Tag Archives: Australia

Kangaroos, Did You Know?

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Kangaroo_Statue_Perth1Australia is one of my favorite travel destinations. Its drama starts way before stepping foot on the continent with all of its notorious “most” things, i.e., the most deadly spider, the most fatal shark attacks, the most adorable animals. Australia has an allure all its own. One of those things is the kangaroo. Almost all people know that baby kangaroos (joeys) are born smaller than a teaspoon in size and can grow to over six feet tall, but did you know…

  • It is widely believed that kangaroo moms can decide the sex of their new born. They usually prefer to have a girl (doe) joey first. Although I could cite various reasons I might do this, it is thought to be done because the mom wants companionship. Female kangaroos stay together in packs while male kangaroos move away within a year to start their own mobs (the correct term for a pack of kangaroos, not just unruly people).
  • A joey nurses inside its mother’s pouch for seven to ten months with only sporadic, short, inquisitive jaunts outside the pouch before leaving to live completely autonomously. If, during this time, the joey gets scared it may leap head-first into the mother’s pouch and worry about situating itself correctly later (ouch!).
  • “Kangaroo” in a direct translation from the Native Australian Aboriginal means, “I don’t understand you.” It is thought that Captain James Cook happened upon these animals during his explorations and asked the natives what they were. They responded with, “Kangaroo!”

SSKanga1                                          (Me and Spaceman amongst Friends)

If you are planning a trip down under, here are a couple of other posts you may find interesting and want to include in your itinerary — Free Transportation around Perth, and Kangaroos in Perth.

Fun Koala Fact

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KoalaCute, cuddly, mellow are all things that come to mind when thinking about Koalas, but did you know that Koalas are the only other mammals besides primates that have fingerprints? Now that’s a fact you can print.

 

from www.livescience.com

Kangaroos in Perth, Australia

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PerthEveningSkylinePerth, Australia is a beautiful city with unlimited things to do. One “must do” is a visit to the Caversham Wildlife Park which is a quick 30 minute drive outside the city proper. Although Australia has some of the most deadly creatures in all the world, they also have some of the most wonderful.

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Look up into the sky!

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SydneyObservatoryI stumbled upon the Sydney Observatory as I was walking back “home” to my hotel in Darling Harbour. My stay in Sydney, Australia was an unexpected one as my ears ruptured during the decent into Sydney airport from Perth on my way back home to Los Angeles and the airport doctor grounded me, literally. I was not able to fly until my ears had time to heal. My coping mechanism, explore the city! It’s amazing what you discover when you are grounded in a foreign land.

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For whom DOES the bell toll?

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We’ve all heard the poem by John Donne that warns, “ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” However, when you ask that question in Perth, Western Australia, people excitedly jump to get a turn to clang the bells.

The Swan Bells, or Perth Bells as they are also referred, are located in the Barrack Square precinct of Perth which is easily accessible by the Blue CAT bus, or you can take the ferry across if you are not in the city business district. The glass spire that sits atop the six-story cement bell chamber pierces the sky as if to let the heavens hear their lovely sound.

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Free Self-Guided Bus Tours in Perth, Australia

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Perth is a beautiful, vibrant coastal city with a population of roughly 1.9 million people. It watches over the Indian Ocean and is the capital city of the Australian state of Western Australia.

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