Cyclone Bianca

Perth is generally out of the range of cyclones but apparently they do make it here every once in a while. The last time was 1978 when one did quite a bit of damage so it was big news last week when Bianca glanced off the northern coast and made her way towards Perth. But oddly enough, even though the cyclone warning made headlines, there was little or no weather information to be found. There were no cyclone supplies being snapped up at the stores, no lines at the gas stations, or any other preparations being made. Coming from Houston where tropical storms and hurricanes are taken very seriously I couldn't believe the lack of information and precautionary measures. So it was an interesting cultural lesson as well! The most official report I could find said something along the lines of "by tomorrow morning, we'll know whether the cyclone made landfall or not" when they were predicting the storm to hit overnight Saturday night. Uh, I could look out the window and tell you that! Regardless, I'm a severe weather junkie and got very excited about the possibility of a big storm.

The radar picture was impressive.

On Friday, an extremely humid heat wave arrived ahead of the storm, along with a plague of massive grasshoppers.

There were dozens in our yard alone but they were easiest to spot on the walls. Kind of freaky, especially since they showed up overnight.

Saturday evening we got some rare thunderstorms and tropical clouds, along with some increased winds. I was excited to wake up Sunday morning and look out the window, but this was the view:
Cyclone, anyone? Not in this neighborhood.

As it turns out, things stalled overnight and the storm basically fell apart. We still got some unusual weather and, much to Matt's delight, a sizable storm surge with great surfing waves. By Sunday evening the usually placid summer waters were replaced with enormous rolling waves and the beach was busy with surfers and spectators.

So we missed out on a cyclone but still got to experience some unique weather. At least it made for an interesting weekend!

Australia Day

Last Wednesday was Australia Day, a nice mid-week holiday equivalent to the 4th of July, and we took full advantage of a hot day at the beach. Ben and Alex never get tired of sand. Ever.

We have never seen Cottesloe beach so packed! It's probably the most popular and well-known beach in Perth and we were fortunate on this day to not have to worry about getting parking since we walked.

It was the annual Havianas thong competition among several beaches in Australia. Last year Cottesloe won and set the world record for inflatable footwear (really?) but this year it was kind of disorganized and took several hours to get everyone out in the water for the official count. The wind had picked up and naptime was looming so we left before all 1,900 people were in the ocean but it didn't matter because Bondi beach in Sydney took home the trophy this year with over 2,000 floats. It's still a fun sight to see and great day to be at the beach taking part in the festivities.

That evening we had our friends the Smiths over for dinner and we walked down to the beach to see the fireworks in Fremantle. Sweet Mackenzie made sure Ben wasn't missing any of the show.

Alex took it all in from his tall vantage point and tried to run back down the sidewalk the next morning looking for more fireworks.

After the fireworks, I put Alex to bed and the bigger kids got to play with some sparklers.

Luke was double-fisting.

Clint and Reid were lighting the sparklers to share with everyone.

It may not be a holiday that has a lot of significance to us personally, but it's fun to take part in local celebrations that remind us of home. We even grilled fajitas and broke open a special can of rotel for queso to make things seem more like Texas!

Fun Pictures

Fake sleeping....(but I love the faux bunk beds)

real sleeping....(on the edge of the bed and wouldn't move)

Loving some stickers from Texas!

Denmark

Our weekend cottage was centrally located between two of the larger towns and lots of the sights so we went east one day and west the next. Our venture west led us to Greens Pool, the beach I was most looking forward to visiting. I was getting pretty excited on the walk down.

It was really amazing! Crystal clear water and no waves, thanks to the giant granite boulders stopping the surf around the edges of the pool.

It really was a giant swimming pool in the ocean and a playground for young and old.

Ben and Alex were in heaven and played nonstop for hours. Alex blew through naptime and never slowed down, which was a record in his book.

And no better place to wrestle, right?

A walk farther on took me to a deserted, gorgeous beach.

I'm king of the WORLD!

The sand was powdery fine and perfect for building things. This was Matt's modern art...no particular plan but an interesting design. When it was finally time for us to pack up camp the boys got to tear it down. Ben was a little doubtful that he could really tackle it.

But that didn't last long!

There it goes!

Naturally, Alex had to get in on the demolition action.

We finally pulled ourselves away from a wonderful day at the beach, stopped in a few places to try food and wine, then had dinner and called it a night. Can't have an evening drive down under without running into at least a few kangaroos, though.

On Sunday, we packed up and casually started driving back through Denmark on a cool, drizzly morning. I thought it was neat spotting a huge pelican cruising on the river.

We happened to catch the summer festival (on a not-so-summery day!) in Denmark and stopped for some food and shopping. A little french stall had some wonderful baked goods and fantastic brownies. These guys were in heaven!

We took our time driving and stopped at everything that looked interesting, like this winery in the hills and a toffee factory.

I spotted a roo hanging out under the brush to avoid the drizzle.

Our next stop was in the Valley of the Giants, an area known for its giant Tingle (a type of eucalyptus) forest with trees that can grow up to 240ft tall. We had to do the Tree-Top Walk and take the raised walkway 124ft in the air.

It was a bit unnerving to notice how easy it was to see through the floor straight to the ground. But I guess none of us has a fear of heights because we all enjoyed it, especially the boys who considered it a runway and did their best to run the entire thing.

The views were impressive in all directions.




Back down on the ground, we also walked around the base of some of the oldest trees, which can live to 1,000 years old and survive being hollowed out by fire or fungus. This tree was still alive and perfectly healthy above us.


They last a long time on the ground as well.

This one looked petrified at the base.

We cruised through several other Tingle and Karri forests and worked our way to Pemberton to visit the famed lookout tree. It's 196ft tall and has a lookout at the top, which used to be used to spot fires and is still used on occasion when it's too windy for aircraft. It has spikes making a ladder to the top and is open for anyone to climb. Here's what I love about Australia - this is the only warning and regulation of the climbing. No waivers to sign or ropes to secure the climbers, just a little warning and have at it!

It was a long way to the top!

Somebody was not scared and wanted to tackle the climb first thing!

Monkey see, monkey do...

But it was Daddy who had the proper footwear and nerve to make the big climb. Unfortunately, I forgot to send the camera with him to get pictures from the top.

Watching Daddy disappear into the foliage...

Allllllll the way at the top!

It looked pretty amazing to see Matt scaling this enormous tree.

There was lots of "help" on the way back down.

Around the base of the tree, I spotted this Western Rosella and was trying to get a good picture of it.

Matt grabbed the camera and was closing in for a better shot when he got a little company. This ringneck parrot was afraid he was missing a free handout!

We all enjoyed a wonderful weekend away and pulled into Perth right at sunset on Sunday night. As the boys get older and enjoy more activities with us, our family trips are becoming more and more fun for everyone. Even the car rides are nice now because the kids watch movies or entertain themselves. We've made some wonderful memories together in Australia!