June 24

We enjoyed this sculpture of paper airplanes in downtown Perth.



Please revisit the Australian Signs slideshow. We have added a few more that are kind of funny, but a little naughty!

This morning we rode on the ferry to the Perth Zoo. Peter enjoyed the ferry ride aand the lovely view of downtown Perth. As we exited the ferry there were dolphins playing in the river. Everyone was excited to see them but not surprised. We were surprised that they came that far up the river!
One of the reasons we chose to go to this zoo was because of their Asian Rainforest exhibit. As with most rainforests the biggest threat to the animals is loss of habitat. They also had an excellent bushwalk. There was abotanical walk through the Australian rainforest, but since none of it was labeled and there were no signs, we didn’t learn anything new there.
Here are some new and interesting things that we learned.
The black and white ruffed lemur is the largest pollinator in the world.
Citronella comes from a lemon scented gum tree.
Over half of Australia’s threatened frog species are infected with a deadly fungus that interferes with their ability to breathe through their skin.
Crocodiles cannot chew. They perform a death roll to tear off chunks of larger prey.
Australia’s largest lizard is the Perentie Lizard. They violently shake their prey until dead, then swallow it whole.
Who knew there was such a thing as feral bees?
Feral pigs eat Cassowary eggs.
The pouch of the female wombat is backwards to prevent dirt from entering it while they are burrowing.
Dingos don’t bark and they don’t smell like dogs.
We saw a Wollemi Pine!! Remember the tree that was thought to be extinct, and then was found within 100 miles of Sydney in the Blue Mountains. We watched a video that showed how they had to use a helicopter to harvest seeds from the top of the tree.

Tomorrow we will get on a tiny little plane and fly to Shark Bay to see the stromatolites in Hamelin Pool and the wild dolphins at Monkey Mia. We will be there for 3 nights and are unsure if we have Internet. So once again, don't worry if you don't hear from us.
We have one more day in Perth and haven't decided for sure how to spend it. The KIngs Cross park is supposed to have alovely botanical garden. Maybe you boys and girls could do some research and e-mail us. We read that Freemantle is a World Heritage site and it is pretty close. So far we have visited three World Heritage sites, The Wet Tropics, the Great Barrier Reef and the Riversleigh Fossil Beds. Shark Bay and the Sydney Opera House are both World Heritage listed as well. See what you can find out about Freemantle and let us know if you think we should go there and what we will see. We had planned to drive to Wave Rock, but we decided our days of driving through the Outback are over.