96) Perth ..and beyond

Leafy sea-dragon at the Aquarium of WA

I attended a conference in Perth, Western Australia (WA) and we opted to do some travel while I was out there. Perth is known as the most isolated city in AU meaning it is closer to large cities in Indonesia than any other large city in AU. WA itself is huge - the second largest "statoid" in the world and is 5 times the size of Texas. Much of Western Europe could fit into WA. So Nancy flew across the continent and in 2 weeks we drove and explored the coastline, the deserts, the birds and beasties and the amazing southern forests. The little red line shows the vast extent of our 3000 km journey ! (ha! - but a mere trifle in this place!)

Perth itself straddles the Swan River - which is quite shallow and broad - it appears to be a large lake but does have tidal effects and lots of small boat activity. Big ships are restricted to the major harbor at Freemantle 20 km SW.






A downtown cathedral. Many of these beautiful old building were overshadowed by tall modern skyscrapers......Good that they were saved but rather sad to see their unique architecture boxed in by modern glass and concrete. Ah, but such is progress for developers!












Say - are these things life sized? (good thing they are not carnivores eh?)










The Swan Bell Tower is 82.5 metres tall and contains twelve bells of St. Martin-in-the-Fields from the 14th Century and which were recast in the 16th Century by Queen Elizabeth I.




























Gija Jumulu, this 750 year old boab tree, journeyed 3200 km in the winter of 2008, from Warmun, in the Kimberley region, to the Kings Botanical Garden in Perth. The tree was a gift from the traditional owners, the Gija people, to all Western Australians (Jumulu means boab in the Gija language). The tree needed to be moved due to roadworks on the "Great Northern Highway." It's a beautiful tree; boabs are valued by the indigenous people for their edible fruit, medicinal value, and water holding capacity. Nothing stands in the way of progress; at least someone recognized the value of this iconic tree and supported it's continued life...

We visited Kings Botanical Garden in Perth, to get a small taste of the local flora. It is a swathof parkland in the city on a bluff above the Swan river - lovely place.

The Southwest Australia ecoregion is one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots (in tiny habitat remnants, more than half of the planet's living species live in these precious areas, comprising only 2.3% of the earth's total surface). Of this SW Australia ecoregion, only 7% of the original vegetation is intact (out of the 48.9 million ha of this ecoregion --an area slightly larger than the state of California). But over 6,759 vascular plant species have been identified here, and almost half of those (3,620 species) are endemic to the area (they occur here and nowhere else on Earth). I can't begin to fathom this--I have no idea where to even begin botanizing!

Everywhere we went, the advertising boasted the "best wildflowers of the region." However, since this is autumn, and it was a long hot summer, there wasn't much to see...not the best timing on our part to see the big show. But the birds, animals, and insects need to eat, so nature still provides a few blooms here and there during the autumn and winter. For over 250 million years, with virtually no mountain building or ice scouring (as has occurred in North America), evolution has resulted in highly adapted and diverse flora (plants) and fauna (animals, birds, and insects).


The King's park botanic garden has species from all over the world. This gave us a nice sense of home. CA plants do well here due to similarities in Mediterranean-type climate.




We found a set of flower books for WA -- in five volumes! Not quite the depauperate recently glaciated Arctic and alpine ecosystems I'm used to! So all I can say is that this plant, and the one above, is in the "red" flower category...lame, I know! I can hazard a guess that they're in either the Proteaceae or Myrtaceae (Eucalyptus) families. How's that?








This brilliant green parrot has widely adapted in WA, and we saw them often on the ground next to the road or flitting through the trees in a wide variety of habitats. A bit confusing in nomenclature, we call this an Australian Ringneck parrot, but apparently there are interbreeding forms of Port Lincoln Parrots (which this parrot resembles) and the Twenty-eight Parrot, whose call is said to resemble the words "twenty-eight."








This noisy bird is a Red Wattlebird. It is one call that I've finally begun to recognize. Pizzey describes their voice as a "hacking cough 'yak'." They are named for their fleshy red neck-wattles (not so apparent in this bird, they increase in length with age) rather than the plant called a Wattle (the genus Acacia, which is the largest genus of vascular plants in Australia).












This bird is also widespread throughout Australia, we saw them in pretty much every type of habitat imaginable, from the dry desert, to the coastal scrub, to the deep forest. They are called "Willie Wagtails" due to their habit of wagging their tails horizontally when foraging on the ground. They have a curious white eyebrow that doesn't show up so much in this picture. They generally have a pleasant call that has been described as "sweet-pretty-creature" and are fairly vocal. However, one Willie Wagtail couple I saw had the misfortune of having their children devoured by a Raven despite their brave efforts to scare the big bird from their nest with their screeching.


I still think these little clownish zebra finches are gorgeous. We saw big flocks of them flitting about.


















A Scorpionfish under artificial light at the aquarium. It was, as expected, in the section for dangerous sea life due to the venomous dorsal spines










Big tank of "friendly" jellyfish. They didn't have any of the lethal box or irukandji jellyfish on display. But these were placidly drifting and pulsing around in their tank - quite an elegant display.













The aquarium has a very nice 'walk-through' tank that gives you a closeup- and as far as I am concerned - the only close view, I want of these fellows. It's a bit of an interesting thought that every time I am out in the water - they are too....









You can, for a fee, SCUBA in the tank with these guys - there were four divers and about 8 sharks. This chap was waiting for a bit less attention from the toothy-one to swim up and over the tunnel to the dive exit. I suspect he is wondering when the shark was last fed....

















As these bad boys glided by, I looked deep into their eyes and saw- nothing. Sleek, beautifully evolved eating machines....




Fremantle (or Freo, in Aussie-speak) is a historic port town on the mouth of the Swan River south of Perth. The heritage buildings display decorative colonial architecture, and Dirk found a standout fabulous Italian bakery (in the land of the ubiquitous bakery, as I've mentioned before).


















The Round House is the oldest public building in WA (1831). Freo needed a prison, so this was the first structure built. Before settlement, this site was a ceremonial meeting place for the Noongar people.








Inside the Round House. The well was dug by the prisoners and the design was based upon Bentham's 1735 idea of the panopticon - which is intended to create the sentiment of invisible omniscience (the cells along the visible wall we partially demolished before Freo decided to maintain the structure as a historic building.)







The St James Cathedral




































Lots of cool wall art in Freo and Perth.











But cities are not why we came out here. It was time to load up our camper van (more on that later) and hit the road. And oh what a long road it is......