September 30, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Eider Visit Monkey Mia Resort at Shark Bay, Australia

The World Heritage Drive ends at Monkey Mia Conservation Park and Reserve. Entering the reserve, we stayed Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort.

Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort

This resort is famous for dolphins. The wild dolphins come into the bay. The rangers at the reserve feed a few wild dolphins a little food each morning between 7:45 am. and noon. The rangers greet the dolphins when they arrive, so there is no strict time schedule. Like many tourists, we went to the beach at 7:45 am.

Waiting for the dolphins to come. Rain came first

A couple dolphins came in, and then it stated to rain. Most of the tourists, including our humans, left the beach. We did see the dolphins and they are beautiful animals.

Wild dolphins

This pelican was on the beach also.

Matching blue feet

We like his blue feet; they seem to match the human feet with blue shoes. From our patio, we enjoyed watching the ocean.

From our patio. After the rain

Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort has many thing for humans to do. Chess anyone?

Help us play chess. We cannot move the pieces

Anyone want to rent a canoe or kayak and go on the ocean?

Let’s get a kayak

Let’s go swimming when the sky clears.

The sky will become clear and the sun will shine

Maybe beach volleyball or join the seagulls at the outdoor bar?

Come have a drink with us

You can always be entertained by the many pelicans near the resort.

So many pelicans here

How about food? You can sit outside by the fireplace and enjoy meal, or of course, you can enjoy your food inside. This fireplace is visible from both sides.

Cozy fireplace behind us

For more information visit http://www.monkeymia.com.au We enjoyed our brief stay at Monkey Mia, even though it was rather rainy. Mom said if we are even back in this part of Australia we will definitely stay here again.

September 28, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Art and Music Festival at Sloan’s Lake with Zeb and Eider Duck

I, Zeb the Duck, enjoyed Denver’s Art and Music Festival at Sloan’s Lake.

Here we are at the Art & Music Festival

Mom and I listened to Steve Werges play the guitar and sing.

Steve is entertaining us and several others

Walking around the festival, we admired these photographs.

Fine Art Photographs

Aren’t they great? Paint The World Custom Tie Dyes had lots of stuff.

Tie Dyes

We liked these dresses,

Colorful clothes

but mom did not bring any home. We talked to Keith of Lars Metal Art and admired his pictures.

Metal art from Lars Metal Art

These are made of metal. Many are copper that he pounds from the back. This one is multiple layers of copper to show depth.

Lars Metal Art Multiple layers of copper

He also designs and mounts backsplashes and doors for your home. His art is amazing. Visit http://www.larsmetalarts.com We really like it and we like Keith. These bowls are porcelain pottery.

Porcelain pottery

These are made in Pine, Colorado (about 45 miles from Denver). The artist said the bowls are very nice filled with water and floating candles. Next we admired granite serving platters from Rough Around the Edge. Visit http://www.RoughAroundTheEdge.com The granite can be heated or cooled and will hold the temperature for hours.

Granite Serving Tray from Rough Around the Edge. Being heated with candles

These great trays are attractive and also very useful. Many also have small candle holders. The wick will never burn out and the small reservoir is fill with oil that burns. Very nice! This is Barry from Art Glass Jewelry.

Barry makes Art Glass Jewelry

His jewelry is made of layers of fused glass. Visit him at http://www.ArtGlassJewelry.etsy.com Mom just couldn’t resist. This pendant now lives at our house.

Mom bought this pendant

It really is pretty. Cliff of CSimmons Fine Art & Photography Studio takes great photographs and then makes painting from the photos. He also makes cards with some photos. We loved this squirrel.

This squirrel lives with me now

He is just like the ones in our yard. Visit Cliff on Facebook at cliff@csimmonsartstudio.com So this greeting card came home with us also. As we were leaving, we saw all these tall sculptures.

Tall sculptures

I like them! And, in case you were wondering, this festival was at Sloan’s Lake in Denver, and there really is a lake here.

It is a rather large lake

It is a rather large lake with a sidewalk trail for hiking. Water sports are here also. We like the stand up paddle boarding and the sailboat.

Water sports at Sloan’s Lake

You would like to visit Sloan’s Lake. We do.

