The Platypus, Natures Lamest Creature

I can't believe that my time in Australia is coming to a close already.  I arrived December 20th and today (February 15th) I leave for Johannesburg, South Africa.  I wrapped up my Australia trip with a week in Melbourne with my cousin, Emma and a few days in Perth with the last Australian relatives I hadn't met, my cousin, Jim, his wife Leah, and their lovely little 17month old daughter, Avaley. 

 

Melbourne, Victoria is "The Place to Be" according to their license plates and it was really nice!

 

 

Emma had the great idea to drive down the Great Ocean Road to take me to see the sights.  It was a gorgeous and spectacular drive and there is tons to see.

 

We stopped for lunch and this cocky cockatoo helped clear up the plates enjoying some French fries

The spectacular Great Ocean Road

Crimson Rosella at Kennett River

Lazy Koala at Kennett River

Big old Koala at Kennett River

On the road driving south towards the Cape Ottway Lighthouse we saw so many Koalas!  We counted 23 wild Koalas including this mum with her baby on her back.  Rick and Joy.. you almost had me convinced that Koalas were scarce when I was in Kyogle.  They might be having a tough time in northern NSW but they are reaching plague proportions in Victoria!

Emma and I did a guided Platypus tour near the town of Forrest, just inland from the Great Ocean Road...well....Platypus are about the lamest creatures to see that you can imagine.  It was a very peaceful paddle at dusk on a glassy lake in a canoe while we searched for the elusive "lame-opus".  We saw about 5 of them from a distance as they swam at the surface of the water before diving down to dig for bugs and grubs in the muddy lake bottom.  Basically, they looked like small muskrats when they swim and you might be able to convince yourself that you saw a small bill.... but pretty lame all in all.

WOW!  A PLATYPUS!

Maits Rest Rainforest Walk was a lovely shady walk with boardwalks and giant tree ferns

 

Beach near 12 Apostles

Awwww, a rabbit at the beach ;)

One of the 12 Apostles

Some of the other Apostles

Loch Ard Gorge

 

After two days driving the Great Ocean Road with an overnight stop in Apollo Bay in the middle we spent a laid back day in Melbourne with a trip to the local Matilda Bay Brewery followed by drinks downtown in one of Melbournes funky alley pubs "Chuckle Park".  The next day we headed out to Phillips Island to see the Fairy Penguins which were really cute!  These penguins climb up the beach after sunset every evening and go home.  They are the smallest penguins in the world and were really fun to watch as they waddled up the beach to their burrows.





Giant Koala on Phillips Island beside the Rusty Water Brewery

Got a kick out of this sign on Phillips Island

Windy day at the Nobbies (an area where knobs of rock stuck out of the ocean on the coast)

 

Emma frightening penguins

The Little Penguins have been weaponized!  Just kidding, they put a sensor on the penguins to track their movements and found that they dive repeatedly to depths up to 75m when they are away from home hunting.  Penguins stay away for a day or many days before returning home

Little cuties!

The next day we did a snorkeling trip out of Queenscliff, near Melbourne to swim with Fur Seals and Dolphins!  The tour operator, Sea All Dolphin Swims was excellent and we had a great time.  I would highly recommend them if you are in the neighborhood!  We got to swim with fur seals right beside us, get towed by ropes behind the boat while a pod of dolphins swam alongside us, jump off the top of the boat, swim, walk along a beach, and enjoy some sun near Melbourne.  Melbourne in a nutshell has excellent coffee, excellent breakfast spots, cool pubs, cool alleyway art, and very funky vibe.

Snorkelling nerds

Fur Seals

More Spandy Andy Shots!

Melbourne, Federation Square

Sculpture at Federation Square

Alleyway art with a projection of people walking past

Melbourne at night

Another day, another tasting paddle - this one at James Squire Pub in Melbourne

 

On February 12th I flew to Perth for my final stop in Australia.  I had a great time visiting my cousin Jim, his wife Leah, and their lovely little girl Avaley.  I got to catch lunches with two former colleagues who live in Perth now (Raymond and Kelsey) and got to check out the Little Creatures Brewery (Excellent), some of the coastline a marina, and a sheltered beach.

 

Tasting platter at Little Creatures Brewery

View of downtown Perth from Kings Park

Leah, Jim and Ava

so cute!

Avaley is already a little swimmer at 17months and is totally fearless around water... I guess Dad being a former Olympic swimmer probably factors in

Sunset at the marina

Jim and me

 

Thanks so much to all my Australian relatives and friends for your hospitality showing me around, sharing your time and your homes, feeding me, looking after me, and generally being AWESOME! You all have a home when you come to Canada with me wherever I end up.  I love you all and will miss you.  Thanks for making my time in Australia so special!

