Today we drove into Perth, had lunch at the Lucky Shag, strolled around Elizabeth Quay and took a cruise down the river to Fremantle.
The following are just some of the photo’s that I took during the cruise.
On The Water – Swan River Cruise
Tag: dolphin
Exmouth, WA – Part 2
In my previous post I had mentioned that we booked to go on a glass bottomed boat tour. Consequently we found ourselves up at the unearthly hour of 06:30, packing our bags into the car, so that we could both check-out from Ningaloo Lodge and be ready for our 07:30 pick up.
We were picked up ,on time, by Alek in his bus. He gave a running commentary on what were to see and what our itinerary was going to be. On the way down to the boat he took us down to see the SS Mildura and on the way back we popped up to Vlaming Head Lighthouse. As I have already covered both in my previous post I won’t bore you again.
By the time we arrived at the Tantabiddi boat ramp there were twenty-three passengers.
Alek, left us on shore while he clambered into a canoe and paddled out to his boat which was anchored offshore.
Soon he was motoring back into the jetty ….
After a short informational pitch we were all aboard and heading out to the reef. As you can see from the photos, the sun was hiding and the reef was not well illuminated. The following shots have all had to be adjusted to try to remove the reflections so are not truly representative of what we actually saw. Hopefully they will give you a hint….
After a tour over the reef Alek tied up to a mooring to allow some of the passengers to go snorkeling. The wind was rising and this session was curtailed. Although the boat was very stable, turning from the mooring brought us across the wind and tide which made an uncomfortable ride, for a short period of time.
On the run back to the Tantabiddi boat ramp we were joined by a couple of dolphins who played across our bows and in the wake.
After returning to Exmouth we headed to See Salt for brunch before setting off back down to Carnarvon.
The Gold Coast, WA
We are visiting Australia and whilst most of our time will be spent in W.A. we have just returned from a week based on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
After taking the Jetstar “red-eye” flight from Perth we arrived in Brisbane early Sunday morning. We picked up our hire car and drove down to Mermaid Beach where we had breakfast at the Mermaid Beach Surf Life Saving Club. After breakfast we checked into our motel, The Mermaid Beach Motor Inn.
This motel provides basic accommodation and is looking a little tired but the bedding was clean and the rooms had aircon. After a much needed nap and freshen up we strolled along to Broad Beach where we had dinner at Max Seafood Restaurant. The food here was superb and they served an amazing New Zealand Sole, it was huge.
This area really is geared to holidaying, partying and generally having a good time. We certainly managed to cram a lot in and, at times, it seemed that we were constantly on the move. In the few days we were there we managed to visit Sea World, Movie World, Draculas, The Australian Outback Spectacular and “Crikey” we also made it to Australia Zoo.
The following are just a few snaps taken over the next five days. Firstly, some snaps taken at Sea World….
The following are from Warner Brothers Movie World. Unfortunately, my camera decided it didn’t like the heat on this day and stopped functioning so I don’t have any pictures from the spectacular stunt drivers show. So these are just a taster of some of the other attractions ……
Australia Zoo is two hours away from Mermaid Beach but was well the drive. There’s lot’s to do, we were there until closing time and didn’t manage to see everything. Once again here is a taster……
Hard to find one of these little fellows awake.
Making a spectacular entrance to the arena. They did say what it was but, due to memory overload, I have forgotten.
Again, due to memory overload, I have forgotten what this was.
This cheeky chap has been trained to relieve members of the audience of their 5 dollar bills. If you look closely you can see he has it in his beak.
This part of the show was all about demonstrating how these crocs move and how to avoid becoming a menu item. Needless to say the handlers do not take chances.
Looking for his next snack. The handlers never turn their backs on this big boy.
From a standing start a crocodile can launch nearly his full body length out of the water.
Snack time
He wasn’t very happy, having his picture taken whilst taking a dump.
Think this one likes jazz as he appears to be playing his “air double bass”
I was able to place my camera on the floor just a few inches away from this chap. He later came and sat with his foot on my sandal before running across my toes…it tickled.
On the last day we killed some time back at Sea World, before heading back to Brisbane Airport, to see some of the entertainment that we missed on our previous visit. Here are a few photos of some lunatics on seadoos….
This visit concluded a very hectic week on the Gold Coast.
Although we have photo’s which were taken at Draculas and The Great Australian Outback Show they are commercial ones. If I’m really brave i might post them at a later date.
WrAnTz 