September 26, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Shell Beach at Shark Bay World Heritage Site with Zeb and Eider

Zeb and Eider Duck, with the humans, visited Shell Beach. We have never seen anything like this before. The beach is entirely made up of billions of tiny cockle shells layered up to ten meters deep. The beach stretches for 120 kilometers.

Shell Beach is huge

Upon entering Shell Beach we started reading the information signs.

One of many signs at Shell Beach

The first one started “imagine living in a super-crowded super-salty soup”. The Fragum Cockle does that. There can be over 4,000 cockles living in one square meter of the very salty water. The water in Hamelin Pool, which includes Shell Beach, is about twice as salty as normal ocean water. The water here arrives from the ocean and the evaporation rate is so high, that a higher salt content results.

Sitting on shells by the edge of the salty water

Closer to the water, there are more loose shells. You can see us sitting on the many shells.

Individual shells

Further from the water, the Shell Beach has dips, looking like waves.

Shells form ridges similar to waves

This beach is really made of shells.

Millions of shells here

These shells can be made into building blocks

Sitting on shell blocks

They can adhesive together and are very strong Many buildings are made entirely or partly with shell blocks. These are shell blocks.

Shell Blocks at Hamelin Pool

You can see the individual shells that make up the blocks.

Shells adhesive together to form shell blocks

Shell blocks were the main building material for many of the homesteads. Shell block is a wonderful insular. Isn’t this a pretty beach?

Shell Beach from the World Heritage Drive

It is Shell Beach from a higher lookout point on the World Heritage Drive. We liked Shell Beach, but for humans walking without shoes, the shells are rather sharp and cause some pain.

September 25, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Shark Bay in Western Australia with Zeb and Eider Duck

Shark Bay is a World Heritage Site on the western coast of Australia, and we are going to visit.

Entering Shark Bay World Heritage Site

Shark Bay is an area, not just one place. We are driving on the World Heritage Drive.

World Heritage Drive is quite long. We will here a few days

First stop is Hamelin Pool to see the only remaining Telegraph Repeater Station, established in 1884.

Hamelin Pool. Mrs. Lillian O’Donahue helped NASA in 1964 from this station

We like the gas or petrol pump here also.

Old gas pump

Inside the telegraph station, there was a sign explaining the evolution of communication: from dot dash to dot com. On 1964 the first Gemini space capsule was to be traced across Australia, but there was a temporary problem with the phone line. Mrs. Lillian O’Donohue using the Morse code link, spent 4 hours relaying important information through Hamelin Pool until the phone line was fixed.

Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station of 1884 with petrol pump and telephone booth

NASA gave her a special award for her help. Next we went to see the stromatolites. Walking along this boardwalk,

Great viewing boardwalk

we read the explanations of stromatolite and also looked at them growing in the water.

Natural growing stromatolites

Many growing stromatolites

Hamelin Pool is one of a few places on earth where living marine stromatolites exist. The rocky looking lumps in the water are the oldest and simplest forms of life on earth dating back 3.5 billion years. The water at Hamelin Pool is twice as saline as usual sea water, due to sea grass banks situated across the bay’s entrance and rapid evaporation from the shallow water.

Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool

At Eagle Bluff we looked into the shallow water of Shark Bay Marine Park and saw Cowtailed stingray. They were visible and we saw them move but photos were not successful. Walking along the boardwalk on the edge of the cliff, we saw Nervous Shark. This photo shows one of the shark.

Nervous Shark

We saw more than 3 of them, but again, photos were not great. Seeing the sharks and stingray in the ocean was wonderful! Part of the coastline was rocky and really beautiful.

Love the rocky coastline

These islands are now important bird breeding colonies.

Island primarily breeding area for birds

Further along the World Heritage Drive, we stopped at Little Lagoon.

Little Lagoon

The lagoon is almost a perfect circle in shape. This was once a land-locked birrida (gypsum pan) that was inundated by the sea several thousand years ago. Linked to the sea by a small tidal channel, Little Lagoon is a natural nursery for several species of fish. Also when we were here, a man was having a problem getting his dog, Smiley, in the truck to go home. Smiley wanted to play and swim. We hope Smiley and his human got home without much trouble. Next time we will tell you about a special beach at Shark Bay World Heritage Site.

