We've grown accustomed to a lot since we've moved to Perth. We've adjusted to the weather, driving on the left, the accents, 'tea' time, the ridiculous cost of everything and even the spiders. However, there are at least a couple things that still amaze us and leave us in awe. The first is the birds.
One of our early blog posts talked about the birds that are everywhere. There are the ever-present crows which make a noise like a heat-stroked cat stuck in a burlap sack. There are the magpies which are quiet and tend to keep to themselves. There are the beautiful lorikeets with their bright colours. And then there are the cockatoos: a very clever and social bird that is considered a pest by some Australians and a pet by some Canadians. I personally love the birds. Every day on my walk from the bus stop home I am serenaded by perhaps a dozen different species of birds including at least two types of Cockatoos. Because we live beside a reserve there are a ton of birds in our neighbourhood. Often at night we can hear the Cookaburra's laughing (sounds a little like a hyaena).
There is a park near our home. Within this park is a large open space that is used for cricket and baseball. Every evening the Goffin Cockatoos gather in the park by the hundreds before they go to the trees to settle in for the night.
While they're hard to see in this picture there are hundreds of Cockatoos milling about the field, socializing.
Some of the birds socialize more than others. I'm not 100% sure what these two were doing but if there was a soundtrack it would probably sound something like this: *ahem* Bow-chicka-bow-wow.
While we were at the park we took a picture of a common sight here. There is no dirt in Perth. Under the homes, buildings, grass, trees and everything else that rests horizontally on the ground is the same substance: sand. And yet they don't seem to have any issues growing anything in the sand.
The other thing that still provides a feeling of awe are the sunsets. Every night the sunset is a little different over the ocean. Every night it is beautiful. Here is a shot of the sunset away from the ocean. Because of the flat land and ocean Perth, like parts of Alberta, has a a "big sky" feeling to it. It's even more remarkable during the sunset. We've seen beautiful sunsets before but here it is a daily occurence, and we haven't gotten bored of it yet.
They don't call it the "Sunset Coast" for nothing.
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There were quite a few non-essentials that we left/sold/junked back in Canada. Fortunately, we brought the kids bikes since they are relatively new. However, we ended up selling the adult bikes as they were both over 15 years old. It was time to get some new bikes. We've been looking around the bike stores for a couple of weeks now and we finally settled on some hybrid bikes. Hybrids aren't mountain bikes but you can take them on trails. The wheels are thinner for speed and ease of use but robust enough to go on a gravel path. We also purchased a 4-bike carrier for our vehicle. The 5-bike carrier was literally double in price so we'll throw one bike in the back of the car when all 5 of us are going biking. Our first use was remarkable. Nadia has been using a bike that she found here (a subject for another blog). When she used the new bike she was amazed at the difference. The models are 24 speed Giant Cyprus 2 (yes, we got the same bike but they look different enough when they're together).
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