Eight Second Ride

Well it's bulls and blood
It's dust and mud
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd
It's the white in his knuckles
The gold in the buckle
He'll win the next go 'round
It's boots and chaps
It's cowboy hats
It's spurs and latigo
It's the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo.

Despite my affinity for cowboy boots, cowboy hats and two steppin', I had never been to a rodeo. Until now. And it was a full on Aussie country event.

 

I saw all the events: steer wrestling, barrel racing, bareback, saddle bronc and of course the marquee event: bull riding. And now I understand why. That bull can be pretty intimidating and spastic. Except for the bull that didn't buck for one cowboy the first time. Or the second time (on another bull). He was clearly the bull whisperer.

Mullewa is in the country. Everyone who I told I was going to the rodeo in Mullewa, they said "That will be an experience". Mullewa is out in the C.O.U.N.T.R.Y. Bogan country. (Bogan is the aussie word for redneck). Luckily we didn't need to travel on any dirt roads to get there, but we did have some 50k stretches of single lane roads. Not one lane in both direction. One lane. Period. 

The "cultural experience" spectacle did not disappoint. There were boys and girls of all ages and all types out for the festivities. Lots of flannel and some of the best mullets I've ever seen in real life.

 And the cowboys in their colored chaps didn't look half bad either.

I winced and covered my eyes every time someone fell off (yes I'm such a girl). Luckily no one was seriously hurt that day due to the talent and skill of the rodeo clowns, but one man did get his hand stuck and was dragged behind a horse for what seemed like forever.

The rodeo isn't just for cowboys. The cowgirls got in the action with cattle roping, barrel racing and "undecorating". Undecorating was the most uneventful event. They take about 2 seconds to pull a ribbon of a little cow. If you blink, you miss it. But those girls have got one thing right: the bling. They have bejeweled jeans, rhinestone crowns on their hats, and sequined shirts. Shine on cowgirl.

Following the rodeo, there was a country concert complete with beer and bundy before everyone rolled out their swags in the parking lot. A silent night under the country starts, apart from the cool kids practicing cracking their whip (seriously), that got everyone riled up. I believe at one point there was a "Shut up! Or at least learn how to do it!"

And in case you forgot what a swag is...

 

And that thing the swag is behind is a ute. But that's a whole other story...

Lions and Tigers and Bilbies oh my!

Many of you may know, that I am not an animal person. Puppies and kittens, seals and penguins don't do it for me. But one of the major attractions in Perth is the Perth Zoo. It has been on my list of places to visit since arriving and have bussed, ran, ridden past it several times. So when I had the opportunity to go, tourist-blogging-American Erin couldn't say no.

I had always thought zoos have mostly the same animals. You've got your elephants, zebras (pronounced zee-bras by me, but zeh-bras by the silly people over here), lions, tigers, and bears. Some colorful birds, monkeys and even some meerkats and orangutans (which Perth is famous for).

Well, Australian animals are on another level. Yes, there were those typical animals, but this is a continent of Australia. Approximately 140 marsupials, or 70 percent of marsupials worldwide, live in Australia and are found nowhere else in the world.

And there were the token koalas and kanagroos in the kangaroo walkabout (just like in South Carolina).

But there were lots more native Australian animals that I had never seen. Most of these animals are nocturnal, and are thus in the nocturnal (read: dark) room at the zoo. This means it was tricky to take pictures, but the zoo has this fantastic website with additional fact sheets for all it's animals. As we walked through the exhibit, they all seemed to be a varied size of kangaroo. First of all, there are kanagaroos, wallabies and wallaroos.

Bilby

 

Bilbies have long, soft, blue-grey fur; large rabbit-like ears that help dispel heat, and a long, pointed muzzle.  And instead of the Easter Bunny, Australian children get their Easter baskets from the Easter Bilby.

Chuditch

 

The Western Quoll, or Chuditch (a Nyoongar name), is Western Australia’s largest carnivorous marsupial. Because it's oh so big.

Dibbler

Dibblers are crepuscular which means they are most active at dawn and dusk. I didn't even know "Crepuscular" was a word. They didn't teach us that in biology.

Long-nosed Potoroo (aka Rat Kangaroo)

 

The Long-nosed Potoroo is about the size of a small rabbit. It has brown-grey fur and a pale grey belly fringed with brown-red. It has small, rounded ears and a sparsely-furred tail 18–24 cm long. It hops like a kangaroo when startled. Did I mention all these animals are just different sized versions of kanagroos?

