Perth- Kings Park

To get to Kings Park we had only to hop on a free shuttle bus. We loved this place and visited several times during our stay in Perth. It was wonderful to get outside so much with great looking skies!

It is one of the world's largest and most beautiful inner city parks! You can find over 3000 species of Western Australia(WA) unique flora within the 400 hectares (only 988 acres!) WA is home to 1/2 of all plant species in Australia and most of those are found no where else but in WA. A full 2/3 of the park is preserved bushland. Here is the entrance road and walk- Fraser Avenue. It was named for the second Surveyor-General of Perth.  Absolutely stunning. The original trees planted in 1929 were red-flowering gum trees. Most of them succumbed to a disease and were replaced in 1938 with lemon scented gum trees from the east coast of Australia. All of the trees still have plaques stating they were planted in 1929, even a sapling which couldn't be older than a few years.

While we spent some time walking other areas of the Park, we spent a lot of our time walking in the Botanic Garden within the Park. It covers only 17 hectares (42 acres) but was packed with interesting things to see.

It's been in the works for quite a while.

We wanted to share some of the really interesting plants (and animals) we were able to see. First is a Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco) which was moved here in 2014. The transfer was done between midnight and 3 am to minimize traffic disruption. The support anchors are still in place until a full root system is re-established.

This is an Australian Darter (Anhingha- Anhinga novaehollandiae) hanging out at one of the small water features in the park.

We also saw red wattlebirds. I borrowed this shot from the Internet! I couldn't get the birds to stand still for a photo shoot!

And lots of magpies (no photos).

This is called a quenda or a southern brown bandicoot- a best guess at least. The quenda is the non- human creature in the photo. It's a marsupial and found mostly in southern Australia. It is found in the Botanic gardens but is clinging to survival in Perth's growing suburban sprawl.

They had a very large garden focusing on banksia. These are really unique plants. Relics from the super-continent of Gondwana, there are 76 species, 62 of which are endemic to Western Australia. The Aboriginals collected the flowers from banksia. They sucked the nectar directly from the flowers but also soaked the flowers overnight to make a sort of meade drink. 

More plants. We got the names of some of them.

 Eucalyptus kingsmillii (Myraceae)

 Eucalyptus caesia subsp. magna (Myrtaceae) 'Silver Princess"

More blue sky shots:

Kangaroo Paws filled one garden with a variety of color.

A War Memorial was surrounded by marigolds.

Birds in the trees- this time rainbow lorikeets- and more blue sky!

The Boab (Baobab). In Australia, it is common to drop a couple of the letters. This is the common name of genus Adansonia. It is a different family from Bottle Trees but both are in a similar section of the flowering plant evolutionary tree. There are only 6 species of Adansonia: 4 found in Madagascar, 1 in mainland Africa and 21 in Australia. The Boab was a major food resource but was also relied upon for its many medicinal properties.

There is a really famous Boab (Giji Jumulu)  in the Botanic Garden. It traveled here in 2008 trekking 3200 km (nearly 2000 miles) from Telegraph Creek near Warmun in Western Australia's Kimberley region all the way to the park. It had to be moved due to construction of a new bridge. The tree was in transit over 4 days.

It is a relatively young tree-- only about 750 years old (estimated). This species is believed to live 2000 years. It is 2.5 meters wide. The Giji people of eastern Kimberley gifted the tree to the people of Western Australia.

There is an exclusion zone around the trunk of the tree and rain ports were installed at the surface to ensure the tree gets enough water even after 10 years.

Great view from the park.

Perth- Maritime Museum

The Western Australia Maritime Museum, Fremantle, had some interesting exhibits. They do have a modern Oberon class submarine you can tour (for an extra fee, naturally) but we elected to skip that.

We had some trouble finding this place. It's fairly far from the train station in Fremantle --way out at the end of the Harbour and the route to walk is confusing.  We finally found it, but are convinced it is easier to find by car rather than on foot.

That's it, way down at the end.

