Caversham Wildlife Park--Close Encounters with the Animals

Australia is one of the countries with most exotic wild lives, very different from what can be found around the world. Therefore, most tourists will take this opportunity (especially on the first visit to Australia) to come close to the animals.

We're not very interested in zoo. In addition to that, my friend told me Singapore Zoo is much better than Perth Zoo, it justified our decision. So we chose Caversham, simply because we got to touch the koala and wombat, feed the kangaroos, and also come close to some other animals.

Barking owl

Kookaburra, the biggest king fisher species

Common brushtail possum. This gold colour possum is native to Tasmania

Everybody goes to Caversham for the three big stars, kangaroos, koalas and wombat. But Caversham has more to offer, it's almost a mini zoo. However, I have to say they're not very well managed. The animals look mostly sad and depressed in the very small enclosures. Besides, the animals seem to be repeating on and on and on at different part of the park. It's almost like they have a lot of spaces, so they decided, ok, we have a lot of this animal, let's put it here again. After a while, it's just tiring to go through all the animals.

Wombats and koalas are animals which sleep most of the time. Therefore, there are timings for visitors to take photos with them and to understand them a little bit more from the keepers. So if you're planning a visit, do take note of the timings so you don't miss anything.

With the sleeping wombat

So cute and cuddly

He's probably counting his move to pull the koala

 As for kangaroos, they can be fed all the time during the opening hours. But they have more than enough food from all the stupid tourists like us, sometimes they just couldn't be bothered. But you can take a selfie with them, that's good enough for me.

He's a little afraid of the roos when they stand up, but he likes furry stuffs so he did kiss them from the back

Food? Nah, I can't be bothered.

Besides the three stars, they have farm show and penguin feeding show too, which we missed. We did walk to both areas, and I have to say, I can't take the pungent smell coming from the guinea pigs in the farm. I had to leave, immediately!!! As for the penguins, well, we got more from Penguin Island so, nah, not important to us.

Tickets:
AUD28 per adult (no additional charges for photo taking and petting)
FOC for children under three year old

Free parking at Car Park 8 just outside the park.

Penguin Island--Sighting of The World's Smallest Penguin

Watching penguins does not confine to just Philips Island in Australia. Penguin Island, about almost an hour drive from Perth City and 5 minutes ferry has its own Little Penguins too.

Jetty at Penguin Island

Reached after a short 5 minutes ferry ride

Little Penguins got their name from being little, literally, the smallest penguins among the penguin species. An adult little penguin weighs about 1.5kg, and it's about 30-40cm tall. Emperor penguins are averagely double the size of a little penguin.

Just imagine how adorable are they!

The little penguins at the discovery center

These penguins here are moulting (changing their feathers). It happens every year, and it's a stressful period for them as they will not be able to go down to the water.

Penguin Island is a truly wild place. Besides the tiny little discovery center, the toilets (with no flush, they use waste collection), and the pathways that round the island for about an hour walk, this island is home to thousands of birds. There are also no rubbish bins around the island, visitors are to bring their own rubbish back to the main land. Besides, if you're planning a picnic, bring your own food from mainland. There's not a single cafe or even kiosk. Humans are meant to be just visitors, this place is reserved for the birds.

The seagulls are conquering the beach

Nice picnic area outside discovery center

The beach where I brought my son for a dip in the water

Having said that, chances to see a truly wild penguin is very very low. The wild penguins go out to hunt for food during day time, and only go home in the evening. You can see the 12 captive penguins in the discovery center anytime during the opening hours, and also during the feeding time. If you're a bird-watching-kinda-guy, don't forget your binoculars and telephoto lens. There are thousands and thousands of birds in the island. I can only recognise seagulls, crows and pelicans though.

The west side of the island faces the magnificent Indian Ocean, so do make time to take a stroll along the pathway and enjoy the great view of Indian Ocean.

