were incredible especially since we had no idea what to expect since we did no research ahead of time.

We went to a few wineries (Saracen, Icon, Sandelford), the Duckstein Brewery, the chocolate factory, and a couple of other places.  All in all, pretty cool.  We’ll definitely be going back. -jp

Endlich hatten wir mal wieder ein komplettes Wochenende zusammen. Kommt ja leider nicht so häufig vor, wenn man im Verkauf arbeitet.

So haben wir uns entschieden in die Weingegend Margret River zu fahren, ein wenig Wein zu testen, durch die Weingegend zu cruisen und die Strände anzuschauen. Überrascht haben uns dann wirklich die unglaublich schönen Strände in Yallingup. Wir fuhren so gemütlich auf der Straße entlang und kamen um eine Kurfe und dann das – ein Strand wie du ihn wohl nicht oft in deinem Leben siehst! Eingeschlossen von grünen Dünen, tiefblaues Wasser und ein ewig langer Sandstrand. Faszinierend!

Die Weingegend selbst war zu unserer Überraschung auch super! Wunderschön hergerichtete Weingüter mit Wein- und Olivenöl etc. testen. Auf dem Rückweg haben wir bei Harey Cheese gehalten und uns mit Käse eingedeckt. Zu hause mußten wir leider feststellen, dass wir zu weich sind für den mega Stinkerkäse den wir gekauft hatten!  -mk

Dunsborough is here.

Photo gallery: http://gallery.me.com/the_np_bat_man#101252

Finally! A good night's sleep!





Au Revoir!

18 03 2010

The Rhapsody of the Seas sails into the sunset.

Even though it hasn’t rained since November, we do occasionally have clouds.  So I figured I’d get a shot of a cruise ship leaving the channel with some clouds in the background.

The Rhapsody of the Seas came and went in one day and, had the mammoth Queen Mary 2 not been here on Saturday, it would’ve been the biggest ship we’d seen here.  I guess it’s all about timing. -jp





Sunset Over Monument Hill

17 03 2010

A quick HDR photo of sunset looking out our living room window at Monument Hill.  Sometimes even though the sunsets to the West, you’ve gotta look to the East. -jp





The Oceanic Viking lost its parking space

15 03 2010

Go sit over in open water for awhile.

One side effect of yesterday’s visit by the Queen Mary 2 is the MV Oceanic Viking had to move out of its usual parking place at Victoria Key Quay.  The Oceanic Viking is an armed Customs ship which is pretty famous around Australia for intercepting refugee boats and escorting them to Christmas Island where the refugees are processed and immediately given visas and welfare at taxpayer expense. -jp





Fremantle’s biggest ever visitor

14 03 2010

The Queen Mary 2 turns around... it's a tight fit.

At about 6.30 this morning we were awaken to the sound of helicopters and people.  Being American I knew immediately what this meant: someone has been murdered in the neighborhood and the cops are looking for him.

Imagine our surprise when we looked out the window to see Monument Hill packed with people, cars, and even a caravan.  We looked towards the port to see what they were looking for and holy cow!  The third biggest cruise liner in the world was pulling in.  The Queen Mary 2 has come to Australia for the first time and is in Fremantle and all these people came out to see it.  So we went to the balcony and snapped some pics and were quite impressed by the site.  Actually, all of the neighbors were up, too.  This is the biggest ship that’s ever come here.

The most impressive part was when the 345m long boat turned around in the 420m wide shipping channel.  They had to clear out a couple of the other ships that were docked there earlier this week.  They’re only here for the day but next year will be back twice.  A trip will set you back about $4k per person. -jp

This ship is huge.








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