Peel Zoo

Peel Zoo 

C and E like to visit Peel Zoo every year to say hello to the native animals. Sometimes they can handle and feed them.  It is half an hour inland from Mandurah and makes a nice day's outing.  They have a serious breeding programme for Tasmanian Devils, which are an endangered species in the wild because of a contagious facial tumour disease. This eventually prevents them from killing and eating their prey.

E trying to take a selfie

JL and E with a ferret.  This one tried to get inside JL's shirt!

One of the zoo's experts telling us about the Tasmanian Devil breeding programme

Tasmanian Devil

Feeding a wallaby

C feeding two emus

Kookaburra

Koala suddenly awake

Wombat

Hols

After Christmas, Aussies head for the beach.  We went to Mandurah, less than an hour's drive down south. In the old days, this was as far as most Perth people ever travelled to their beach shack or caravan park.  Then they started going to Bali.  Now it's coming back into favour and becoming quite smart.

My sister C and brother-in-law P were visiting from England.  Together with C and E, we rented adjoining apartments at Seashells in Dolphin Cove. Seashells is right on the beachfront, so you can step out for an early morning swim in the calm and shallow waters of the bay.  Just perfect for anyone (like me) who is scared of big waves!

C and E getting in holiday mood by the pool at Crown Metropole before we left Perth

E in Mandurah, showing off her trendy new hat and sunnies

Waiting for our boat to arrive for a canal trip

Boat arriving

Enjoying an ice cream after a delicious dinner at Silk Thai Restaurant 

Penguin painting in the foyer of Seashells

Aussie Christmas

Thursday night:  Somerville Auditorium, UWA (Open Air Cinema) to see the Spanish film Julieta, directed by Pedro Almodóvar.  Plenty of time beforehand for a picnic of sushi, sparkling wine and mango.

Friday lunchtime: Kailis in Leederville. Menu as follows:
Mezze Tasting Plate serving 2-3
Herb garlic & chilli crusted Scallops, Grilled Octopus ala grec, Crispy Whitebait, Mushroom & parmesan arancini
Marinated Fremantle sardines, charred ciabatta
Kids menu for E: squid and chips.

Saturday evening: JL in charge of the BBQ, cooking rack of lamb cutlets, courtesy of IOSA's meat trade clients. We had Aldi's Bubble and Squeak Pattis and broccoli on the side. Rubbish on TV, including a repeat repeat of Midsomer Murders.

Christmas Day: lunch at Geoffrey's. Ben and Tim had been out for days (early in the morning before work) pulling up their cray pots. Catch of 50 in the freezer! They were delicious! Glazed ham and Scutti's salads for main. C contributed a roasted garlic and goats cheese quiche. For dessert, S had made the traditional pavlova while JL had produced a large fruit salad. Between courses, some of us had a swim in the pool. E stayed in the water for 2 hours. In the evening, enjoyed Andre Rieu's concert, Christmas in London; but why were so many people in the audience crying?

JL enjoying a beer at Kailis

Ellie"s squid and chips

Kailis Mezze Entree

Enjoying the ambience at Kailis

Ellie's Christmas craftwork: a 2-storey house for her toy elephants

Crayfish on the BBQ

Crayfish on the table

Christmas lunch

Millie skydiving above Rottnest: Christmas present from her Dad

Next door

Crown Towers


We've watched this being built on our left for the past couple of years.  Now its finished and opens this week. Fortunately it doesn't really obstruct our view  and they have done a wonderful job landscaping the grounds. On their video, you can see our apartment block to the far left of the aerial photo.

Photo taken from our balcony at 7.30 pm this evening, showing the city on the right and Crown Towers on the left.

Even bigger families (Ann's 90th)

A great evening was enjoyed by all at the Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, celebrating the 90th birthday of JL's sister. She has 3 sons, 9 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren; babies not invited to the party though!

Arriving  (Disey's photo)

View over Freshwater Bay

John enjoying a drink on the breezy terrace

Brother and sister

John and Shelley

Ann with her cake

Delicious!

Ann with her 9 grandchildren

Guests enjoying their dinner

Big families

Gang of pelicans near the new stadium building

Conversation:

Q: What on earth is going on behind us? We used to have peace and quiet here!

A:  It's a white elephant. Why don't they spend the money on schools, hospitals and bird sanctuaries?

It's normally very difficult to see baby pelicans, but there may be some young ones in this group

A family of about 12 ducklings. They are huddling together here to keep warm in the cold wind
 near the river. The father stands on guard against potential predators, especially dogs.

We attended the annual Kimberley Society Lecture this week:

The lecture described several techniques which are being developed by different research teams. Previously the only techniques had been used in France, a predominantly limestone area, whereas in the Kimberley the paintings are on sandstone.

The Drysdale river is derived from erosion upstream. Erosion rates are very low. So many paintings just fall off. (1 mm per 1000 years in some places). But there are higher erosion rates in higher escarpments. In rock shelters, where paintings occur, slabs of rock fall off and can be dated before and after the fall.

Mud wasp nests and remnants can be dated from all the organic materials they contain.

Mineral accretions on rocks have quite a complicated composition. When next to a piece of art, the pigment is bleached in banded fringes. Samples of accretions can be scraped off and taken back to the lab for testing and dating.

Using all these various techniques, accurate dating goes slowly, but rock art going back to 20,000 years has been definitely established.

Shopping in Jinli Street, Chengdu

The following photos were taken on the afternoon of 19 September, when we were taken for a stroll down Jinli Street in Chengdu. I had to use my back-up camera, as my iPhone was full. I think they are slightly better quality, though.

Margaret chooses a calligraphy brush

Tea shop

Shopping