Perth I--The Wombat and His Friends

"Perth has the best animal park in Australia," Michael said. That is a major recommendation, because Australia is all about animals.  Australia broke off from the world landmass long before the rest of the continents split up, and so it has a whole range of native species that exist in the wild nowhere else. 

a kookabura

When we arrived in Perth on October 4, 2012, we drove straight to Caversham Wildlife Park.  Just as Michael recommended, we headed immediately for Molly's Farm Show.  We arrived in time to see a shrewd sheep dog round up a flock of sheep and herd them into a pen, guided only by a few whistles from his master.

 

We then watched a sheep being sheared, with the dark, dirty wool falling first to the ground and then pounds of the snow-white under-wool. 

 

 

A cute crowd of elementary school kids sitting near us was summoned up front for a race to see whose lamb could guzzle down a bottle of milk the fastest.

 

Next stop was "The Wombat and His Friends" show.  Just as Michael suggested, we rushed right for the wombat as soon as visitors were invited into the ring to meet the animals.  Dave and I were the first to pose with the wombat, a passive, furry, teddy bear-looking creature, before hordes lined up for their photos with him. 

There was a whole range of other animals to examine as well.  There was a white kangaroo sipping from a bottle, a rat-like marsupial, and a possum.

 

 

There were a couple of owls and some lizards.

 

 

We then wandered through the areas of the animal park representing the different sections of Australia, with their distinctive climates and animals.   We passed a parrot, cockatoo, some bats, a spiky echidna, and a pack of dingos, or wild dogs.  In a recent Australian murder case, a mother claimed that a dingo had stolen away her toddler, but the court convicted her anyway.  Later, there was proof that dingos can catch and kill little children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw a wallaby, similar to a small kangaroo, whose baby was leaning out of the pouch and munching grass, just like his mom.

We lingered in the koala cage, where koalas piled up like stuffed toys.

 

 

We also hung out in the kangaroo enclosure, where kangaroos lounged around like lazy dogs.  Our favorites were the kangaroos with strange white fur and the mother kangaroos, with their baby's long feet hanging out of their pouches.

 

 

 

 

We met Michael in downtown Perth, after his workday was over.  We wandered through Perth's Museum of Contemporary Art and the amphitheaters and other public areas surrounding Perth's museum square.  There were some interesting exhibits at the museum and some strange ones, too.

 

 

We then strolled along the Swan River, lined with palm trees.  We looked back at Perth, with all its skyscrapers.

 

 

 

Michael showed us his sleek, modern apartment, right across the street from the beach.  We could watch the breakers roll in from his living room window.

 

Michael showed us the Tibetan painting which he'll hang in his hallway back in SLC, and the Balinese art that he collected on his last trip to Bali.

It was soon time to leave for our dinner reservation at "The Prophet," an excellent Lebanese restaurant. 

 

 

We also stopped by the Perth Temple, one of four Mormon temples in Australia.