Yesterday Becks and I decided to go on a little road trip. The plan was to go check out this farm and finally allow her to see some kangaroos but to our disappointment, there were no kangaroos. They only had farm animals. No wonder the entrance fee was free. They didn't have any Aussie animals for us tourists. My other planned destination was the Serpentine National Park. I knew there were these falls there so why not check them out. As the saying goes, seek and you shall find. Well it wasn't meant for this context but nevertheless, guess what we saw?? That's right, wild kangaroos and I dont' mean just one or two. There were so many of them everywhere, just chilling and eating.

There was a landscape maintenance guy there who just went about his business, not even acknowledging the Kangaroos' presence while the two of us were sitting there in amazement. Should we get out of the car?? They don't attack people, maybe, but then again they do have some pretty long claws. On our way out we decided to get out of the car and get some close-up shots. We were surrounded by them in every direction and they just stared at us, as if they were posing. There was one mother kangaroo with a baby in its pouch. I think I attract wild animals or something because I've seen so many different wild animals in the past week. And some of those kangaroos kept jumping towards me no matter where I was standing. They just ignored Becks. Bet you found that amusing, eh Becks??

Oh yeah, the falls was cool too but clearly took a back seat to the wild kangaroos.

Outback Road Trip: Day 2

I should've been dead tired from all that driving but I couldn't sleep that first night at Monkey Mia. The wind was so strong and was a lot colder than I ever expected. I'm lying there and wondering if we secured the top covering of the tent properly and if my sandals will be blown away by the wind. At one point, I even visualized where I would go look for my sandals in the morning. I went through all the possible outcomes and decided that there was only a slim chance that my sandals will be blown out to the ocean. That's basically what I did throughout the night and wondering if it was time to get up yet.

It was 7:30 am and I had already showered and finished taking down the tent. All that's left to do was to enjoy my breakfast and wait for the wild dolphins. Monkey Mia is the place to go if you want to swim with wild dolphins. We walked to the shore and went were everyone else was gathered around.



There were 4-5 dolphins just chilling a foot away from us. It was awesome. I was surprised that they would come so close to the shore considering they are wild. Apparently they allocate between 8-1pm for feeding time and the dolphins usually do come around 8am. They say that in the past 10 years, the dolphins have only missed a few feeding days. That's quite impressive. The water was fairly cloudy so I couldn't get any great pictures of them. Next time...



After that great start to the day, we decided to check out the surrounding attractions and town. We were on our way to the most western town in Australia when we came about this beautiful lagoon. The colour of the water was the most vibrant blue you'll ever see. It looked like something from a painting or something. It's a shame my camera broke down. Oh, that's also where we came face to face with some wild emus. I knew they attacked people so I was a little worried but then they ran away. That's right, they knew better than to mess with me. Yeah right, they probably figured that we weren't worth the trouble.

We walked towards the lagoon to get a better look at the lagoon and I found out later that it was a good thing we didn't step in the water. We later went to "Ocean Park", where they have built an artificial lagoon to rehab sick marine animals that people have found. Apparently the lagoon where we had just visited was filled with these stone fishes. They actually look like stones and barely move so they only need to eat every few weeks. When you step on them, you will experience extreme pain. It's not like getting bitten by a snake where it affects your blood stream and you have no control of it. These attacks somehow cause pain so it depends on your pain tolerance. People have passed out because they couldn't handle the pain and die. Guess what the cure is? Just put your foot in hot water. It's that simple.

Yeah so we saw quite a few marine life that day. From dolphins to sharks to my favourite, the turtles...and I can now say that I've been to the most western town in Australia.

After all that, there was only two more hours until sunset. We better get a move on to our next destination if we want to get there before the sun sets.

Outback Road Trip: Day 1

WOW, a full week off without any school responsibilities. Now that's what I call a novelty and should not be wasted. My housemate and I decided to take a road trip up north. It was only the two of us because everyone else couldn't or wasn't willing to skip orientation week.

My first Outback road trip actually started the day before when I picked up my first ever car rental, a brand new Toyota Corolla. This was the cheapest car rental place in town so getting a Toyota was a pretty sweet deal. A friend was courageous enough to accompany me on my very first attempt at driving with the steering wheel on the other side of car and actually driving on the opposite side. She probably regretted her decision when I kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turning signals. Haha, it wasn't too bad. I had about 6 months to get familiar with everything being opposite...Hey she survived and didn't have a heart attack alright. Give me some slack!!!

After only a few hours of sleep I was ready to start this 10 hour drive. My housemate didn't have her driver's licence here so I was the only driver this week. It was exactly 6:00 am and we're ready to roll. Sweet, right on schedule...

The plan was to reach our farthest destination on the first day and then slowly make our way down in the following few days. So our target location was the famous Monkey Mia where wild dolphins love to hang out. It was approximately a 10 hour drive and if any of you have ever been on a road trip with me, you'll know that I only stop for gas and washroom breaks. I get in this zone and many times I forget that there are other people in the car. Some of my best ideas were created while driving.

