Pictures from Australia

1.) The first picture is of a "Quokka" which is one of the cutest animals I've seen. It looks like a mixture of a rat/kangaroo when it stands up. They are all over Rottnest Island with a population of over 20,000 and it is the easiest place to see these animals. 2.) The second picture is of Parakeet Bay on the northside of Rottnest Island. We went snorkeling there right off shore to the reef and saw tons of fish, crabs, manta rays, etc. (My favorite experience on Rottnest!) 3.) The Mom Orangutan at the zoo, which I swear looked right at me! Not native to Australia, but they are native to the islands of Indonesia which are pretty close to Western Australia. The zoo gives them lots of structure to climb all over and my friends and I were the only people at the exhibit this day.

4. The fourth picture (below here) is of Cottesloe Beach on the Indian Ocean. It is one of the most picture-esque beaches on the West Coast and the level just drops right off. 10 feet in, you are over your head but the water is clear and there is no seaweed. People swim laps really far out at this beach because its pretty calm.

Cool/Scary Fact: There was a white hammerhead shark sighting here about the time we got here (Febuary 7th). They use shark planes and alarms to get everyone out of the water. No one was hurt or anything and there haven't been any sighting since.

5. The Kangaroo! (I cheated and saw this at the zoo, although they are around in the wild.) Next week we're going on a trip all over the Northwest of Australia. We're going up to the Ningaloo Reef, Monkey Mia/ Shark Bay and then inland to much of the Outback so I will hopefully see some of these out in the wild.