Last week we dropped
off the van for service very early in the morning. They worked on it all day
and did a very thorough service and only finished at closing time, 4 pm. One of
the mechanics was having a birthday and decided to give Graeme a present. He put
$100 worth of ball bearings into the van for him. He did not want to give
Graeme back his old ones, which would not be safe to use. I think it must have
been the mechanic's 70th birthday, and he was very good at his
job.
We decided to spend
the day at the AQWA - Aquarium of WA. It was only about 8.30 am and we had a
couple of hours to wait for opening time. Graeme put his head down for a nap
and I went exploring. The area near the Aquarium is called Hillarys Boat
Harbour. The wind was blowing a fearsome, cold wind and we'd had rain in the
night. Firstly there were the most luxurious cruisers and boats you can
imagine. Then there was a monstrous marina. It was all very eye catching.
.JPG) |
| Blue ring octopus |
.JPG) |
| Lion fish |
.JPG) |
| Corals |
.JPG) |
| Deadly stone fish |
A
group of Aboriginal school boys arrived to go fishing off the pier for an hour
or so. (must have been sport for school!) There was the biggest boardwalk of
shops imaginable, with luxurious, newish shops, a shop that just sells chocolate
for food, etc. Well at that hour on a freezing morning, there were not many
customers. Some shopkeepers came to open up. They said most of the business is
on weekends.
Beyond and through
the boardwalk were more expensive boats moored and beyond this to the shore was
a beautiful family beach. It was extensive and went out into the water, with
platforms and a wharf for a slippery slide into the beach - way out in the
centre of the beach. Behind the beach was a large commercial water playground
full of big slides, rock walls to climb and all manner of entertainment for the
children. Behind the beach and across the road were expensive houses, and we
discovered that a block of land there is $750,000. I think it looked like
something out of an American magazine. House and land prices appear to be high
here, but business people say it is the two-tiered economy at work. Those who
work on the mines, basically, and those who do not. Some miners work on one
week and off one week, or multiples of weeks on and weeks off. The place
appears to be thriving and full of life.
We did not get many
photos as the weather was unpleasant. I met a couple going on a cruiser
(liner?) out to Rottnest Island for the day. It was like a small cruise ship
with the bow way up out of the water. I couldn't take my eyes off it. $75 per
day for one person. A beautiful boat. They were fortunate that the weather
improved and it did not rain, even warming up a bit. Ah well, it's something to
do next time, as I tried hard to get there, but did not make
it.
The aquarium was
amazing. I've seen a few in the capital cities, but this was just for the West
coast of WA, where the tropical and temperate waters meet. There are reefs
everywhere protecting the beaches. Apparently all the sand dunes we saw coming
down the coast used to be under the ocean. Also there are great gorges under
the oceans here, deeper and bigger than the Grand Canyon in the US. All kinds
of amazing sea creatures live in those places. We also met most of the very
venomous and dangerous sea creatures, like Blue Ringed Octopus, Stone Fish, Sea
Snakes - there are plenty of different kinds. We did not see an Irukandji as
far as I know. I'd actually like to go back and do it all again, but Bunbury
and Busselton are calling. The length of the WA coast from top to bottom is
13,100 kilometres from North to South and around to the East as Graeme has
added.
No comments:
Post a Comment