Quenda (aka Southern Brown Bandicoot)

 

Quendas are usually solitary and can become aggressive towards other Quenda when encounters occur. They build a dome-shaped nest in dense vegetation for protection and give birth between the end of winter and the end of summer. Quenda also have the shortest known gestation period of any marsupial, between 11 and 12 days. Nice and quick. I like it.

Red-tailed Phascogale

 

For a three-week period in July, males embark on an exhausting and fatal frenzy of mating. They travel large distances to mate with as many females as possible. During this flurry of mating activity, the males’ immune system fails before they reach 12 months of age and they succumb to stress-related illnesses and die. Females usually survive the mating season to breed a second or third time. Weak males. Maybe they should try and relax during that mating frenzy.

Spinifex Hopping Mouse

 

They avoid the heat of the desert by sleeping in deep burrows during the day. At dusk, they come out to feed. Spinifex Hopping-mice will usually move around on all fours, however, they will hop around on their strong hindlegs to move fast. Mini kangaroo anyone?

 Water Rat

Apart from the platypus, the Water Rat is the only amphibious land-based Australian mammal. Unlike many Australian rodents, the Water Rat is not entirely nocturnal. It is most active around sunset and has been seen foraging during the day. They are slightly clumsy on land and can climb hollow trees in search of prey. However, they prefer to catch their prey in the water. Me and rats get along so well. At least this one likes sunshine.

 

Western Ringtail Possum

 

Western Ringtail Possums are herbivores and feed on eucalypt, marri and peppermint tree leaves, buds, blossoms and soft fruit.The actual gestation period of Western Ringtail Possums is not known. Births mostly take place in winter.This is the 21st century and we have these animals in zoos, how can the gestation period be unknown? But I HATE possums. They are my least favorite animal. And Australians have been trying to tell me theirs are cuter. Still possum.

Woylie

 

While they forage slowly, Woylies are capable of rapid movement if startled and can spring away at surprising speed. Females can breed anytime and produce up to three young per year. The joey stays in the pouch for about 90–110 days. Even Woylies have joeys (another reason they are kangaroo-like.

Unfortunately, Australia is also home to the most animals that have become extinct during modern times, and most of these little guys are endangered (ferral cats and foxes, destroyed habitat, etc). The foxes and dogs are such a problem that most of the bush has signs that 1080 poison has been put out to control these foreign populations (apparently it is derived from a native Australian plant, so Australian animals are immune to it). The Australian has an Action Plan for Marsupials and Monotremes. Better come visit before more of them are gone!

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Australians, and particularly Western Australians love to quarantine things. And it's not surprising. If I had an isolated continent with thousands of species of plants and animals that can't be found anywhere else in the world, I'd want to keep it that way. Forget a banana in your carry-on and the sniffer dogs will be on you (good one Tom). Try to bring your pet to Australia? Wait 9 months. Oh, and even traveling within Australia can be tricky. Make sure you bin (throw away) all fruits and vegetables, honey, and dirt (because everyone travels with bags of dirt) when traveling into Western Australia domestically. 

 

Perth's original quarantine station was near Fremantle, at Woodman Point. It was almost too close to Fremantle, that it as kept a secret for fear that the public would worry about the afternoon winds bringing disastorous plagues to downtown Freo. 

 

As the first port of call for visiting ships, it was open until 1979 and saw the bubonic plague, smallpox, and the Spanish flu. Today, it is a recreation center for school groups and scouts to spend the night (yes, little children sleep there).

It's also happens to be one of the most haunted places in Perth. And psychic medium, Rebecca Millman, leads ghost tours of the peninsula with a haunting past.

 The mystery started before we even got inside the grounds. We all met outside the gate, on a deserted road, in the dark, until she arrived to let us in. Once inside, she explained to us how we were unlikely to "see ghosts", as it takes a lot of energy for spirits to appear. We were more likely to feel things out of the ordinary and see things in photos we took. 

The first building we went into was the old shower block where we were left to wander around in the dark with our flashlights (or should I say torches?). This was the first stop for immigrants, and you can imagine it was quite traumatic for those who had been in the concentration camps of World War II and seen the heinous murder in shower blocks like this.

