October 7th - A day of AWESOME ADVENTURE!

Today a group of us went on a day long tour - about 12 hours.  You will see our bus below.  (More to come about the bus - unbelievable). This was our only day off in Perth.  We have been busy at the conference for 5 days and were ready for an adventure. Boy, did we get an adventure.  Our day began at a wildlife park where we got to pet Koala bears.  Soft does not describe them.  They are so sweet!  We had to be careful when petting them because if we touched the leaves where they were sitting then they would not eat it.  This was also where they fed.

 Next, we got to pet the kangaroos in the park.  We had seen two kangaroos in the wild as we drove out to the park, but had no idea that we would get to go inside their habitat at the park.  I LOVED THEM!!!  I got to feed them and they hopped right up to me.  They are soft and sweet.  One had a baby in their pouch (see below).  Do you know how long a mother kangaroo is pregnant???  One month!  That is my kind of pregnancy :-)

 Next, we went to the Namburg National Park.  It is located about 3 hours north of Perth.  There we visited the Pinnacle Desert.  This place was truly amazing.  It was covered with Pinnacles which are limestone formations.  There are thousands of them.  It is hot, dry and full of flies.  The sand is an orange color and each formation is very different.

We then went to the Indian Ocean to take in the beauty while the bus driver let the air out of the tires.  Yes!  I did say the air out of the tires.  You see we were getting ready to go to the largest sand dunes in the world.  The plan was to ride up and down the dunes.  More below.  I must say that I have seen the Gulf, the Carribean, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but the Indian is by far the bluest ocean I have ever seen!  It is breathtaking!

 

Above is our bus with tires deflated.  Below you will see one of the sand dunes.  We rode in the bus (27 of us) up and down, round and round, slipping and sliding down these enormous dunes.  It is was fun yet scary at the same time. 4 wheeling in a bus...who would have believed it to be true.  There is no way you could ride these dunes without feeling alive.  The sand on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other.  A wonderful adventure.  After the ride was over each passenger got to go sand sliding if desired.  They were given their own board, wax and careful instructions.  You will see Dr. Hewitt going down one below.  Go Kim!

 

Tomorrow we travel to Melbourne!  This is a four hour flight across Australia.  Let the adventure continue!