A good tradition

Last Sunday it was the City to Surf run again. For the second time since we're in Perth Jens has participated in the 12 km run. He ran for charity and collected a total AUD $780. Thanks to everyone who made generous contributions to a very good cause: Kids with Cancer.
And as his running mate, Roger, was in very good shape, so he also decided to fly over to the west coast again and run along with Jens.
The morning of the race, it was hard to tell if they would be even able to  make it to the start line...what do you think?

Gelukkig hebben ze zich in rap tempo weten op te warmen en om 9.00 uur gingen ze in een menigte  van duizenden mensen opweg naar de finish.
Het was een prachtige dag, niet te warm (17 graden om 9 uur) en een strak blauwe hemel.
Maar 12km bleek toch een behoorlijke afstand te zijn, voor de twee tanende veteranen. Jens kon de laatste kilometer door een blessure niet meer rennen, maar (snel) lopen en heeft toch een tijd neergezet van 00:59:46.
Desalniettemin waren ze blij met hun nieuw verworven medailles. Bijna echte Olympiades...

Opkomst van deelnemers dit jaar was weer hoger, nu ruim 40.000 participanten. En dan nog alle toeschouwers om een ieder aan te moedigen. Alles was perfect geregeld: bus shuttles van het centrum naar de finish bij City Beach en terug. Geen voordringen, netjes in de rij wachten, je medemens voor laten gaan, iets waar wij Nederlanders van kunnen leren!






And just like last year, our heros took a cool bath in the Indian Ocean. Looks like a tradition is born.There's talk that next year they'll try and run the half marathon....

The Scotsman was flying

Freshly awarded Dr. Craig came to visit us in Australia and we had a lovely time sharing our apartment with him. We had plenty of opportunity to test the various Aussi beers, we had to stock up after a week. And for sure we had some time to show Craig around in vast Western Australia.

Wir sind gen Sueden gefahren, ca. 90 Minuten, nach Lake Clifton wo lebende Fossilien zu bewundern waren im untiefen Wasser, sogenannte Thromboliten. Diese waren echt spektalulaer und der Clifton See auch recht beeindruckend. Eine ganze Reihe von Seen hat sich hier geformt parallel zum Indischen Ozean.

Our KFC lunch at the lake was marvellous, we enjoyed every bite, as did the little birds.

Beim wandern um den See haben wir viel Schilder gesehen von Tieren die man dort finden soll. Gleich neben dem Schild mit grossen Echsen war dann ein eher kleiners Exemplar zu finden. Andrew hat ihn mal auf die Hand gelegt...zum Glueck kam die 1m lange Mutter nicht vorbei.
Dafuer haben wir die fliegende Spinne entdeckt, ...the flying spider, oh god....wir hatten diese schon aus Metern Entfernung gespottet, ich dachte mehr an einen Kaefer. Das Netz haetten wir glatt uebersehen, evtl. Folgen fuer Gesundheit unbekannt.

Well, it looks like a man coming out of Mc Donalds with is BigMac who got surprised by some Marsupials.
Craig's first kangaroos, as predicted they turned up at dawn at the lake feeding on the bushes and grass. And there were many of them, and large ones...Western Gray Kangaroo...huge beasts...we saw them boxing later on another trip, very impressive. That's more the original size of the Western Gray Kangaroo, it was staring at Andrew while he was taking a foto of the lake. Luckily no kick.

The following weekend we decided to go North again towards the Pinnacles National Park. On the way we could witness the beginning of the wild flower season when the dry shrub land is covered by tiny flowers.

The Pinnacles are a 'Must see' in Western Australia for each Tourist. We even spotted the Emu traces in the desert sand. Craig missed to spot the Emu's on the way home.

And for sure, Craig has a great sense of humor, guess why.

On the way home we stopped in Yanchep National Park where we were surrounded by plenty of Kangaroos. And we tried our luck to spot the Koalas by night in the Eukalyptus trees.

And yes, they were active like never before, eating the leaves and climbing in the trees making lots of noise. We spotted 6 of them. One came down from his tree to say goodby Craig.

As Craig summed up his stay in Australia and with us: Guys, it's been emotional.

Fame is on its way....

Mijn lieve mannie heeft UWA nieuws (klik op link) gehaald! Unfortunately he was not successful in achieving a Future Fellowship to secure our stay in Australia for a few more years, but hope is rising with his latest publications.
Heute abend feiern wir mit unseren collegen das der Professor schon wieder ein begehrte Auszeichnung hat bekommen mit ein geld preis von 3.2 Million dollar. Das leben ist schon....