What a wonderful country we have! How privileged we were today! We did a whale watching trip from Kalbarri. Within a couple of minutes of crossing the Murchison River bar, the captain spotted the first whale. All the whales we saw today were females escorting their calves down to Antarctica. In one encounter, there was a female, calf and an escort who assisted in looking after the whales. Apparently there are many more whales on the west coast of Australia than on the east coast. One whale came up to the boat and then dived under the boat. Another came right up to the bow. In the distance, we could see a number of whales breeching and it went on for about ten minutes. The captain said that they don’t usually breech near the boat.
This afternoon, we visiting the Rainbow Jungle, the Australian Parrot Breeding Centre. Many of the parrots were flying free. All the black cockatoos were caged. At the entrance, was a 64 year old cockie (White cockatoo). What a character!!! He would put his head up to the cage for you to scratch and then if you did, he would nip you. I played with him for ages, and scratched him with a packet edge. He would snap around and then if he missed, he would laugh!!! “Ha, ha, ha!”
We then visited some more of the Coastal cliffs as the afternoon light really reveals the depth of their colour. First stop and right in front of us was a Splendid Fairy Wren. All my wishes come true on one day!
Friday, 30 September 2011
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Kalbarri - Thursday 29 September
Our first visit today was to the Kalbarri Wildflower Centre. We booked in to do the guided walk as we wanted to know more about the wildflowers. It was a 2 hour walk and the guide, Wendy, was very good. Jo copied down the info about each plant and I took the photos so when I had to download the photos it was soo easy. When you do it yourself you have to then identify them and it is very difficult. We were warned about ticks and Wendy showed us one she had found that morning – BIG! Apparently in WA the ticks do not have the poison that they do in the Eastern States and they just make you itchy. After lunch I took off my shoes and had a huge tick on my socks. Jo found one in the shower after her shower.
This afternoon, we went to the Kalbarri Coastal Cliffs – Natural Bridge, Island Rock and Shellhouse Grandstand. While we were at Shellhouse, I could hear the wrens but couldn’t see them. I had just finished saying to Jo, “the only thing better would be to see a Red Capped Robin”. With that I turned around and there was a female sitting on a dead tree. She was later joined by a male. Then we went to Island Rock and sitting in front of the lookout on the cliff was an (I think! Will have to get Chris Sanderson to verify) immature Brown Falcon.
What a great day!
This afternoon, we went to the Kalbarri Coastal Cliffs – Natural Bridge, Island Rock and Shellhouse Grandstand. While we were at Shellhouse, I could hear the wrens but couldn’t see them. I had just finished saying to Jo, “the only thing better would be to see a Red Capped Robin”. With that I turned around and there was a female sitting on a dead tree. She was later joined by a male. Then we went to Island Rock and sitting in front of the lookout on the cliff was an (I think! Will have to get Chris Sanderson to verify) immature Brown Falcon.
What a great day!
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