Rottnest Island and Margaret River

Our most recent travel experience was one Kristi had been excited about for a while. We flew to Perth and visited two locations. The first was Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth. The main attraction here was numerous beautiful beaches easily accessed via bike from the main township.

The island is also one of the last strongholds of the Quokka, a small marsupial mostly missing from its original range due to introduced predators. 

We also drove a few hours south of Perth to Margaret River and enjoyed some forest walks and even more beaches.

It is also a popular Australian wine region and we took in a few vineyards and tasting rooms.  All the vineyards were incredibly child friendly, which was a nice perk. Our favorite was Swings and Roundabouts, which had excellent wine and an epic playground that kept Cata busy for 2 hours!

The novel wildlife is also a draw for us when we visit Australia. On this trip we encountered some cool birds (like this Pied Cormorant) and a few other species we had never seen before.

Silver Gull - Nesting in a rocky coastal area

Baby Quokka - Into and out of the pouch

Humpback Whale

Eastern Gray Kangaroo

Common Bronzewing

Brown Honeyeater

Great Crested Tern

Singing Honeyeater

King's Skink

Laughing Kookaburra

Red-winged Fairywren

Red Wattlebird

Red-eared Firetail 

 

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Summer Travel Photos

We have been going through our summer photos. We spent a lot of time outdoors and with family, and we and did fewer house project than the last couple of years, so we even found our way up into Olympic National Park.

We spent some time in Union, took a trip to Oregon, and then returned for another stint on Hood Canal before flying back to Singapore. Along the way, we ate a lot of oysters and picked up a truck.

Sunrise in Union

The timberlands adjacent to our neighborhood have turned out to be great place to spot birds and take photos (especially in the fog).

Wildfire near La Pine as we drove towards Klamath Falls.

Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge

Deer enjoying a morning splash in the wetlands

Harbor seals taking the morning off in the Skokomish River delta

Morning fog burning off of Diamond Lake

Scenes from Southern Klamath County

Summer Birds

Brewer's Blackbird

Bald Eagle Pair

Eared Grebes

California Quail Family

Swainson's Hawk

Sooty Grouse

Bush Tit 

Anna's Hummingbird 

Wilson's Warbler

American Avocet

Forster's Tern

Swainson's Thrush

Western Tanager