clog blog: Penguins, Sculptures and Crabs

Friday, 25 March 2016

Penguins, Sculptures and Crabs

A long weekend recently provided a great opportunity for some exploring and we decided to visit Penguin Island near Rockingham, about a 45 min drive south of Perth.

Penguin Island is home to the largest colony of little penguins in WA. The smallest species of penguin, the little penguin is also known as the fairy penguin or blue penguin, referring to their slate-blue rather than jet black feathers. At birth chicks weigh about 30 g and reach adult size of 30-33 cm in just 12 weeks. Even though 1200 of the birds live on the island, it is hard to spot one in the wild since they are out swimming and fishing in the day. Other attractions of the island are the nesting seabirds including a colony of 500 pelicans, the opportunity to swim with dolphins, a boat tour to see sea lions at seal island, and kayaking. And of course the beautiful beaches and scenery.

Views on Penguin Island

Our resident photographer doing what he does best

One of the beautiful beaches

It is popular to walk across the sand bar from the mainland to the island but the currants can be unpredictable so we chose the safer 5 minute ferry crossing and enjoyed watching dolphins frolic by the side of the boat for the short distance. The island is only 12.5 ha and one can walk the circumference and enjoy the views from several look out points on well-maintained boardwalks and across the beaches. We enjoyed walking around the island twice and while we didn’t spot any penguins, we did see several pelicans and other chatty birds.

The island also has a Discovery Centre which is home to 10 resident penguins that have been injured or orphaned as chicks and would unlikely survive on their own in the wild. One can watch these penguins being fed by a ranger several times a day and listen to some interesting commentary about the island and the penguins. Injured wild penguins are also nursed back to health here before being released back into the wild.

We enjoyed our visit to Penguin Island and a quick look around Rockingham before heading home for a long weekend Weber!

Little penguins!

A chart of the world's penguins

And then it was braai time!

The long weekend was also the opening of the annual Cottesloe Sculpture by the Sea festival. The work of 77 artists was displayed on the Cottesloe beach front and parks in the largest free to the public sculpture exhibition in the world. As expected there was a good mix of sculptures on display covering the very abstract to the very clever and the ponderous sort and every medium was used. It made for a very good sunset stroll on the beach and ice-cream date.

Selection of Cottesloe Sculptures by the Sea in no particular order:

(Bron's favourite)

(Justin's favourite which was also joint winner of the People's Choice)

Some were still being constructed...

Other recent events include a scrummy picnic and interesting art house movie at Somerville, the open air cinema on the UWA campus, with our wonderful neighbours Shirley and Gary and two of their friends. The conclusion of the evening was: you may not always be sure of a good movie, but you can always be sure of a good picnic!

And we went to the Kings Park Native Plant Sale. It was rather crowded and chaotic but we managed to pick up a few Kangaroo Paws and a few small native scrubby shrubs. Looking forward to watching them grow! Photos of our new place and garden coming soon!

This past weekend we visited Mandurah, about an hours drive south of Perth for the annual Crab Festival. It was a well-run festival with lots of events spread out along the length of the foreshore so even though there were a few thousand people there, one never felt crowded. There was something for everyone with entertainment for children, cooking demonstrations, live music, and many opportunities to try every imaginable crab dish at the various stalls. It was a fun day out and worth the drive.