Another Wildlife Adventure

I am not one of those people who will keep a smile on my face all the time and tell everyone how amazing it is to live overseas. It's hard. It's lonely. It's 10,500 miles from home. But its reward is some once-in-a-lifetime experiences that make it worth it.

So far I've found Australia to be interesting but not as exotic as I'd expected...things look familiar, people speak English (although Aussie English can be pretty different, more on that one day), food is recognizable, but the major difference is the wildlife here. It really does surprise me nearly every day, whether it's cockatoos on our roof or black swans landing in the river.

Yesterday I ended up on the beach with the boys (also a pretty amazing thing - the possibility that any day we may end up on the beach, even completely unplanned). This is the path down the dunes in front of the golf course.

The boys explored a bit and found all kinds of interesting things in the dried kelp like shells, coral, and sponges. This stretch of beach is a protected reef so the snorkeling is supposed to be amazing (too cold for me to check out just yet) but it means it's not good for swimming so we have to walk a few minutes in either direction to get the clean sand.

Alex loved this old sea urchin that had lost all its spines.

Ben was just having a great time getting dirty.

I noticed a flock of seagulls behind us so I told Alex to chase them, then I noticed this big mass moved a bit.

Turns out it was a beautiful, sleeping sea lion! Not sure if that was her tennis ball or if it washed up from the dog beach down the road.

After this picture, she woke up and looked at us, then rolled over and kept basking in the sun. What a life!
Apparently the sea lions aren't common on Cottesloe beach but this one has been hanging around a bit lately. Most of the groups live north or south of the populated beaches, which is good news for the surfers since sea lions = great white feeding grounds. There have been a few sharks spotted here since we moved in. That's one wildlife encounter I can live without! (at least not while any of us are in the water)

That was a pretty cool afternoon for me because I was feeling particularly lonely after Lou Anne and Scott left and it really made my day. I love animals and get so excited over seeing new ones in the wild so it certainly helped my attitude about our new home.

For these guys, it was just another day!