Australia2023

 Thursday we debated between going to the museum and going to the zoo. The weather seemed clear enough, so we decided on the zoo. We got about two blocks before it started to feel cold and rainy, so we changed our minds and went to the museum. The weather for the rest of the day was perfect. The zoo didn't have a lot of "things." It went more to descriptions, pictures, education. It did have a blue whale skeleton, some dinosaur skeletons, some mineral displays. What it did have was meteorites, tektites, and stromatolites! Yay! Some of the meteorites on display Tektites! On pins! Stromatolites I didn't take a picture of the biggest meteorite there, but I did get a pic of a rock from the Permian Extinction. Lots of wiggly things! Permian creatures Iron layers in the ocean A nice little room for relaxing in N Leaving the museum Nothing in particular to do with the museum, but this next picture is between the buildings there. It's a"grass tree," a unique an...

 We went out and Did Things today. First, let me mention that there is no shortage of fish & chips in Perth, or of battered and fried fish generally. After a light breakfast in the room, we got on a free CAT (Central Area Transit) bus and went to King's Park (the same location in it that we had been to before), and had fish sandwiches for lunch. Later we had fish sandwiches at the place across the street from the Adina. Regarding fish sandwiches, we aren't talking about fish hamburger made into small square patties, a la McDonald's. We're talking fish & chips on a bun instead of with chips. Really good. Fishburger at King's Park At King's Park we went into the Botanical Gardens and saw many strange plants, some of which aren't eucalyptus. Australia, like every continent in the world, has flowering plants; but it seems as though many of them haven't yet invented flower petals. Eucalyptus rhodantha Adenanthos sericeus (very fuzzy) Grevillea bipinna...

Tried the free CAT buses, which work very well with the scooter.   Visited king's Park and botanical gardens and saw a lot of strange flora, most of it eucalyptus.  Apparently if you don't know want a bush or tree in western Australia is, eucalyptus of some kind is a good guess.  Finished at Elizabeth Quay, booking a ferry to Rottnest Island and seeing a unique bell tower.  And also unique pedestrian bridge And later had a fish sandwich  at the fish and chips place across from the hotel.  Fish and chips seems to be Perth's canonical dish  -- even the Asian restaurants around here have it.  Maybe what you get when you colonize someplace with the British, from the ocean?  Perth definitely has a lot of fish on menus.   And now back at the hotel, doing laundry and blogging 🙂

We took a walk towards King's Park today. We didn't get there. We took a wrong turn and had to double back, and the weather has been very Seattle-ish. We turned around and got back to the hotel just as it was starting to really dump. Today was Anzac Day, their version of Memorial Day for Australia and New Zealand. Practically everything was closed. There was a parade in the morning, which we skipped. We ate in our rooms. Paula is hopefully nearing the end of her bad cold. We bought some expectorant which, in addition to having guaifenesin, has some other expectorant which is unknown in the US but apparently common here and in Europe. After some online research, she decided it was safe for her to take. I did some programming, with help from Beck (thank you!) to get a program installed and working, and we both took some serious naps. Most of the pictures below are from yesterday, some from today. Types of bananas Last store of this type in Australia Information booth Air conditio...

We have been shopping primarily at Woolworths, which is a large Australian grocery chain. There are actually two of them within walking distance of our hotel, about a block apart, both good-sized, both within pedestrian malls.  Some things we have noticed: Whole roast chickens, which are common, are usually stuffed. I think they are roasted rather than rotisserie spitted. There is very little selection of frozen veggies. Most of the bread we have found is fluffy. Rather like Wonder bread, which they sell, by the way.  This holds true even for things like a multigrain sourdough. Stone fruits are in season. We got some really delicious plums. It seems late for that, since we are well past the fall equinox here. Individual coffee tubes, complete with some kind of creamer and sugar or artificial sweetener, are common. They are very good. Plain coffee in tubes is not common, although some of our hotels have had it.  Also, every hotel we have stayed at that offers a coffee serv...

 Paula has a bad cold, and is doing her best to sleep through it. My body is still on an early schedule, so I woke up at 7:30am, and she woke up at 10. We went to the Woolworth's (major chain grocery store) yesterday and stocked up. We're in another Adina apartment-style hotel, and once again Paula has done a superb job in finding a location. She was a little worried yesterday because we're directly across the street from the Pink Pussycat, but those fears were unfounded. We're very close to two pedestrian malls--or maybe one big mall on two parallel streets with passageways in between, and very long blocks. There are two Woolworth's here. Today we went to the other one to get some additional provisions. On the way back we had fish and chips for lunch. Lunch, across the street Woolworth's will be closed on Tuesday for Anzac Day, which is sort of like Veteran's Day for Australia and New Zealand. A couple of days ago I had an Aussie burger. Here, the fancy bur...