Sunday, September 24, 2006
One fish, Two fish, Whitefish, Bluefish
Today we have had an invigorating day exploring Rockingham and Penguin Island. We're making our way South East from Perth down the coast and will spend the night in Bussleton. Penguin Island was a nature preserve just off the coast a quarter-mile or so and full of.... wait for it... seagulls.A lively place, we saw sea lions, dolphins, pelicans, penguins, terns, lizards and jellyfish on the small little island the size of a football field or two. The highlight was the feeding of the rehab penguins (Betty Ford clinic of the penguin world) and watching them waddle to and fro. The long term residents of the rehab center had become snobby foodies, rejecting the whitefish sardines by emphatically shaking their heads no. They much more prefer the bluefish, which look identical. Fussy penguins are pretty amusing.
The seagulls were also very interesting, as they were roosting with nests everywhere. As we walked along the boardwalk, every twenty paces or so a gull would squawk up and try to defend their nests. They're not too smart, having made their nests so close to the raised boardwalk. I'd never seen seagull eggs before, there the color of chocolate mint jellybeans, green with brown flecks... camoflauged, no doubt.
Our tour guide ferry driver told an interesting story of the Christmas tsunami and how a couple dozen people got swept out from trying to cross the exposed sand bar onto the island. It is easy to forget that we're straddling the Indian Ocean, having been so accustomed to dipping our toes in the Pacific.
posted by ncawthon at 5:13 PM
<< Home