Australia - Manic Street Preachers (Part 1)

Having featured New Zealand over the last few Sunday's it seems only polite to turn our attentions to their far more vast Big Brother to the West for the next few as little more than a pictorial. Same as the last, we ain't going to win any Ansel Adams Awards for Wildlife Imagery but hope to give you a taste of what this vast and magical country has to offer. Like N.Z. along with the U.S.A. and Canada (to name but a few) here the transport system is of the best, not costly which is the same for accommodation. Add to that the friendly and helpfulness of the people and no language barrier for Brits you could do a lot worse! Along with my then partner Sue we decided to dip the toe in the water by flying to Perth, in the first instance, then sticking to the west coast for a few days and certainly following up on the recommendation of a visit to

no more than a short taxi ride from the airport, this being the first of 4 trips across the following years starting in 2008.

Starting Low Key with
AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE

GALHA

LITTLE PIED CORMORANT

CHESTNUT TEAL

GREY BUTCHERBIRD

LAUGHING KOOKABURRA

MANED WOOD DUCK

PIED CURRAWONG

AUSTRALIAN ZEBRA FINCH
Part way through this visit we decided to spend a day and a 2 hours bus ride to the

NAMBUNG

NATIONAL PARK

to take in the magical

PINNACLE FOREST
simply a day trip not to be missed!
On the way back south

DUSKY MOORHEN
(not discimilar to our own)

AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE LARK

PACIFIC BLACK DUCK

NOISY MINER
and continuing our journey south across a number of days a sight for sore eyes.
Back in the late 60's, along with many others, we were the training team for the up and coming Australian Submariners who had just purchased a number of our old (boats) - the colloquial term for a Sub and - knew it would end in disaster particularly when

SURFACING
(a GRAND BUNCH we have to say)
Now hugging the coast there were thousands of the likes of

SILVER GULL
with plenty of available food, "oh no mum not

OCTOPUS
again".

WELCOME SWALLOW
that gets its name as a prelude to Summer and both

LITTLE CORELLA
and

SULPHUR CRESTED COCKATOO

RAINBOW LORIKEET

COMMON MINAH
(a widespread import from Asia)

The dense jungle of

FAIRYLAND
where we found

WILLIE WAGTAIL
and in the fast flowing and swollen river

MUSK DUCK

and after those first 10 days ending up at the Portland Bill like
CAPE LEEUIN

where both the Indian Ocean and Southern Oceans meet!