Bundles of happiness...

"He's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!"

-Agnes, "Despicable Me"

Yesterday I was able to take a day trip to Rottnest Island.  This island isn't very big but is famous for its adorable residence the quokka!  Quokka is a marsupial animal only found in Australia.  They are super curious animals and look like they are smiling!

The island was first explored by the Dutch who had never seen marsupials (animals whose young develop in a pouch).  They thought the quokkas looked like overgrown rats so they named the island rat's nest or in Dutch, Rottnest. 

Here you can see the baby hanging out of the pocket and then on the right if you look at the mother's stomach you can see the pocket open. 

They are just sooooo cute! 

I could have spent my whole time on the island just taking pictures of the quokkas but I did go for a hike around the island.  The island isn't very large at 7.3 sq. mi. and cars aren't allowed on the island so bikes have become the chosen mode of transportation.  I hate biking so instead I chose to go on a hike around the islands salt lakes. 

I got excited when I saw their was a pink lake on the island.  That is what this is supposed to be.  I guess the vividness of the pink depends on the weather and algae blooms. 

 It was such a beautiful day, that I even waded in the water for a bit! Pictures cannot do the color of the water justice!

 I'm not really sure what this is but obviously some sort of art display.  But the yellow was perfectly matched up across the buildings.

I also visited penguin island. 

I was excited to see an island teeming with penguins.  Turns out penguins are gone almost the whole day swimming around for fish, so we had to be happy to see the 9 little orphaned penguins in the enclosure.  These guys are called little, fairy, or blue penguins and are the smallest type of penguin.

This weekend we are celebrating my birthday and Christmas with the father's side of the family.  I came across these beautiful Christmas decorations while out shopping.  What do you think can I ship this home to decorate for Christmas next year in Wisconsin?

Moving forward...

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

- Walt Disney

    As I write this, a stomach bug is going through the new family I am with.  Let me tell you, it is not fun to have a sick 2 year old, a teething 6 month old, and a sick mom.  But aside from the current sickness it has been such a fantastic change from my previous position.  But first let me review the last two weeks.  I left my last position on a Friday and flew back to Perth.  There is splurged on a nice hotel room and had the weekend to relax and explore.  The best part was going to the grocery store and seeing all the options! I can have hummus again! 

On Saturday after sleeping in I went to Fremantle, a city just outside of Perth on the seaside.  I visited the Fremantle Markets which were first opened in 1897.  The markets are only open on the weekends.  It was fun to walk through and see what was all available.   

And this is the moment when I found out Australia has Target! I called my family in the store, I was so excited!

 I also spent time at the Western Australia Maritime Museum.  It was really cool to see how shipping has impacted this area of the world.

 This boat circumnavigated the world 3 times, which is pretty crazy as this is not a very large boat.

 On Sunday, I made a trip to the Perth Mint.  This mint was opened in 1899 to process gold from the gold rush and mint British coins.

 This is the largest minted coin in the world.  It weighs over a ton and is worth more than $50 million.

The mint also housed huge gold nuggets.  Still to this day huge gold nuggets are being found in Australia but amateurs with metal detectors.  Maybe I will happen upon a giant gold nugget while I am here! 

They had a scale that would tell you how much you would be worth if you were made entirely of gold.  

The coolest part of the tour was watching a gold bar being poured!

This is a statue of the first prospectors to find gold in Western Australia.  I just love their shocked expressions.

The best part of the new house is this giant bathtub! I have not had a bathtub for 3 years!

Last week we took a trip to the city of Bussleton.  Its a cute seaside town famous for its mile long jetty that juts out into the Indian Ocean.  Its so long there is even a train for you to take to the end.  Also how cute is this baby? Meet Baxter.  He is 6 months old. 

But even cooler than the jetty was this amazing playground!

On the left is Malakaye.  He is 2.  He attends daycare two days a week and this week was his daycare's Christmas party at the local wildlife park. 

The kids didn't really care about the animals but I did! How cool is it that I got to feed kangaroos? They are also so incredibly soft! Almost like a rabbits fur. 

I loved that they had a refuge area where the children can't get to the animals anymore.

I'm also about a 10 minute drive to this beach! How beautiful is that? 

I am so happy with this family and am getting along really well with the mom.  Right now the dad is working away so I haven't met him yet.  We will all move to a different city further up north hopefully in the middle of December.  Until the move I am playing tourist here and the mom is giving me manual driving lessons! It is so hard to concentrate on shifting gears and driving on the opposite side of the road!