September 24, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck Welcome Autumn in Colorado

Yesterday, Wednesday, according to our calendar, was the first day of autumn. Zeb and Soapy discovered autumn colors in the mountains. We went to Echo Lake, near Idaho Springs, Colorado. Driving down the road we admired the fall colors and the brilliant blue sky.

Driving we appreciate the colors and the vivid blue Colorado sky

Of course, we had to look back and see the colors from the other direction.

Looking back

Beautiful, isn’t it? Looking through the trees, we saw the golden aspen leaves and the majestic Rocky Mountains.

Through the trees we admire aspen and rocky mountains

Here we are at Echo Lake.

Echo Lake with reflection

We loved the reflections on the water. The gold aspens and the fluffy white clouds reflected on the lake made us smile. It also made us hungry. The restaurant in the Echo Lake Lodge provided us with a very tasty lunch.

Echo Lake Lodge and Restaurant

We are so happy we live in Colorado.

September 23, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Australia’s Kalbarri National Park with Zeb and Eider Duck

Kalbarri National Park, in Western Australia, has coastal lookouts and look out points over the gulches of Murchison River. After leaving the Principality of Hutt River, we drove to the Indian Ocean coast toward the town of Kalbarri. Our first stop in the national park was Grandstand.

From Grandstand Lookout in Kalbarri National Park

We, Zeb and Eider, were very careful because the wind was pretty strong.

We are here too, but it windy

We loved looking at these cliffs of the Indian Ocean.

Great cliffs to Indian Ocean

Our next stop was at Island Rock.

Island Rock

It really is an island of rock. Natural Bridge, a little further along the coast, was nice.

Natural Bridge

This bridge was formed by the force of the water, cutting through the rock. Here at Eagle’s Gulch, we admired this beach.

A beach at Eagle’s Gulch

This would be a great place for a picnic. More beautiful views of the Indian Ocean from Pot Alley.

We like Pot Alley. We feel safer here

As the weather changed, we saw this rainbow.

We love rainbows

Next morning we drove a little inland to the entrance of Kalbarri National Park.

Kalbarri National Par

We were fascinated by this plant at the Park Headquarters Building.

Different plant

The Murchison River flows through the park, so we had our choice of hiking trails and beautiful views of the gorge.

We hiked this trail

This was our first hiking trail. We enjoyed this view from the trail.

Great view

After our hike, we drove a little further and saw this emu.

Emu wandering

This was a pretty view of the Murchison River from Hawks Head Walk.

Murchison River

Since Western Australia is known for wildflowers, so we wanted you to see these flowers near the building.

Everybody loves bright flowers

As we were leaving the park, we enjoyed watching this flock of emu.

Are they sad we are leaving the park?

We are really enjoying our drive in Western Australia. You would enjoy time here also.

September 21, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb Goes to Lafayette Colorado Peach Festival

I, Zeb the Duck, went to a festival. This was the 16th Annual Peach Festival in Lafayette, Colorado.

Welcome the the Peach Festival in Lafayette, Colorado

There were so many peach treats to taste, but we decided on peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream

It was really good. We enjoyed the music of the Jacob Larson Band, featuring Funk and Soul,

The Jacob Larson Band with dancers

while we ate our cobbler. There were fun activities for young humans.

Fun for small humans

The girl has a harness that allows her to jump like she was on a trampoline and the boy is rock climbing. This soap is hand made and smells wonderful.

Loofah Soap

It is Loofah Soap from Dew Farms. For more information visit http://www.dewfarms.net Look at these metal ants.

Metal ants

Some are giants. This man has beautiful glass for sale.

Jon from Hot Glass Ranch is holding me, Zeb the Duck

This is Sheri and Jon from Hot Glass Ranch in Lucern Valley, California. Of course, every festival needs a llama or alpaca.

We like these South American animals

Isn’t he great? Since this is a Peach Festival, we saw many boxes of peaches.

Peaches. The inspiration for this festival

Yum! These hanging solar lights are really nice.

