PERTH/FREMANTLE:

We arrived to another sunny day in Fremantle the port city. It was already very hot. Doug and I decided to tour Fremantle by ourselves since we had been here twice before. We took a hop on hop off bus and toured around. Took some photos of the port and the prison that housed the convicts from England.

We then took a guided tour in the afternoon. The bus took us through the city of Perth, and after an hour's drive, we arrived in Caversham Wildlife Park. It is nestled in the bushland and is a privately owned park that houses 200 species of wildlife. Unfortunately, we only had time to rush around to see a few. We were so so hot so I asked the guide, how hot is it out here? He replied 40 C. We could feel it. It was bloody hot.

First we went to see the Red Kangaroos and the Western Grey Kangaroos. They were not afraid of us at all as we walked beside them as they lay in the dirt in the shade. The young ones are born in the park and are used to tourists feeding them. We were given a handful of pellets and the kangaroos came bouncing up to us to eat right out of our hands. They put their front paws on our hands to help balance themselves as they gently ate the food. They were so so cute and gentle. We could even pat them. They were all around us. I had two who wanted to eat out of my hands at the same time. Someone said, what do you have on you that they are hovering around you. Maybe they could sense that I loved them.

After the wonderful time spent with the kangaroos, we headed towards the wombat. When we spotted him, we couldn't believe how huge he was. He was asleep in the arms of a wildlife park guide. She held this 29 kilogram in weight wombat, as he lay there with his eyes closed. We were allowed to sit on either side and rub his leg for photos. He was so cute. If he were awake, he would be hiding in a burrow, but asleep we were able to see him up close. What a cutie.

Off we went to see the camels. I took a ride on one which was a rough ride. I think Doug said it is alittle harder on men to ride the camel then on women. I wonder why?

Then it was off to my favourite, the koala bears. They were housed in a netted area and were given their special eucalyptus leaves to eat. We were quite surprised how active they were crawling around and eating the leaves. We were allowed to pat them here. You see a picture of one koala who was so tired that he lay on his stomach on the bough of the tree. They sleep a large portion of the day. They were as big as stuffed teddy bears and so so cute. We could have stayed all day here. I kept snapping photos and have so many pictures as a reminder of our visit. These poor koalas have suffered in the heat and Marge from Adelaide told us that they have come up onto people's yards for water. Her cousin had one come to their front lawn and she brought water out. They normally do not drink water but get all their water from the leaves. But because of the terrible drought conditions, they have been drinking water. This poor koala bear drank the water and lay on the lawn for awhile to gain some strength back before retreating to the bush. Many have died in the fires around Melbourne. So sad

Off onto the bus, to the winery. This particular winery was huge and had big named stars performing on stage in the winery such as Diana Krall. They even had tables set out under the grape vines with the Arizona mist coming out of the pipes to cool off customers. This is the same type of air conditioning used in Arizona outside shopping malls. It was a lovely winery with many bottles of wine to taste with crackers and cheese and an air conditioned shop. Beautiful facilities.

Then off for a one hours drive through the countryside, then through Perth and finally Fremantle our port. I did not enclose any photos of Perth because I think it is like any other city but wanted to show more photos of the beautiful Australian animals.

Four days at sea while we slowly cruise towards Bali.