View of Indian Ocean in Penguin Island

Besides visiting the discovery center, you can also join one of the cruise they have. Due to age limit, we can't do anything adventurous with the little one (most cruises have minimum age of 3 except for Sea Lion Cruise), we can only do Sea Lion cruise. The cruise took us to the Sea Lion Island, just a little further from Penguin Island. We did not go near, just observed from a distance, a row of Australian sea lions (only found in Western and South Australia) resting by the beach. They go out to hunt for food for a few days, and come back to the shore to rest for a few days.

Resting sea lions

One interesting fact of the sea lions there, is that they're all males. To breed, they will have to travel to another island to court the ladies. After that, they'll go back to their own island. And they do bring the teenagers back with them. As they're once almost extinct, they're currently given a special protection.

After seeing the sea lions, the cruise also tried luck to spot any inshore bottle nose dolphins. To our luck, we did see quite a lot of them. Mostly mother and child, and some coming very very near to our boat. It's really an exciting experience. (But due to the fact that I was carrying my son most of the time, I didn't take any photos of the dolphins.)

If you're planning for a trip to Penguin Island, you do need to take note of the timings of ferry (usually one per hour), the feeding time of the penguins, the timing of the cruise you want to join, and the last cruise out of Penguin Island. Plan your trip properly to avoid disappointment.

For your reference, our trip goes like this:
11am-Ferry to Penguin Island
~Picnic, watch penguins in the discovery center~
12.30pm-Watch penguin feeding
1.15pm-Sea lion cruise
~Watch Indian Ocean~
3.10pm-Left Penguin Island

We really like Penguin Island, if you like animals and island, this is a nice place to visit =)

Tickets:
AUD78 for two adults (ferry between main land and Penguin Island, discovery center and Sea Lion Cruise)
FOC for children below three year old

Free parking outside Pangos Cafe.

带着宝宝追鲸鲨

鲸鲨一直是我想在大海洋里碰见的生物之一。

我曾经在大海看过海豚，遇见鲨鱼，也同无数的海龟一起同游。接下来，真该看鲸鲨了。

在马尔代夫住的Holiday Inn Kandooma Resort，有带游客出海观赏鲸鲨的团，每位游客199美金（不含税）。看到这个天价，我还是忍着痛，参加了。

男人一直很担心我带着肚子里的12周宝宝，没能浮浅看鲸鲨。但是，到马尔代夫前，已经向医生询问，只要我不劳累，游泳浮浅都是没有问题的运动。再加上，我对自己游泳还是有一定的信心，我也就很坚持，男人也就顺服了。

我不是一个游泳好手。不过，从小爱玩水，到学游泳，到后期有位同事补助指导，我的游泳确实进步不少。但是，我万万没想到，带着那个看似不太大的肚子（12周的时候，我只像个肚腩比较大的女人），我还是气喘喘的，用尽所能才看见鲸鲨，悠悠的在我几米之下游走了。

看鲸鲨，根本不象我想象中那样，优游自在。可以在水里慢慢享受，同鲸鲨共享一个空间的乐趣。

完全不是那回事！

第一个问题，就是先得知道鲸鲨究竟在哪里。怎么知道呢？船只到了鲸鲨经常出没的地方，就会开得很慢很慢，然后，大家都开始注意水里游得和船只的速度差不多，黑黑大大的，就是鲸鲨。可是这样找，一点都不容易，结果，用了好久好久的时间，我们都只在一个好大的范围内，在船上呆呆的看着大海。

第二个问题，世上像我一样想看野鲸鲨的人太多了。不同的酒店，开着他们的船只，大概有8－9艘吧，在那个范围里转了又转，都在比赛，是谁的船只先把鲸鲨找到。一旦有鲸鲨出没，船只没命似的奔到鲸鲨那儿，大家一并地跳进海里。

第三个问题，鲸鲨速度虽然不快，大约时速5公里。不过对人类来说，还是很快的。（我怀孕之前，平均时速2.5公里）大伙儿匆匆忙忙跳进海里之际，已经困扰了鲸鲨优游自在的生活。很快的，鲸鲨就逃走了。