A lot of folks came to Australia through this area so there is a statue commemorating the travelers. Unfortunately, at this time of day the photographer was taking the photo facing the sun.

We did learn an interesting tidbit- Australia shares an "external terrestrial border" with France in the Antarctic. Who knew?

Lighthouse lens...

Whole, preserved megamouth shark. The megamouth shark is one of 3 species of filter feeding sharks which also also includes the basking shark and whale shark. The megamouth can grow to 6 m (nearly 20 feet) in length. This one wasn't quite that large.

Some more modern examples of mines and antisubmarine weapons used by the Australian Navy.

For me, the most interesting item in the Museum was something that recently made news all over the world- the world's oldest, recovered, message in a bottle. In 1886, the bottle was tossed overboard from a German ship off the Western Australia coastline as part of an official study of ocean currents. Between 1864 and 1933, thousands of these bottles were tossed off ships. Each contained data about its origin along with a plea to return the bottle. On January 21, 2018, the bottle was found in the sand on Wedge Island, 180 km (112 miles) north of Perth. Due to the excellent condition of the bottle and its contents, experts believe the bottle probably washed ashore within 6-12 months after leaving the ship and had been buried in the sand ever since. Of the thousands tossed overboard from ships, 662 messages were returned to the study participants but none of the bottles were returned.  This is the only known bottle.

This is so interesting and I think is comparable to a bottle of ash from the Krakatoa eruption in 1883 in the Sunda Strait. Both, for me, really commanded my attention. We saw a bottle of Krakatoa ash in a small maritime museum in New England years ago. It had been collected by the captain of a trade vessel I believe. His ship had been in the waters near Krakatoa at the time and he'd collected some of the ash in the small bottle.  Little did we know then that we would eventually end up living here and be able to see the remnants of that historic volcano from the resort where B stays near the new plant site. 

Perth to Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is a very popular summer holiday destination. There are some smallish hotels on the Island to accommodate overnight guests. We didn't have that kind of time so went out to the Island for a day trip.

To reach Rottnest you have to take some sort of ferry. We chose the one that would get us there fastest; less touring on the boat, just a direct trip.

So what is Rottnest Island? Located 12 miles off the coast from Fremantle, Western Australia, Rottnest is an A-class reserve: all plants and animals are protected by law. Wildlife is not to be disturbed, but observed from a distance. The Island is small, low-lying and only 7.3 sq miles with a permanent population of about 300. During peak holiday times there may be 15,000 on the island. Yikes. We were definitely there off season. It was very quiet most of the time. I'm glad we were not there with 14,998 other folks!

Where did the name come from? A Dutch sailor named Willem de Vlamingh dubbed the Island "Rat's Nest Island" (in English) probably because of the native quokka that live on the Island. Possibly he thought they were very large rats.

Off we went on the Rottnest Express.

On the Island.

A few pictures. It is a pretty place.

 Interesting, but sharp, plant.

We got to the Wadjemup Lighthouse with the intent to climb up and look at the wonderful view but, alas, they were doing exterior work on it and it was closed despite the sign at the bottom of the hill that said it was open. Disappointing. Back down the hill we went.

During WWII 4 guns were installed in the middle of the Island to defend Fremantle, a key base for the Allies in the Indian Ocean. I had bad intel on the location of this WWII gun and tunnel site we had hoped to visit so we couldn't locate it.

We had a nice lunch in Thomson Bay Settlement. Good sandwiches! 

We were promised quokka sightings. We did see a few.  We saw one sleeping quokka near the lighthouse.

What's a quokka? A small marsupial found in only a few other places in Australia. It's the only member of its genus and is about the size of a house cat. So cute! We saw several quokka at the restaurant area in Thompson Bay Settlement. They are pretty used to people. Guess they would have to be with so many visitors.

And here is someone who didn't read the rules about harassing the quokkas! Too close!

There are enough quokkas in the Settlement, they put up plexiglass doors to keep them out of shops, etc. It's hard to see. They are fairly low doors with a "No Quokka" sign.