We're on our way but the speed limit on these highways go only as high as 80km/h. If I have to drive the entire way at this speed, it'll take us two days to get there. They're really strict on speeding here so people dare not to going any faster than the designated speed limit. I have an unblemished record and I don't plan on getting my first one in Australia. Oh finally, the speed limit is increased to 110 km/h. As we got farther and farther away from the city, people were going a little faster and over time you were basically free to go as fast as your car will let you. If any of you make it out here, you'll realize why they call it the outback or the bush here. When you're driving outside of the city, there is absolutely NOTHING around but bushes. At times the road was straight and my mind started playing games with me. Am I really moving or did I somehow end up on a car treadmill?? I give it a little more gas and am now up to a steady 160km/h. No change, still feels like I'm on a treadmill.

After close to 10 hours, we are finally close our final destination. Now when I say close, I mean an hour away close. There's basically one main highway to go up north and smaller connecting highways that take you to the cities since they are all built along the coast. So why they didn't built the highway closer to the coast is beyond me. Anyways, so we turn onto this highway and I swear I saw a sign that said petrol (or gas for us North Americans) straight ahead. Sweet, I'll gas up there instead of at this petrol station that we just passed by. We're driving along this endless road that seem consist of a lot of uphill driving and I notice that the gas guage is quickly dropping. Oh man there better be a gas station soon because I don't think we'll make it there.

Come on instincts, kick in...What should I do?? I try to look ahead but the road seem to just keep on going with no signs of the coast. Would it have killed them if they gave up some hope by putting up some signs or something?? As you can imagine, this is when I'm freaking out because as you all know I was really anal about gassing up once it hit the half way mark. We need a plan, just in case the worst does happen and we run out of gas. Look, there's a tour bus driving towards us. Should we wave it down?? Maybe I should and ask the driver how far the next gas station is. Then all of a sudden, we see hope. Nope it's not a gas station and nope it's not a sign either. Through the rear view mirror I see a speck getting bigger and bigger. It's another car. No time for egos, we have to act now and quick. I pull over and we wave the car down. The couple graciously offered to drive slowly behind us and get us gas if we ran out. Aw, gotta love the unwritten traveller's code of conduct: all travellers must be friendly and helpful to fellow travellers.

We finally reach Monkey Mia and by the time we set up the tent, we still had plenty of time to enjoy the amazing sunset. Western Australia has great sunsets here but the one at Monkey Mia was by far the most stunning. The extremely calm water turned into a purplish colour and it was just very soothing.

Real or just my imagination???

Adri walks into the flat and says, "I think Seb's spirit is in the house?"

"What? Why would you even say that?" I was expecting some kind of a build up to that comment or at least a "hello" first.

"Well, he's gone camping but yet his msn is still on and sometimes it's on online and sometimes it's on away. It's as though his spirit is still here".

"Damn, stop saying that because now I'll get all freaked out when I'm in the house alone. Thanks Adri".

After that wonderful conversation, I didn't think about it again because it was just a ridiculous thought. At least, not until later that night when I was alone in the house.

Our rez was doing a movie marathon night in the common room and both my remaining housemates went. I went for the first movie but decided to go back after that and study. Since there was no one in the house, I don't know why I decided to shut my door but I did. I was sitting on my bed, which faced my door. After about half an hour into my studies, my door started to open just ever so slightly. After only a crack, it closed again but no sound. What the heck's going on?? I know I didn't hear the main door open because it's usually pretty loud when someone comes the entrance door. I kind of hear some noise outside my door but not really. Am I hearing things or is there really noise?? Who would open my door slightly and not say anything. I know Adri and Nigel would never do that. Could it be?? No it couldn't. Damn Adri, why did you have to put those thoughts in my head...I'm kinda freaked out right now...

Eventually I got the courage to open my door and of course, there was nobody. All the lights were turned off except for the living room lights. Then as I was walking back to my room, I noticed some light coming from the yankee guy's room. He moved out two weeks ago. Did one of our new housemate move in already?? Naw, it couldn't be. The others would've told me. I went back into my room and just as I closed my door shut, I heard a room door open. Okay, now this is just pissing me off now. What's going on?? Walked out the check again and still nobody out there.

It happened again but this time, someone came out of what I thought was a deserted room. As it turns out, it was my new housemate all along. John's from Singapore and apparently have moved in the day before. He's also met both Nigel and Adri. Where the heck was I when all this was happening?? Probably class...

Yeah so that was the excitement of my weekend, other than studying. Hope you all had a less traumatic weekend than I did.

Hope

Take a moment and just stare at this picture. If you look at it long enough, it kind of scares you to think about where this tunnel actually leads to. I've been playing ball at this newly built outdoor baseball diamond. This picture is the walkway from the clubhouse looking out towards the dugout. Sounds so professional eh, with a clubhouse leading to an actual dugout. You can't see any of the ball lights from where I took the picture but believe me, they were definitely on and when I reached the dugout it was an unbelieveable and pleasantly unexpected sight. The excitement, the hope, the anticipation...Well here's hoping that even though the light doesn't seem to be shining right now, the lights are indeed there and when I get to the end it will shine brighter than ever expected. Sometimes you need to follow blindly and have faith, no matter how dark it looks ahead. One step at a time...Who knows what the end will bring, only time will tell...