所以，花了199美金，用了两个小时抵达鲸鲨出没之地，用了一个小时（或更多，忘了）的时间把鲸鲨找出来，看见鲸鲨，就是那一刹那！就那一瞬间。

小鲸鲨

虽然短短的时间，我还是挺像受的。鲸鲨很优游自在地在我们愚蠢游客们之下，看似小小的，带团的说，这小鲸鲨大概是8－9米长，一点都不算小。真可惜，就是没看见它妈妈，要不然，庞然35米的鲸鲨，应该很惊人！

和8－9艘船只的游客争先恐后看鲸鲨，本来就不容易。我还行动比大家慢（不能直接跳进海），又担心被别人踢，只好落单在后，由男人陪我（好可怜的男人）。所幸，虽然落在后头，反而正是鲸鲨出没的点儿。

鲸鲨没两下子就“闪鱼”了。鱼闪人散，这时，面临的问题，就是如何游回船只。顶着一个肚子，在大海洋里游泳一点儿都不容易，我经常得停下，而且还同其他游客借了float，这样游游停停的，才好不容易上船了。这对于我来说，几乎是一个“侮辱”。没想到，这个看似小肚腩的体型，已经开始让步了。

话虽如此，看见了鲸鲨，我还是当天，最开心的孕妈妈！:)

Wildlife Spotting in Terelj

In this very scarce land of Mongolia, there wasn't many wildlife you could easily spot. The easiest would be small birds, mouse, squirrel and eagles. There are wolves and bears too, but it's not often that you could run into them. And if, you're very very very very (x infinity) lucky, you might see a snake. At least that's what the locals told us.

We saw birds and mouse every single day when we're in Terelj. Spotted some different species mouse in Gobi too but it was night time, I didn't take pictures. And saw birds nest underground in Jargalt Khan (future post).

Not that I've never seen a squirrel in my life, but spotting them always make me feel happy. What more those staying under ground. (OK, I am not even sure if they're squirrels. I initially thought they're meerkats) (My friend had corrected me, this is not a squirrel, but a marmot!) =)

Being wary

These shy animals always tried to stay a constant distance from me. This is the nearest I can take a shot. They didn't run away from me, but if I took a step forward, it'll move backward a little. At the constant distance they tried to keep, I respected that and stayed at my spot.

Upside down

This "hao lian" little fellow was showing out its acrobatic skills by eating its favourite nuts upside down in the woods. It actually kept this pose for a long time. Until I, standing upright couldn't take it anymore.

I know I know, there's nothing to shout about for spotting a squirrel. But I'm really glad that I have rented a zoom lens to take this! Worth the work :)

喝牛奶～

活了将近三十年，我从来没有体验在农场看着乳牛被人工挤奶，到我亲口喝下新鲜的牛奶。所以，这还是本小姐的初体验。

黑面乳牛

挤在牛棚里的小牛

摆pose的小牛

首先，农妇拉了一头小牛，让它喝奶。小牛刺激了乳头之后，牛奶就比较容易被挤出来。小牛喝得正有劲，农妇就把它拉开。好可怜，好像很饿的样子。

喝得起劲

本人认为，乳牛是极不舒服。妈妈都伟大。

被刺激以后，牛奶很容易就被挤出来。

看农妇挤奶，看似容易。蒙古的朋友问我要不要试，我不敢。看起来太不舒服了。我肯定不敢恨恨的按下去。所以，还是看就好。

蒙古的农场不同我们这里的农场，没有围栏，牛羊马都是片地草原满山跑。只有个小小的牛棚，关着小牛们。他们说，晚上动物就自动回家。究竟怎么回，回什么家，我到现在还是搞不懂。

