Mundaring What?

Mundaring Weir. Mundaring What?
Basically a dam that was built between 1898 and 1902 to store water to be pumped as part of the Water Supply Scheme.

As then, the Mundaring Weir still provides ample of water to the surrounding areas. The weir has only been known to overflow twice and now seems highly unlikely to ever occur again.
Mundaring Weir has become part of the Perth Hills National Park Center.
Which is also home to a bit of the Bibbulmun track (approx 1,000 Km long).

Thanks to meeting up with my newly found friend, Asten and her delightful friends I now know the dark secret behind tremendous engineering project.

You see, Mundaring Weir was a proposed solution by Charles Yelverton O'Connor to aid in the lack of water systems (resulting in a plethora of deaths human, animal, and plants as well as rapid spread of disease e.g. typhoid from lack of fresh water). O'Connor devised and proposed a simple solution using hydraulics and steam that would pump water a whole 560 Km. Due to cost and vast distance the plan was viewed with harsh criticism.
O'Connor took the the criticism to heart, became flustered and then took his own life.

Shame, since the plan was built less than ten months after his death. Just goes to show you where there is a will there is a way, and to always hold faith.

Speaking of faith, having lived in Australia for six weeks and still not seeing a kangaroo; I, myself, had to continue to hold faith that one day I would indeed see a wild kangaroo.

Low and behold, after walking the Weir and before our picnic, I spot an entire mob of kangaroos!

Fun fact : the ratio of kangaroos to humans in Australia is 3:1.
Way to dominate, kangaroos!

Another fun fact, when an English man spotted the aforementioned animal and asked an Aboriginal what it was called, the Aborginal responded, "kangaroo" meaning "I don't understand" your question. And henceforth has been coined a Kangaroo.

FYI :

• a female kangaroo = flyer
• male kangaroo = boomer
• baby kanga = joey

Satisfied with our kangaroo finding the lot of us enjoyed our Aussie delights with a rose garden neighboring, and "28"s (a very colorful bird) singing near by.

Cheers to the innovative O'Connor and the finally spotted kangaroos,
Becca

A Heated Hike

Another thing to cross of my list : hiking.

Taken place at Yellagonga Park also known as Lake Joonalup.

Beginning our adventure at 8 with:

• clean socks, just over two liters of water each, two carrots, a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, a camera some wasabi peas, an apple, money just in case, proper sneakers, bus pass/student card and a backpack.

Elizabeth and I began the trip with the notion the hike would be 20 Km around the lake (approx 12 miles) and considered the weather sunny, slightly breezy and not excessively hot.

The hike started light-hearted.

Adventuring by the water to find cool shelters some animal made and some man-made.

Then the trail ended.

And soon fox-trap warnings were being read.
We noted the time, and promised had we not found a more
traveled path with in the hour we would turn back.

We continued only to find we went the wrong way,

and that the trail only continues after walking
alongside the highway a bit.

So we stop for a snack and water break and noticed that through our trek (the wrong way) through sand and grasses we had become quite dirty! (note the line of dirt and not so white sock)

With reassurance from a biker, we continue to find the trail again! yay!

And soon realizing that perhaps the entire trek will have to wait for another day,
we take comfort, shade and hydration from a lovely Cafe.

What we learned after our hike :

• turns out it was actually a 104 degree day (not a pleasant day), the hike was more like 30 km around the lake (good thing we didn't reckon to continue), and that on a hot day a good five liters of water consumption is recommended (good thing we didn't continue).
• that we had only fed our appetite for more hiking! So keep an eye out for more hiking adventures.

Cheers from a hiker's heart, Becca

Oh Alice..

Oh Alice,
Sometimes I am curious how your tale was contrived but atlas a delightfully charming story none the less. Some suspect a role of "additional tools" of creativity must have been involved but for now, I'll rest believing Alice and Wonderland was born with a pure mind.
That being said, the book of course is a masterpiece and (in my opinion) rightfully, the Tim Burton's version of the film should be considered one as well.

Now onto how this applies to the Australia culture.

Well along with many other misconceptions I thought perhaps movies from America would be released at a later date here than in the U.S. of A. However, quite the opposite. Turns out I can see a new release film on Thursday, and because of the time different correlates to viewing the film two days prior than in comparison to my American friends.