We wandered through the boarding halls (which are now where the kids sleep!), armed with ghost finding tools and taking pictures to see if we saw anything of the paranormal. She also told us we could talk to the spirits if we wanted, but that was a bit too much for me.

We went into the old hospital, where we had a seance. The group of about 30 of us sat in a circle, and sang songs to "raise the vibrations". Every time we stopped, she would say, "Did you hear that?" Yes, I heard creaks, and whistles, and knocks. But isn't that what you hear in an old building? Either way, it was creepy sitting in the dark, listening into the silent for something I did or didn't want to hear, in a building where many people's dreams of coming to a new country ended in illness. 

Campers also camp in the hospital. She told us the story of one scout troop that after all the children had left, they saw a little boy running in circles around the building. They called all the parents, but every one had returned home. Rebecca told us that he had lost both of his parents. Traumatic events like this can leave residual paranormal activity, where a traumatic moment is imprinted in time.

The creepiest place we went was the crematorium and morgue. It's estimated that over 200 people died at this station. If you look closely, you can see little white dots, which many people call ghost orbs. Just Google "ghost orbs" and see what the pictures look like. I'm not sure what they are. I'm sure they can be explained by reflections of dust with the flash. But they didn't show up in any of my other pictures...

 

The creepy dude on our tour crawled into the oven.

We didn't have any overwhelmingly other worldly experiences. And I'm not sure I believe ghosts. But it did open my mind to the possibility, if even for the night.

Do you believe in ghosts...?

Let's Go to the Movies, Aussie Style

Before "winter" came to Perth, there was a plethora of outdoor movies. I have come across outdoor movies on Saturday nights in the park back home. I've been to a couple drive-ins. Our high school even set up a drive-in in the back parking lot (which was before we could drive, so thanks mom for dropping us off in the mini-van!). But during the summer, there are at least four or more "theaters" that play an outdoor movie every night of the week. Yes, not just Saturday nights. EVERY night. Rent a bean bag, bring a picnic basket, and you've got the perfect summer night. I realized that it's the perfect thing for Perth, because it doesn't rain in the summer. Like, never. They don't get rained or fogged out (remember watching Alaska, Mom and Dad? I still don't know what happened in the end). 

I waited all summer to find someone to go with. And then I was rowing, which basically destroyed my weekday night social calendar. But I couldn't let the season go by without going to the outdoor cinema. So I invited myself along with my favorite Perth-ites to the movies. 

 

And it wasn't just any outdoor cinema, it was a rooftop cinema. Set up for the season on the top of a Northbridge parking garage. One that had popcorn, snacks, artificial green turf, pink flamingoes, palm trees, plastic baskets hung up as lanterns, and a view of the illuminated skyline as the backdrop. It was awesome.

 

And what did we see? Only one of the greatest Disney movies of all time (sorry Frozen).

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba

(Which after screeching hundreds of times, I just looked up means "Here comes a lion, Father" in zulu).

And watching a favorite from our childhood, we joined Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba looking up to see the sparkly dots that are the West Australian stars. Or big balls of gas. Or fireflies.

Keep Wandering

The most remarkable thing in Western Australia has been the vast nothingness. The monotony is impressive. Up to Broome, we drove on straight roads that had no intersections, buildings, or stops for over 100 kilometres. We passed so few cars that our driver could and did wave at each one. Sitting in the van, instead of being lulled to sleep by the sunlight, rhythmic hum of the engine and the unchangeable landscape passing, I was invigorated by the opportunity to see this remarkable country.

It was a quintessential Australian road trip.

We stopped for kilometre long trains.

And passed hundreds of iconic Australian road trains.

We stopped at dusty roadhouses.

 

 

 

And slept in swags at dusty roadhouse. (Complete with a roadhouse meal of sausage rolls, hamburgers, pies, and other assorted fried foods).

 

We rambled along some of the worlds most beautiful beaches.

And through the bush of the outback.

All the while, wandering around corners, over hills, through valleys, and towards the horizon to see what was next.

 

I've now covered over 5,000 kilometres on my two tours, almost the entire coast of Western Australia (and that doesn't include a trip back from Broome). This is greater than the distance across the United States from Ledyard, Connecticut to San Francisco, California.

But it's only ONE state.

And there is A LOT LESS in between.

But I have so much more to see, thus onward I go.

I keep on wandering.