March 31, 2020

Our home in Hammond Park

Our Hammond Park house is within walking distance to the Harry Waring Marsupial Reserve which harbours endangered marsupials such as woylies, sugar possums, echidnas and kangaroos.  The reserve has 200 hectares of Banksia woodlands which is an important habitat for the endangered Carnaby's Black Cockatoo.  Unfortunately for us, this reserve is not open to the public.  However, Thomson's Lake Reserve, which contains Western Grey Kangaroos, Brush Wallabies and the Southern  Brown Bandicoot,  is just a short drive from the house.

The house is a three bedroom home with two full bathrooms, laundry room, patio and double garage.  It is also located in a very quiet neighbourhood which is nice because this will be our home until June 1st, possibly longer.

At the front of the house there is a computer room, two bedrooms and a full bathroom.  Further down is a living room followed by an open concept kitchen, dining area and family room.  On the other side of the open area is the master bedroom with full sized ensuite and the laundry room.  The patio and double garage are at the back lane side of the house.

   

March 20, 2020

Lake Walyungup

This lake is a salt lake, about 430 hectares and a maximum of 3.5 meters deep.  In summer the lake dries out with the drought conditions.

 
There is landsailing at the lake.  The Sandgropers Land Yacht club (based in Rockingham Western Australia) normally meets on Sunday afternoons at the dry lake bed.  Due to the current COVID-19 situation those activities have been suspended.

 
The dry lake bed resembles desolate images seen in post apocalyptic movies.

In contrast, the vegetation surrounding the lake is dense and lush.  One can easily picture dinosaurs roaming about like in the Jurassic Park movies.

Lake Walyungup was used as an artillery range in the World War II era and is still potentially contaminated with Unexploded Ordinance.  On our walk we came across this "information" sign.

The next picture shows the cool gals we found behind it.

 

Australian Golden Orb Weaving Spiders

(Taken loosely from the Brisbane Times):

Researchers say the synthetics based on the golden orb's spider silk could be far tougher than what surgeons used for ligaments, reconstruction, skin grafts and sutures, which all have a limited lifespan.  

It could also be used for bulletproof clothing and fishing nets.

Although it would be great to be able to farm the spiders to produce more of the super-strong silk, Mrs. Kerr said that wasn't possible.  "The natural product is just amazing but spiders can't be farmed like a silk worm because the spiders just eat each other".

March 16, 2020

Tuart Park Reserve

This park is a couple of blocks from the house.  It is a great place for families with young children and offers a playground, washrooms, barbeque pit and picnic tables.  A very peaceful place for a morning walk.

March 12, 2020

Moving Day to Secret Harbour

This was our home from March 12, 2020 to March 31, 2020. 

March 11, 2020

Lake Cooloongup Flora and Fauna Reserve

The reserve is part of the Rockingham Lakes Regional Park system. The park contains protected woodlands and wetlands. The park is home to countless birds and the Western Grey Kangaroo.

The day before our walk we decided to scout out the area in order to locate a gate access to the park. (Many of their reserves do not have parking lots but there usually are gates at the end of some residential streets.) When we got to the area beside the park, a kangaroo and her joey bounced out from in between the houses, bounced in front of our car, and then ran/bounced to the bush.

We found a place to park the vehicle and a gate to enter into the reserve.
 

At the start of our walk the air was filled with sounds of birds. 

We passed by very interesting looking shrubs and trees on both sides of the path.  A lot of the underbrush was tinder dry from the long hot summer and an unseasonably warm autumn.

There were a lot of kangaroo tracks on the path but we didn't get to see any kangaroos on our walk. 

We did see (and hear) currawongs, white cockatoos, pink and grey galah cockatoos, Australian ring neck parrots, rainbow lorikeets and pied magpies.  We walked to the train tracks (the commuter train from Perth to Mandurah runs through the park).  We were enjoying listening to the birds when a train came by and drowned out their songs.

On the way back to the car we met up with a couple of currawongs waiting for us on the corner of Timberlane Loop and Maplewood Place.

There will be a blog posted in May 2020 about the Australian birds we met and their songs.

March 8, 2020

Rockingham Wildlife Encounters

Welcome to Shoalwater Islands Marine Park. Rockingham Wildlife Encounters offers various tours within the marine park. We chose the Dolphin, Penguin and Sea Lion Adventure Cruise.

The shoalwater limestone reef acts as a protective barrier against oceanic swells moving towards the shoreline. The limestone islands are important nesting and roosting habitat for seabirds such as cormorants, pelicans, crested terns and gannets. The Australian sea lion (found only in southern Australia) bask on the shores of Seal Island or Penguin Island. Penguin Island, home to the little penguins, is open for tours from mid-September to early June.

Reference:  parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au

We boarded the adventure boat and our knowledgeable guide provided a running commentary throughout the tour.

We were looking for dolphins while cruising around the marine park. We had not spotted any dolphins so our guide took us to Bird Island. 

Pied cormorants and darters watched us from the safety of the island. We were given an opportunity to examine the fossilized remains of ancient tuart forests.



Dave photographed a pied cormorant watching us from a safe distance in the water

Seal Island is home to the Australian sea lion. There are no seals here. This island is inhabited by male sea lions only. They spend most of their time on this island and they travel to a northern island inhabited by female sea lions only for mating purposes.

Sea lions playing.

Just veggin' and sunnin'.

Young folks here get an early start playing on the ocean.  This photograph was taken by an island that is 1 to 2 km from the mainland.

Cruising around we had our first dolphin sighting, followed by more dolphins.

  

The guide told us that these dolphins (below) have gouges on their fins from shark attacks.

We returned to Penguin Island and did another little tour of the island before heading back to the mainland.  (See March 5, 2020 post for our day with the Little Penguins).

 

Penguin Island has a restricted bird sanctuary area for their pelican breeding colony.