Wanderung 33

We were somewhat set back by the jet lag and Monika`s cold was still severe, so we had a decidedly low-key first day in Perth. In fact, we just walked down to the train station and a Coles grocery store in the morning, and then walked a 3.5 kilometer loop around Lake Munger in the afternoon. At the train station, we used our change to take a quick trip into Perth to ask about buying the Perth metro card. However, unlike Sydney where the Opal card is less than a couple dollars, the Perth version cost $10 up front, and then you had to add money to it to actually pay for the fares. That wasn't nearly as good a deal, and even the gatekeepers advised us against buying one, so we just turned around and took the train back 2 stations. When we walked back past Coles, we picked up ready-made sandwiches for lunch and rolls and cheese slices for dinner, plus some wine.

The lake walk that afternoon was a lot of fun. The lake was natural , as it turned out, but had been converted into a recreational lake in the late 1800s and then into kind of a landfill site in the 1900s, so it was just recently returned to its natural contours and native plants re-introduced. But the nice result of that restoration was that the native wildlife was slowly returning and re-colonizing the lake as natural habitat.

We saw three of the rather famous Black Swans of the Perth area, including one fledgling that was just covered all over with that soft gray duck down type of fuzz. In a way he resembled a duck fledgling, but he was about 5 times the size of any duck fledgling I have ever seen, so I assume he was a swan.

Other waterfowl also abounded around the lake, including big ducks with red breasts and at least one wading type of bird about the size and shape of an egret, but gray-black colored. I also read about, but did not hear, a frog called a Motorcycle Frog because his croak sounded like a motorcycle shifting through its gears! Such fun.

We even saw a lorikeet, a bird with vivid, rainbow-like colors, and another duck or waterbird of some kind that had a blue bill instead of the normal orange or black bird bills! Australia is full of weird and wonderful wildlife that you don't see anywhere else, although you have to be careful because many species have adopted poison over the millenia in their attempt to compete and survive.

But even that short a walk had tired Monika out, so we just looped around back home and put our feet up for the evening. I hit a wall of fatigue shortly after 7 o`clock (probably residual jet lag), and finally gave up and fell into bed before 8 p.m. I hate to go to bed early when I am in a land as wonderful as Australia, as it feels like a HUGE waste of valuable time, but needs must.