 



Octopus Love near Cairns: Diving the Great Barrier Reef

I moved into the very cute, relaxed, and friendly Northern Greenhouse Hostel in Cairns and booked some tours.  I was able to book a day trip to see Cape Tribulation, the Daintree River, Mossman Gorge, and a wildlife park and was happily surprised to find out that I would still be able to do a three-day, 2-night liveaboard diving trip with ProDive to the Great Barrier Reef despite Cyclone Dylan which made landfall near Townsville, just south of Cairns.

 

Northern Greenhouse Hostel - very nice and a good deal at $25/night for a dorm bed in a 6-bed female dorm.

The Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas was an unexpected highlight of the day trip from Cairns with The Adventure Company.  As much as I love animals, I try to avoid zoos whenever possible.  I really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the critters at the Wildlife Habitat.  I was able to feed little Northern Nailtail Wallabies, Parma Wallabies, and Eastern Grey Kangaroos as well as ducks, ibis, and other small birds as well as see Cassowaries, Koalas, and all manner of birds and parrots.  The wallabies and kangaroos were adorable and happily ate out of my hand, even scrabbling at my legs for more when I went to leave.  One of the kangaroos was like a dog and enjoyed a neck scratch by leaning into my scratch and tilting her head back.  One of the bigger male Kangaroos was a little alarming when he greedily grabbed my hand with his big claws (gentle but a little startling) and pigged out on the kangaroo food I had left.

Cassowary - truly prehistoric looking!

extremely adorable Spotted Quoll

  

Strange-looking Tawny Frogmouth

Supercute Northern Nailtail Wallaby... how could you deny this cutie when he's begging for food? 

These little Northern Nailtail Wallaby got somewhat persistent for the kangaroo kibble.  This one was trying to climb me! 

Northern Nailtail Wallaby

 

The alarmed look on my face is because this big male Eastern Grey Kangaroo had big claws that he wrapped around my hand.  I wasn't sure he would let me go when the food was gone!

My favorite Grey Kangaroo.  This sweet girl loved a neck scratch

After enjoying the Wildlife Habitat, we headed to Daintree to a short walk in Mossman Gorge to see a swimming hole and some waterfalls.  This was followed by a nice lunch near the beach at Cape Tribulation followed by a walk along the beach before moving on to do a short cruise up the Daintree River in search of crocodiles.  We saw only one crocodile, and it was just a little baby only around 2' long sleeping on a log.

Mossman Gorge

Cape Tribulation

Another Cassowary Crossing sign

Daintree River

The size of crocodile I hoped to see...

The teeny crocodile I actually saw 

Viewpoint looking south near Port Douglas

 





The next morning was very exciting when I woke up to see sunlight streaming through the dorm window.  I quickly looked at my watch to check the time at which point I realized that it was 6:20am, the exact time I was supposed to be at ProDive to check in to head out for the liveaboard diving trip!!!  OH NO!  I panicked.  I scrambled to grab my bags, my bedding (had to be returned) and ran 3 doors down to the dive shop hoping I hadn't missed my chance to go diving on the Great Barrier Reef.  Phew, I made it and they didn't mind if I took another few minutes to get my dive gear and board the van.  Within 10 minutes of waking up I was on my way to the boat.  LUCKY!

On board the boat we had a safety briefing and information about the boat, schedule, dives, and meals, we were assigned berths (rooms to sleep in) and told where to move our luggage.  I shared a room with a sweet girl named Sunniva who graciously let me have the bottom bunk (I was afraid of falling out of bed in the rocking boat!).  We did 3 dives the first day, 4 the second, and 3 on the last day of the trip.  I got a great dive buddy, Mikkel, who was a great, calm, relaxed diver who is great on air, good at navigation, and who seemed to be interested in the same sorts of things that I am so we were a compatible dive team.  Highlights for me were the night dive on the first night where a group of about 5 big Red Snapper followed us for the duration of the dive using our torchlight to hunt.  We were able to spotlight a few small fish for the Snappers and then watch them hunt and eat the small fish - so much fun!  The second night dive we did was also incredible.  The lights from the boat drew in a lot of Giant Trevally and some good sized Grey Reef Sharks which we could observe swimming around us by the lights of the boat at our safety stop.  The last dive was the best octopus encounter I have ever had.  Mikkel spotted an octopus and pointed it out to me.  We watched for a few minutes before I realized that there was a smaller octopus nearby.  We just stuck around and watched the two octopus for about 20 minutes and they weren't shy, crawling around, changing color and shape, swimming, and otherwise being awesome!  Nice way to cap my visit to the Great Barrier Reef.

Prodive Boat

Jellyfish

Many Spotted Sweetlips near a huge mushroom coral

Giant Clams

Mikkel, my buddy for scale.  These clams were huge!

The coral was very healthy and colorful

Viewing up to the ladder at a safety stop

White tip reef shark with Mikkel for scale

Lovely green turtle with Mikkel for scale again

Spotted Lagoon Ray

The thread of marine stingers was still present so all divers were issued stinger suits which I still think are hilarious.