我们站在那里等着买牛奶的时候，最痛苦的事情，就是赶苍蝇，而不是牛屎。牛屎羊屎马屎，遍地草原都是，去了一天草原，也就见惯不惯。况且，大概是因为这里的动物都是吃草的，而不是吃饲料的，大便也没啥味道。 苍蝇，是最破坏草原美感的事情。明明想站在那里欣赏美景，可是偏偏苍蝇都围着你飞。我们四位，站在那里，手不停地挥动着。远远看我们，好像跳舞一样。

新鲜出炉的牛奶

农妇们很快就盛满了一大桶。一大桶也不过几块钱美元，很便宜的。而且，新鲜的牛奶，是热热暖暖的，再加上傍晚温度已经渐渐下降，刚挤出来的奶还冒烟呢！

把牛奶扛回家，生火把它烧滚杀菌，就可以喝了！这新鲜的牛奶实在是太香太浓，我很喜欢，一口气喝了两大杯！我们喝剩的，就会用来制作牛油和乳酪。吃的喝的，都是天然的产品，没有化学添加物。真好！在这里多住几天大概会很健康！ :)

说真的，现在回来，和超市的牛奶，这没味儿～

First Experience Staying in Ger

It's not a trip to Mongolia without staying in ger! It's all in my plan, that I MUST get myself into a ger, and yeah, I made it! Of course, with friends' help.

We've managed to stay in a ger in Terelj National Park (I'll talk about the transportation in next post). As we were traveling around Naadam Festival, the accommodations were all over priced. But what to do, so we stayed anyway.

Luckily our Mongolian friends have a car, we were driving around to search for a suitable ger. Some are pretty expensive, some are really dirty. And finally we're here! A decent one!

Ger Camp

Internal

Ger is a really brilliant design. Look at the walls, they are pre-made walls, which were then tied up together to form  a circle. It depends on how big is the ger, it could be made from 3-8 walls. The two center poles are the supporting structures. The fire place was in the middle, and the smoke was directed out to the ring roof. So, we got to keep warm at night, at the same time stay away from the smokes.

Keeping us warm

The fire went off pretty fast, averagely 1-2hours. However, I am a deep (or "dead") sleeper, I didn't wake up entirely throughout the night. So, whoever shared the ger with me, and felt the cold had to wake up to add the woods. While I felt warm for the whole night long.

Remember I said there's no proper toilet in rural places? Well, if you were to stay in this particular ger camp, you will get to have one.

Future posh toilet

It wasn't ready when I was there. I went in anyway, and found that the toilet bowls were installed but not connected. I do not know how are they going to connect to sewage system, I didn't even know if there's any. But looking at this, this is the most high end toilets you will ever get in this area.

Wash basin

It's such a wonderful experience to stay in the ger. When we're resting in the ger waiting for the lunch to be served, horses were running outside the ger. We can hear them galloping. When I went out to check it out, I saw horses, horses and horses.

Galloping their way

Horses

Very handsome horses

The most wonderful moment, was the morning, when I woke up, horses and cows are just next to our ger. Well, basically all around our ger. Munching their delicious grass, ignoring me completely. I took my chair to sit outside the ger, having them as my company as I wrote my travel diary. I have no words to describe how it felt, it's really just GREAT!

Horses as my company

My friend woke up and took a picture of me and the horses.

This decent ger is located in the village in Terelj National Park, Zagaan Temeet. The camp name is Shijiz Camp. And the owner is Aetandnimeg (+976-99084445). The lady boss speaks English. There's also a small signboard in English outside the camp. According to my Mongolian friend, as long as there's English, the price is more expensive. Well, I believe in that.

It's 80,000 Tughrik per night, which is about USD55. Perhaps if you're traveling at other season, you could get a better price.

