geez....did we go to australia? oh RIGHT, i started to tell you all about our awesome trip and then i dropped the ball and didn't finish the job. BAH. so i will do that. right now.
with the wonderful days 1 through 4 under our belts, we embarked on fantastic day number five! we had planned to head to fremantle (a cute little city near perth) that day but rebecca, our guide from the day before told us about a place in perth that we could go to see all kinds of australia animals (read: kangaroos and koalas that we HAD to see while in australia). so we used the wonderful public transit system to get ourselves to caversham wildlife park which houses about 200 species of animals in a walk-through type park. many of the animals, like the kangaroos, aren't in cages...or i guess they are in really big cages but you can walk right through with them! at caversham we saw wallabies, a wombat, a cassowary, emus, dingos, birds of prey, quoakkas, owls, kookaburras, black swans, echidnas and more. we also got to see and TOUCH kangaroos and koalas!! so exciting! now we can officially say we have been to australia. because obviously kangaroos and koalas are a big part of the experience!
the kangaroos were so cool because i had never realized before how much they depend on their tails! they use them almost like a third leg when they hop! it's actually kind of strange if you think about it. oh, and they were not shy at all! they hopped right up to us hoping that they would get some food from us. one of my favourite pics of the trip is this shot of kel and the kangaroo. it hopped right up to him and he was talking to the kangaroo, telling him he was sorry but he didn't have any food! too funny! also, you will see in the pictures that some of the kangaroos are white. they are not albino but they were actually bred this way because someone along the line decided that they would be attractive if they were white. instead, these white animals have a hard time even opening their eyes in the sun because they are so sensitive. it's a little sad.
the koalas were also awesome because there is something so mystical about a koala. we got to pet one of the older male koalas and he was so soft. i don't know much about them, but i thought i had heard that they were an unpleasant animal but he didn't seem to mind having his bum patted at all!
now, with all of those australian animals checked off the list, we packed up our things and got on the train to fremantle. i am IN LOVE with fremantle. i want to move there. and never leave. it is such an amazing artsy little place with so much to do and only a short train ride from perth. it's perfect! plus i fit in. i loved walking down the street and no one even took a second look. i mean, i know i am tall, i get that, but always being the whitest, fattest, tallest....it gets old. it was so nice to just blend in for a while. oh and all the cute boys didn't hurt either ;)
anyway, we spent the next couple days wanding around fremantle, or freo as the locals call it and just enjoying the blue skies, fresh, cool air, and beautiful sights. we walked around the harbour looking at the indian ocean and all the beautiful sailboats, ate ice cream, toured the fremantle prison on a ghost walk (YIKES!) and shopped and shopped. we ate at fantastic restaurants, toured through the fremantle art market (many times), listened to buskers as they sang and played on the street, went back to the didgeridoo shop and listened to some AMAZING didj players. it was fabulous. relaxing, easy going and the perfect way to end our vacation. but it was hard to leave! i could have stayed forever...have i mentioned that??
it's taken me so long to write all these australia posts that i'm not even sure if i have mentioned it yet, but i have to tell you about the people in australia. we really found that everyone was more than helpful and always pleasant and super friendly. we met aweomse people everywhere we went! our guides on the pink bus and urban indigenous tours, the waitresses at almost every restaurant we went to, the guys at the didj shop, people at the hostels, bus drivers...everyone was fantastic!! it made our trip just that much more memorable you know?!
well, i guess that's all for now in the australia chronicles. maybe my posts have inspired you to go and check it out for yourself. i hope so. cause it truly was amazing!
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