Solar lights are so cool

Hey mom, they would look great in our back yard. The lawn and garden stakes are very attractive also.

Lawn and Garden Stakes

The very tasty fruit jams and spreads from Rocky Mountain Colorado were attractive and very flavorful.

Jams and spreads from fresh fruit. Yum

This was the first time we saw small bird houses made from old license plates.

Bird houses made from old license plates

We like them! The Peach Festival in Lafayette, Colorado was fun. We hope you are enjoying festivals near you this summer and fall.

September 19, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Eider Duck Visit Australia’s Second Largest Country

Zeb and Eider Duck and their humans went to the Principality of Hutt River today. This is an independent sovereign state surrounded by the country of Australia, on the continent of Australia.

Entering Hutt River Province. Our second country on the continent of Australia.

As we drove through the Principality, we soon see the city of Nain, the main town in the Principality of Hutt River.

The main town

We crossed the Hutt River.

We crossed the beautiful Hutt River

This is a very pretty river. We pass through the gates welcoming us to the Principality of Hutt River.

We have arrived

Our first stop is the building with the government offices and the post office.

Official offices and post of the Principality of Hutt River

This is where the humans each purchase a visa and get their passport stamped.

Stamped passports

HRH Prince Leonard, the head of the Principality of Hutt River welcomes us, explains a little about his country, and then takes us on a personal tour of the history building. This is the flag of the Principality.

The flag of the Principality of Hutt Rier

The plaque states that the Principality of Hutt River successfully ceded from Australia on the Twenty First Day of April 1970. Hutt River has been an independent and sovereign state since that day. They celebrated 45 years of independence this year. Here is a photo of Prince Leonard with some human tourists.

HRH Prince Leonard with tourists

We later visited the inter denominational chapel.

Inter denominational chapel

The interior of the chapel is very nice.

Inside the chapel

Prince Leonard commissioned several paintings for the chapel. This, by Frank Pash, is The River Jordan in Jericho, where Jesus was baptized.

The River Jordan

This welcome booth contains several documents, including the story of the independence and creation of this Principality.

Welcome to Hutt River

There are also letters from the government of Australia saying that they are nonresidents of Australia.

Certificate of non resident status from Australia

Therefore there is no taxable income for Australia and no tax is due to Australia. This is a scientific memorial.

Memorial to the late Princess Shirley

It is dedicated to the late Princess Shirley and has an oriental theme.

Momument has oriental look

Our last stop is back to the post office to purchase and mail a few postcards. The post cards were addressed and then placed in an envelope from the Principality of Hutt River.

Eider on the front of envelope

The back of the envelope has the Hutt River postmark and a stamp issued by the Principality of Hutt River.

Zeb on the back of envelope

We liked the Principality of Hutt River and Prince Leonard was extremely informative, friendly and very nice. For more information about the Principality, visit http://www.principality-hutt-river.com This website will tell you more about the formation of the sovereign state and upcoming events. If you are in Western Australia, near Kalbarri and the beautiful Kalbarri National Park, you would enjoy a few hours at the Principality of Hutt River. The country is also a working wheat farm, so the land is beautiful. Leaving Hutt River, these Hutt River kangaroos crossed the road in front of us.

Hutt River kangaroos

We like to watch kangaroos hopping We hope you get a chance to visit Prince Leonard in the Principality of Hutt River.

September 18, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Eider Duck Drive in Southwestern Australia

Zeb and Eider Duck and the humans rented a car in Perth, Australia. We are heading north, along the Indian Ocean coastline. We want to show you some of what we saw the first couple days of driving. We are meandering up the west coast of Australia, beginning in Perth but our final driving destination is Broome, Australia, on the northwest coast. We stopped to admire this roadside park overlooking the water.

Picnic area along Indian Ocean

The seed pods on this tree were new to us.

Unusual seed pods

These trucks, with more than one trailer, are called road trains.

Road Train

We write more about them another day. These were our first sightings of wild emu.

Our first wild emu

It was exciting for us to see them. Of course, we do not see wild emus in Colorado nor in Alaska. Driving into the town of Dongara, we stopped at this navigation beacon,

Navigation Beacon at Dongara

built commemorate the loss of the Brigantine Leander near this point on November 11, 1853. The rugged coastline is a reminder of the importance of navigation beacons.