旺角金鱼街

到香港之前，慧妮问我想要到哪里。我说，我已经到过香港，对我而言，没有特别想去的地方，所以他们应该跟着他们的计划，我随行就可以。不过，我有个小要求，就是要去旺角。要去金鱼街。

九年前，到旺角觉得这各地方很特别。特别的乱，特别的吵，特别的挤⋯⋯街名也很特别。雀仔街、金鱼街、通菜街、女人街、花园街、西洋菜街⋯⋯

喜欢金鱼街，因为金鱼街真的卖金鱼。还有很多很多宠物。各式各样，这里的宠物店简直是没得比。


一袋袋的金鱼



小husky



我不知道它是什么，在那里，他们都叫龙猫



印度纹乌龟


乌龟开会


如果只见允许，我会在这里慢慢走，慢慢把每间店里的小动物看完。呵呵！

Sleepy Cat

Kinda sum up how I feel now (*_*)

龟兔赛跑

这一次乌龟输了。

猫样

除却小时候，恩想当猫，我们真把他当只猫来养之外，我从来都不嗜猫。

可是，这世界是奇妙的。你越是不喜欢的事情，越是会转个弯来找你。不过是迟早的问题。

而我呢，不喜欢猫，偏偏小时候养个猫弟弟。中学时代，朋友们说我像猫，而我也干脆把ICQ的名字取了个meow。近几年，租下的组屋区，都是猫的天地。结果，我就渐渐不讨厌猫。可我还是不喜欢它们。

而我，多年来还是一副猫样。

就是这么奇妙，你越不喜欢，越是害怕的，总会拐一个弯，出现在你身边。

四川三人行——D2熊猫繁殖基地

在成都的第二天，我们懒洋洋地在梦之旅四楼的阳台上，点了三份早餐，慢吞吞地吃，享受着悠哉悠闲。

第二天我拍的照片基本上，都是猫，家猫和熊猫。梦之旅里，有一只大肥猫，在梦之旅里，来去自如。我们用早餐，它在一旁走来走去，跳来跳去，但你叫它，它却不采你。真是衰个猫样！


拍什么拍，没有看过猫啊？！



你看它大便的模样，太好笑了！


用完早餐，拍完猫照，我们就到新南门客运站去搭902公交到熊猫繁殖基地。


在902公交里，有只麦兜。

熊猫繁殖基地，顾名思义，就是看熊猫。我也没有太多的介绍。就来看看，这些人见人爱的可爱动物！


小熊猫（Red Panda)


这张拍得有点蒙，但是觉得他的脸太可爱了！



它们总是在吃⋯⋯






这只还挺会享受的嘛！


大熊猫（Giant Panda)

成年的熊猫，多数都在睡觉。看了两看，还是睡觉。只有这两只幼儿熊猫有把戏，吸引了一群游客来围观。相机咔嚓咔嚓的声音不断，真是memory card杀手！

这两只幼儿，大约一岁半，应该是刚刚断奶的熊猫。有一只比较好玩好动，另一只一直在睡觉，而且，还睡到很衰样。


左边那只够衰样，右边那只自个儿玩。



好可爱啊！！！！



后来，它受不住了，把同伴吵醒，开始打架。超可爱的。


游客们看它俩打架，还是会给它们加油打气，好像看电影一样精彩。



竟然，可以有这一副睡相！



还有这一副吃相！


我们的午餐，就在熊猫基地里的一家熊猫餐厅里用，食物也挺不错的。用完午餐，我们就等902公交，打道回府。可是，这902可等的我们残了。天气炎热，一大帮人在路旁等了大约有40分钟，好不容易才搭上。

可是，一路都在堵车。我们运气不好，来去都堵车。我看，这么短短的一段距离，来回也堵了我们至少4个小时。太累人了！



星巴克的杯子在锦里门口！


晚餐，我们懒得想，就到对面的锦里吃点拉拉咂咂的小吃，当晚餐。然后，走着走着，还给我们听见了“繁花似锦”酒吧里，有位男歌手唱歌特好听。我们就坐在那里，听歌，消磨时光。

完事以后，我们回梦之旅，准备稻城、亚丁六日游的行程。


待续：D3泸定桥、康定木格措景区