Learning experience

I spent the past few days working with disability children. As part of our physio program, each of us have to complete 40 hours working with people with some disability. We went to Mandurah which was about a couple of hours drive. There were only 4 children because anymore and it would be too difficult and not enough staff members to handle the children. It was a good experience and it sure does test your patience. You can only tell the children to stop doing this and stop doing that before your nerves start getting the best of you. I must've sounded like a broken record half the time I was there.

There was an 18 year old girl who had Autism. HJ was really well behaved and even taught me how to sign. I felt so bad because there were many times when I couldn't understand her. It must be quite frustrating when all you want is a drink and people can't seem to understand. As much as these past few days was about patience, it can't measure up to the patience she must have.

Then there was 12 year old JL. He has Downs Syndrome and is definitely a ladies man. When we went to the grocery store, he would talk to every women behind the counter. He was clearly hitting on them and kissing the back of her hands. It was actually funny to watch because he had more guts than most guys would. They can definitely learn something from this kid. Unfortunately he saved his bad side for us, well me especially. He can be very selfish at times and always demanded to have things his way. He was also quite the drama queen. On every outing he would, at least once, pretend that he suffered a broken limb or some kind of traumatic injury and actually start crying and wimpering.

Then there was 16 year old CS. She acted like a 5 year old most of the time and was super hyper most of the time. She stuck to you like glue and whenever we were sitting, she would kneel on the floor and want to place her head on your lap. She's like a cat. If it was up to her, she would eat on the floor and sleep on your lap.

Finally we have the young 6 year old ST. We were short staffed when one of the other student had to leave due to personal reasons. ST was quite the handful so the other 2 staff had to focus their attention on him most of the time. The kid will literally take off and run if you don't hold him down in public. He must've thrown everything he touched and jumped off everything he could climb on. We called him our little monkey. The kid can scream like I've never heard anyone scream before. He was so cute but also such a pain.

We went on a boat cruise the first day and saw some dolphins. When the captain told us that we might see dolphins, I thought it was just something he told all the customers. That was a nice surprise. Then the next day we went to see Madagascar. It was a funny movie. Finally, we went to a Wildlife park on the last day. That was the highlight in my opinion. It was my first encounter with Aussie animals. The kangaroos were left to run around out in the open so we got to feed them. They were all baby kangaroos and they were sooo cute.

I also hung out with some cute koalas. Gee I couldn't believe how soft their fur was. I wanted to just pick it up and hug it like a teddy bear but I was afraid it would bite me or something. The sleep all cuddled up in a ball but sitting up. That was interesting to see.

What else did we see that was Australian...There were camels, ostrichs, and dingos which look like foxes to me. The ostrichs were a lot bigger than I ever thought they would be and man were they ugly. Those things are definitely photogenic animals because they actually look half decent in the pics. They really are uglier looking than that.


These camels just came right up to the camera. It was as though they wanted the attention and photo shoot. They're not very pretty to either eh.

This next picture is just so darn cute. Awww, they're soo cute and little...Don't ask why a rooster was in there with the them. They seem like an odd match-up.

Sunset Coast

It was a nice warm day that the plan was to go check out the WA acquarium and then walk along the Sunset Coast. I took the bus up north to the correct train station but I didn't know which bus number to take once I got there. Why I didn't ask, just being spontaneous? My initial plan was to just go to the station and stand at the stop with a bunch of families and/or tourist. My backup plan was just to take any bus that would take me to the coast because the aquarium was also at the boat harbour. Needless to say, plan A worked.

I wanted to check out this aquarium all week so I figured the admission fee was worth it if there were turtles. My brother has been absolutely obsessed with turtles so I have made it a mission of mine to find some Australian turtles...Mission accomplished!!!

There were so many cool fishes that I've only seen in animation. I took some pics so allow me to introduce some of my favourites: Can you say Finding Nemo??

It took me a long time to wait for the perfect side view of these Sea Horses.

The Blow fishes and Jelly fishes were soo cool to watch. They were like live lava lamps.

After the aquarium, I walked along the boat harbour and decided to see how far I could walk along the sunset coast. For those who need a geography refresher, Western Australia borders the Indian ocean and the state has built this great bike/walking path all along the coast. The path basically runs the length of all the beaches and they are collectively called the sunset coast, for obvious reasons. It was a pretty sweet walk and the waves were surprisingly bigger than the ones I saw down south at the world famous surfing beach. I estimated that it would take me a good 5-6 hours to walk to the beach of target but it only took 3, maybe 4 hours. Check out the pics that I took along the way.

At every beach, they had one of these signs. I just thought the sign was funny and I don't think we'll see it in Canada.

This picture turned out better than I thought it would.


This just makes me laugh everytime I see it. This guy was fishing while there were a few people out in the water surfing. Now seriously, do you really think you'll catch something?? The waves probably buried his hook it was so shallow and close to the shore. There's definitely no fishes were he was standing