Penguin Island

Penguin Island is a classical ecotourism destination located less than one hour (~50 km driving plus ferry crossing) from Perth. Despite the closeness to the Western Australia capital city of 1.75 million people and the summer vacation season, the island has very few visitors. This would be hard to imagine in Europe or North America, and we appreciated the privacy especially when admiring the abundant wildlife and the waters. The Shoalwater Islands Marine Park, which includes Penguin and Seal Islands, is rich in marine, terrestrial and seabird wildlife. I am not talking just about the little penguins, pelicans (see picture), terns and stilts, kites and ospreys, Australian sea lions (see picture), and bottlenose dolphins that we spotted there, but also the Western Australia seahorses and leafy seadragons, turtles and fish that populate the waters. Seagrass carpets a wide area around the island and supports fish, which in turn feed the many dolphins visiting daily. Seagrass and shallow waters also color the landscape in memorable tones. I hope the pictures reflect my impressions a little bit. A wooden walking trail circles the island and also offers refuge to skinks and little penguins. To us, it offered a chance to walk around the entire island and admire the views, the nesting colonies of pelicans and bridled terns (see picture), while the Indian Ocean breeze coiffed our hair in original seagrass style… It’s a place to always want to return to.

“Jewel of the Desert”

Eucalyptus macrocarpa is one of the most delightful surprises we had in Western Australia. I’d call this gumtree a bush, as it doesn’t grow tall from a main trunk. Instead, it spreads long branches just from above the ground. The leaves are light green-grey, and if we weren’t in the desert, I would have said they were frosty. However, the color and texture are meant to protect the tree from the scorching sun of Western Australia’s desert. The delight though came from the flowers. They are giagantic, at least 20 times bigger than the eucalyptus flowers of most other gumtrees (they reach up to 10 cm in diameter). The size and color of these flowers, intense red, made me think they were roses. I took the picture of this Eucalyptus macrocarpa in the Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth, with sweat dripping on myself and the camera – 40 degrees Celsius – but I simply could not stop looking at them, smelling and touching them… The park is rich in native flora and a pleasure to visit. It had boab trees, tuarts and grevilleas specific to Western Australia, and it also offered expansive views of the city spreading over Swan River to the Indian Ocean.

Personal Impression about Perth CBD

I posted yesterday a picture from the London Court, which breathes a strong English air, but I said that it made me feel that Aussies are 
still looking for their identity. At least from architectural and urban points of view… To continue my thought, London Court is on the side of a regular shopping
 mall and a street with office high-rises of non-descript architecture. It is the trophy that sits on a dull pedestal. The surrounding areas of Perth CBD are new with some modern touches
 on St Georges Terrace, but except for the very British London Court,
 the rest of the city has a common urban flavor, with nothing standing 
out. Quite unfortunate, we stayed in a hotel in walking distance from
 the mall, right in the middle of the CBD, but it felt as out of place 
as the London Court, because the neighborhood consisted in more office 
buildings and small chain cafes that were mostly closed due to the 
holidays. About 15 minutes away from the Hay Street hotel was the nicer area of
 Northbridge, with the cultural district and a concentration of cafes, discos
 and restaurants. Another 15 minutes in the opposite direction 
from Northbridge were some gardens, the Perth Bell Tower and the jetties
 for the boats to Fremantle. We took a scenic ride on the
 Swan River (today’s picture) and admired private villas, the Swan Brewery and an infinite number of 
small boats and windsurfers. A good 15-minute drive from the hotel
 were the Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, about which I will write
 more tomorrow. I found a common feature of the major Aussie cities, 
including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, which is
 their layout around big bodies of water. I guess this is actually 
their identity, which is not necessarily architectural, but 
"locational." And although this country is so dry, most major cities 
disguise this characteristic by being built around rich bodies of
 water.

Happy New Year! La multi ani!

After a week in Perth, I am happy to celebrate a reasonably warm start of 2013 in Melbourne. A significant 15-degree higher temperature in Perth (41C) for three days in a row was a good reminder that as much as weather here in Melbourne is unpredictable, it’s still better than being stuck with one hot choice for enough time to feel as if living in a large oven. New Year’s Eve was devoid of BBQ, prawns and heavy drinking for me, so I fail the Aussie citizenship “test” again, but watching the 10-minute Sydney fire works from the comfort of our nice home while eating really good cheddar cheese and Romanian “sarmale” surrounded by family was a wonderful way to cross another time border, 2012-2013. No resolutions and no high expectations, just the wishes for a year of peace and health. The trip to Perth gave me enough material to post again more often, as in the past two months I didn’t have enough material for regular blogging. Today’s picture is that of the London Court, a pedestrian lane/shopping arcade that goes between the Hay Street Mall and St George’s Terrace. I thought of it as a good reminder that Australia is essentially a British relic still searching for identity.

Christmas Preparations Down Under

Ten days before Christmas and the action is on. This is a list of random things that I did, happened, or happened to make me think of Christmas and prepare, at least mentally, for it. I start it with the difficulty of finding a parking spot at the largest mall in the Southern Hemisphere, Chadstone Shopping Centre. And I will end it with the two little caterpillars curling like a Yin and Yang on a half-eaten leaf, which seemed to wear cozy coats like I used to wear in the harsh winter of Macin, Philadelphia or New York. So here if the rest... On Monday, I stared long enough at the bloomed paper-bark trees on my street until the fuzzy little flowers clouding up at the top seemed nothing else but a layer of fluffy, pristine snow. I wiped the sweat on my forehead as I walked into the sweltering summer heat, just as I used to do as a kid back in Romania after walking into one foot of fresh, powdery snow for about half an hour. I took a deep breath as I walked into the bakery yesterday, surrendering the Christmas flavors of savory and sweet bread, as if they just wrapped around me in the kitchen of my childhood. Finally, I played some Romanian carols sang by the Madrigal Choir and I cooked some bean soup, after which I knew I was ready for Christmas.

Hot Christmas

This is my fourth Christmas in Oz and I’m still not used to wearing sandals and a summer dress, going to the beach, and being content with no more than a salad “feast” on that Christmas Eve. Last week-end we put together the Christmas tree, huddled the fake snow together at its base, and hung the “icicles” on the top branches. All this under the air conditioning unit, since there were over 92F (33 Celsius) outside! The city is decorated with holiday lights, red and green, but they’re invisible most of the time, because the sun sets late, close to 8PM, when all shoppers have gone home with the gifts they bought and the only shops open are those selling alcohol… It’s dark after 9PM and the lonely Santas and Christmas lights brighten the path of those rushing to go home. I imagine a very sweaty Santa dressed in thick layers of fur-trimmed clothes landing by our tree to deliver melting chocolates and a pair of skates. Roller blades maybe...

Silky Oak Tree

I haven’t neglected my blog, but I simply ran out of interesting things to share about Oz. Today I found one, the silky oak tree, and thus my return to posting for you. Soon I’ll be going to Perth and that should give me lots of material for the blog. The silky-oak tree (Grevillea robusta) is the largest plant of the grevillea genus. I love its dark yellow, almost rusty orange hermaphrodite flowers that embellish the tree in late spring-summer. They look like large brushes with curly hairs, are loaded with nectar, and buzz with busy bees. The leaves are also beautiful, lacy and of a dusty green. I guess the first part of the name comes from the silky wood that is used for furniture making and in construction. Yet, why it’s called “oak” when it belongs to the grevillea genus, I don’t have the slightest idea. This tree can reach 30 meters in height, but its shocking similarity to the low grevillea plants turns it into a giant exception of the plant world. At least in my eyes, delighted to admire this unique Australian beauty.