Rocky coast can be treacherous

Even the water is rather rough here.

Coast at Dongara

Continuing north, we visited Oakabella Homestead, located between Chapman Valley and Northampton. This is an 1860s heritage-listed beautiful restored homestead. This is arguably Western Australia’s most haunted house. Here we met Loretta, formerly of Nova Scotia, Canada. Loretta took us through the 13 room homestead. This is the bedroom where the owner, George, accidentally shot himself while cleaning his shotgun.

Bedroom where owner, George, accidentally shot himself

Loretta says his spirit, or ghost is often here.

This bedroom belongs to a young woman. She had a great hat collection. Her spirit, or ghost is also a frequent visitor.

Former lady’s bedroom with hat collection

This stove still works in the kitchen. The spirits or ghosts did not like any of the new appliances that were brought in. The all broke within a few days or weeks of their arrival. The new appliances have been removed and the old ones function very well.

Kitchen. This stove still works.

This museum building was a former school.

Former school, now museum

Mom was fascinated with this collection of ink wells.

Collection of ink wells

This view toward the Oakabella Creek is really nice.

Oakabella Creek behind homestead

While walking around in this area, we saw these plants that look like small watermelon.

Maybe wild watermelons

Inside the fruit looks like a watermelon, but the fruit is green.

Green inside

We also enjoyed seeing this herd of cattle grazing near the Indian Ocean.

Cows grazing near Indian Ocean

This is a Banksia tree. Here is a variety showing various stages of the pod developing.

Seed pods of various colors and various stages of maturity

First the pods seem to be brown, then turning salmon color. Then the seeds come off and the pod is white and has a very smooth feel.

After seeds fall, this white part is very soft and smooth

These really are interesting trees. These kangaroos were grazing near a housing subdivision.

Kangaroos in field near subdivision

We love seeing kangaroos. We will show you more of the scenery along our west coast drive later, as we continue our northern route.

September 16, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Eider Duck Sleep at Western Flora Caravan and Tourist Park

Zeb, Eider and the humans rented a car and we are driving north from Perth in Western Australia. We stayed a night at Western Flora Caravan and Tourist Park.

Western Flora

A caravan park is for campers, but they had cabins, or chalets for us. We stayed in Melaleuca Chalet.

Our home for the night

We were a little early for the wildflowers, but they were beginning to bloom.

Wildflowers beginning to bloom

The people that own and run the park, Ron and Sandra Webb, were very friendly and very nice to us. In the morning, they brought us a continental breakfast. The walk round the lake, after breakfast, was great.

Hiking around the lake

The lake has 10 different types of frogs.

We didn’t know there were this many kinds of frogs here

We saw many birds. These pink and gray galah are one of mom’s favorite wild birds.

Pink and Gray Galah. Wild and beautiful

The wild kangaroos ran as soon as we saw them,

Wild kangaroos playing but ran away from us

but Ron and Sandra Webb even have an observation place for humans to sit and watch for kangaroos and other wildlife.

Humans can sit inside and wait for wildlife to appear

There are no fences here, so all the wildlife is wild and can leave whenever they want. However, several kangaroo stay around the park most of theme. Isn’t this great?

Wild kangaroos but they are not afraid of us–from a distance

There two are either playing or fighting.

Playmate of rival?

This may be a contact sport

Meet our new friend, Honey.

A kangaroo named Honey

She is about 22 years old. Her mother was hit by a car and brought here. Honey was born here.

Honey likes humans

She used to leave more often and come back with a new baby, or a joey. Ron and Sandra Webb said she doesn’t leave much now, but she can if she wants to. Honey is very friendly. She likes us,too.

Honey likes Zeb and Eider

Isn’t she beautiful?

We think Honey is beautiful!

If you are near Eneabba, Western Australia, stop at Western Flora Caravan and Tourist Park. You will really like Ron and Sandra Webb and you will enjoy your stay at Western Flora Caravan and Tourist Park. We sure did!

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Colorado Traveling Ducks

Month: September 2015