So here's to being able to take a fall down the rabbit hole two days sooner,
Becca

p.s. photo credit to : http://artandghosts.typepad.com/were_all_mad_here_/

Ze Cat Empire

( a creative one of the concert, thought Brandon would like that one )

The Cat Empire is a famous Australian born band in Melbourne. I'd call them a mix between jazz, rock, ska and an arm full of fun.

The concert tickets cost 75 dollars and included two opening bands : the Beautiful Girls (who are ironically all men) and Whitley. Then between each act and after the show was DJ FDel.

If you have heard of the Cat Empire at all I bet you would have heard their song, "Sly"
Check it out on youtube (smile).

Whitley's song Poison in Our Pockets is recognizable as well.



All credit goes to the fabulous Terry for organizing the whole ordeal and putting up with our excitement throughout the week.
Thanks Terry (above )



Did I mention we had to take a ferry across to South Perth since it was a waterfront concert?



(a look back from the Ferry to Perth)

We started the evening a little early to insure a good spot on the lawn (before the mosh pit began!) enjoyed our packed dinners and a game of spoons!



Once the Cat Empire took stage, Dell was generous enough to look after our things even though we insisted he came along.....


(Dell is the tall one in the maroon)

Closer to the stage Elizabeth spent a few numbers being passed around our shoulders to get a better look.



She is a shorty (giggle).

Conclusion? I had one of the best nights so far, with good music and great company. Can't imagine a better way to spend my Friday night and here are some goofball pictures to demonstrate that fact even more :



Ze men getting a side splinting laugh in!



Love it.



Sums Kate and Tyy right up.
I swear if they don't frame this one they have another thing coming!

Our next performance in the works... maybe Cats?

A gigglehans, Becca

Tennis Anyone?

Dearest Tennis Gods,

Thank you for finding me a tennis partner!

Caroline is from Germany and although we may have language barriers the sport of tennis doesn't mind.

I look forward to close games and sweat lined tank tops.

Lots of appreciation,
Becca

p.s. I thought you'd get a giggle from this tennis version of
Napoleon Dynamite. Kudos again to weheartit.com

American Girls

So here I am, half way across the world and I find my adventure buddy to be an American.

Funny how small the world really is.

I wondered does this have to do with her being American, so we easily understand each other's slang, can recite the Pledge of Allegiance or know the exact geographic location of our home universities?

Nah. I think it has more to do with our shared love for sports, outdoors, independence and spontaneity.

So to this I say I love you Americans, but I love internationals too !

Cheers, Becca

p.s. photo kudos to weheartit.com

A Trip Fit for Royality

The American Gals (Kate and Elizabeth) and I ventured out to Kings Park, a botanical garden in Perth. Turns out Kings Park is one of the larger botanical gardens within city limits.

In the middle of the crest is a flower called the Red and Green Kangaroo Paw, the declared flower of Western Australia.

On the bus ride over we met a neat older lady with some of the coolest earrings, who works at the botanic gardens on the east side of Aussie and just "had to" travel over to Perth to check out the competition (smile).

As soon as you hop off the bus you get a glorious view of Perth (above)
and
of this massive tree (below)! The roots alone could have swallowed me whole.



The park is home to many World War One and World War Two memorials including:

this wishing well (all proceeds go to the Rotary club)

the woman's fountain (signifying the hardship of maintaining the home front and serving as nurses)

and monuments to the military such as this one with the navy's emblem on the left (note: the flags proudly waving). Another monument (not pictured) was to honor the firefighters "who run into a fire when everyone else is running out." And there were also trees lining walkways with dedication tags from parents who had lost a son.

Hidden off the beaten path was the DNA tower! 202 steps intertwining to form a double helix.

Rumor has it that you can see Rottnest island (no worries, I plan to venture there one day so more information to come) from the top...

So we climb and....
dunanannanan!

The view from the top. No such view of Rottnest Island can be found.
Trees need to be trimmed. Bummer!

Below are some fun plants :

I hope to have a post just dedicated to native plants so hold out until then!

Being studious girls, we found some shade to get some reading in before our classes the next day.
And on our way out we stopped by the gift store, and like all botanic gardens I have visited found some really neat things!
I can't tell too much though since some are gifts for back home!

Always in for a day at the park,
Becca