WA pt. 2 (Dec. 23-26, 2006) ... finally ready to post :)

Hi again everyone,

Yesterday, I made my way on the train to Newcastle (2 hours north of Sydney). I am in the process of more great Mac learning ... following a phone call, then iChat with my brother-in-law Jeffrey who also just got a MacBook.

Soooo, once I figure out how to publish the wegpage that I have updated for my latest blog entry, I will add a link to it from my SherpaDogInOz blog ...

In the meantime, here is my next blog update courtesy of blogspot ... but soon, I hope to have these posted through my new blog that I will try to set up through my Mac provider. I kind of understand what I need to do but I need to wait until I have successfully published/posted my blog pages onto the world wide web ...

Anyhow, I now have the capability to do iChat (web chats) with anyone who is set up on iChat through a Mac & I am not sure just how easily it will be to do the same with PC users, but I will try to sort that out with my Mom, who has used her PC to do webchats in the past.

So, keep your eye on my blog, there's bound to be some new discoveries coming along that enable me to connect even mor crazily with many of your, through this cyberspace we call the Internet. Well, I just got an error message telling me that iMac doesn't have enough storage space (in the free space it offers) to post my blog pages ... so it looks like I will have to add in all the pictures to my Sherpa Dog site a little later today ... darn, just when I thought I might be able to post my updates even more quickly ... I'll see what it takes to "buy" more space but likely, I will stick with the free blogspot access for now ...

I'll do my best to post my OBA itinerary before I head to Canberra in a couple of days as well :)

Be well my friends & family,

Teresa

~~~

Teresa along the beach at Guilderton, on the Indian Ocean (Dec. 23, 2006)

G’daye everyone,

Welcome to my new iWeb blog site (well not just yet :( ... how great that I can now post these pages that I have been creating on my Mac!!! Thanks Jeffrey for getting me set up on the .Mac account ... it was also great to see all of you through the iChat webcast set-up after I connected with you the phone for Alexis’ birthday :) Looking forward to connecting with you on the iChat site in about 5 minutes :) :) :)

Now ... for the continuation of my WA adventures ...

After lunch and some hiding out from the midday sun, Phoebe & I went for a swim in the Indian Ocean (& then the Moore River), while Jo enjoyed an afternoon nap. The afternoon waves were much more alive and I mustered up the courage to get myself in there a little while after Phoebe sauntered in ever so non-chalantly.

It’s quite interesting, how growing up in the Canadian prairies/boreal parkland forests, ... so far removed from the any of the 3 oceans that envelope it ... to see how this has impacted such things as my ability to go striding into the ocean as waves come rolling ashore ... it’s really my “healthy respect” for the power and ever-shifting currents of our mighty oceans :) Especially given how much I truly love coastal ecosystems and the constantly churning, crashing, and rolling of the waves as they hit the intertidal zone. I guess I have been much more an observer and researcher, not one of the beings readily immersing myself in the surf and knowing how to roll with the shifting of the seas :) All in all, I did quite well jumping up and floating about in the waves, something that I am getting more comfortable with, especially once I have pushed myself to get into the colder, deeper waters, to then be furthered removed from the zone where the waves do their crashing and surging. Once there, I am quite content to hop about as the waves come along and to allow myself to be carried up with the water as the waves pass by to the shore.

Shortly after returning to Rangimarie, we packed up Phoebe’s car & headed back to Perth ... with a stop at Yanchep National Park around twilight :) What a great time to visit the park as we were first greeted by a couple of wallabies (small kangaroos) and then a couple of kangaroos. MOST excellently, we were able to visit the koalas in their reserve at Yanchep as well, and as we entered their space, we were welcomed by the sound of what I can only describe as a small lion growling/roaring ... it turned out to be one of the koalas revealing the incredible sound they can make. Phoebe figured that this fairly big koala was expressing its displeasure with one of the other koalas for whatever reason it was on the ground & the other ones were up in their trees.

Grazing koala at dusk in Yanchep National Park (1 hour north of Perth) (December 23, 2006)

It was great to see the koalas moving about the way they were as night time was arriving! We watched some of them as they munched on eucalyptus leaves made available to them in a quiver like PVC tube (you can see one in the picture below), something needed at this reserve since the eucalyptus trees the koalas rely upon for their food source are not native to Western Australia. Similarly, koalas are only native to eastern Australia, hence their home at Yanchep National Park in this koala reserve ...

I apologized to the koalas after I took the few pictures I did that needed the flash, these are the times when I really need to have a better understanding of photography so that I could adjust my camera accordingly to adapt to the current light conditions. Perhaps I can work on this during my time Down Unda” ... I’ll keep you posted ;)

I believe the folks at Yanchep may be helping to keep some of the diversity of the gene pool alive by having these koalas living so far removed from their native habitat. I am grateful that the koalas are here at Yanchep since they are the only ones I have had the occasion to see here in the Merry ol’ Land of Oz so far ...

Once back in Perth, Phoebe & I stopped for a veggie kabob that had egg and veggies in it instead of falafels or donair meet (it was pretty tasty & hit the spot) and then we went to The Funk Club, to hear kt perform with one of her old bands called Funk JunKtion, that got together for a few weeks for a reunion concert & CD recording. There were about 15 musicians on stage either singing, playing various junk percussion instruments, such as plastic drums and other auxillary sounds ... guitar, trumpet, flute (kt), saxophone, & clarinet, plus a drum set. It was a pretty groovin’ sound and it was totally great to see & hear kt perform with her Funk Junktion mates.

Here again, I am challenged by lighting conditions but these 2 pic’s managed to turn out reasonably well ... kt is the musician in the middle who is playing the flute.

December 24th, back in Perth, I was quite pleased to have Phoebe give me a much needed haircut before we headed out to check out a few of the big sales at the outdoor recreational equipment stores. Khatmandu had everything for 50 % off & I decided to get a pack (quick drying) towel and 2 litre water pouch, plus a plug-ing for using Down Unda, and a pair of gaiters.

We ran into Phoebe’s friend and work mate Ken and before dropping him off at home, we stopped in the City Farm www.cityfarmperth.org.au near the downtown area of Perth. What a great place for folks to come connect with each other & the land and its critters.

As with many of the other great community spaces that I have had the pleasure to visit along my travels, mural and tile mosaic art have factored in beautifully to give people a way of contributing to and connecting with their community spaces.

Ken & Phoebe at City Farm (great mural in behind made by City Farm visitors) ... note the teal coloured sun-shade ... these are quite common around Aussie land & MUCH needed to protect folks from the more intense sunlight here.

City Farm Permaculture mural on side of building near entrance (note the grape leaves/vines in the foreground ...

After returning to Gaia House briefly& enjoying the very yummy stirfry that kt whipped up (with many garden veggies from the back of Gaia House) ...

... Phoebe & I headed into Fremantle (suburb south of Perth), where I visited the Dharmapala Buddhist Centre and joined in on the chanted prayers (puja) they had that night & Pheebs visited with her family after dropping me off.

Phoebe headed to Sydney late that night to meet up with a bunch of our Seed Mates north of Sydney, at the Peats Ridge Festival. I had hoped to do the exact same thing but was not able to get a reasonably priced airfare when I had made my booking back in October or whenever that was ... alas, I was not meant to reconnect with the small mob of my Seed Mates that gathered at Peats Ridge but I sure did enjoy ringing in the new year as I did ... more on that after I tell you of my road trip with the carefree and almost always barefooted kt ....

Phoebe & her brother Ben at Gaia House (Dec. 24, 2006)

December 25th - given all the coming & going I had been doing up until Christmas Day, I opted to spend a quiet day at Gaia House while kt met up with her family on the north side of Perth. I made some phone calls during the 3 hours was away from the house & searched out a store that was open and got an ice cream bar ... one of those mango/passion fruit creamsicle kind :) Then, back at Gaia House, I had the great success of figuring out posting pictures onto my BLOG :) This turned out to be a bit of a detrimental success, since I hen spent much too much time mucking about on the ‘puter and was fighting off quite a nasty headache at the time I finally posted my first entry with pictures. I think this also was a big reminder for me that I need to be drinking much, much more water ... especially on days when I have spent quite a lot of time outside and in/out of the sun.

Boxing Day - it worked out that I did get to visit with kt & her family since kt realized she had left behind her “swimmers/bathers” (aka swimsuit) back at her folks home. Soooo, I joined kt for that errand, which we had a great visit and we had the most excellent fortune to have lunch with kt’s Mom (Helen) & Dad (Peter) & her grandmother ... we enjoyed a feast of leftovers from their Christmas dinner the day before ... how truly delicious it was! As well, Peter perservered with his efforts to help kt get the hood (aka “bonnet”) open of the Jackaroo (4 wheel drive vehicle that kt & I were going to drive down to the south coast of Western Australia).

 kt & her folks ( Helen, & Peter), after the hood was successfully wrangled with ... courtesy of WD40 (Helen’s “cure-all” for any mechanical problems) and the “enforcer”, Peter’s tool of choice for dealing with stubborn mechanical challenges :)

kt & I stopped at the beach near her folks place on our way home ... the waves were quite welcoming and the water wasn’t too cold, but it did take me a little while to acclimatize to the hot ambient temperature while immersing my body in the cooler temperature of the ocean water :)

Delightfully, after kt & I got back to Gaia House, it worked out for Jarrod, another one of my Seed Mates from Perth, to come over for a visit. Even though it would have been great to have a longer visit, it was great to see Jarrod and hear Jarrod his voice again ... We had some fun out in the Gaia House garden ...

Jarrod & I in Vivienne’s wishing well at Gaia House

kt, Jarrod, & I ... so happy to reconnect with each other again :)

Time for me to finally post this latest entry.

I’ll be in touch hopefully later today with part 3 of my WA adventures. I am in Newcastle (2 hour train ride north of Sydney) & have a wireless network to tap into, so I will try to make the most of it & get things up-to-date as much as I can ... :)

Hugs ‘n’ Bugs,

Teresa