Heirisson or Heirrison? Kangaroos!

I feel like it's lying to blog about a trip after returning home. Right around Jan 19th we moved into the new apartment in Cottesloe which did not have internet, and it became harder to post. So since there's a big gap in our story and I have some nice pictures to post, I've decided to add a few more until I return to Australia (early June) to "do more stuff worthy of a blog."

We had heard that there were kangaroos in Perth living on an island in the Swan River. Since we still hadn't seen any kangaroos since arriving in Australia, we decided one evening to drive the couple of miles from the Mounts Bay Waters apartment to the island. The place is nothing to write home about (she said, writing home about it) - sor of a non-descript flat sandy island rimmed by marsh lands. The Stirling Highway crosses the Swan Riverin two jumps, landing in the middle of the river on Heirisson Island.



Sign to left of gate

We parked the car on the north bank of the River in the Park;s parking lot and paid the $4 parking fee. The bike/pedestrian pathway takes you onto the Stirling Highway bridge and then dumps you onto a dirt path on the south side of the island. We followed the path until we reached a gate in a long stretch of chain link fence. A sign on the right side of the gate providing the correct spelling of Heirrison Island and a sign on the left side of the gate providing the correct spelling of Heirisson Island.  

Sign to Right of Gate

 
















Chris fleeing mosquitos



Passing through the gate, we found the island was open and its edges are marshy. We peered hopefully around for large hopping marsupials the size of small cows. First all we got was a face full of mosquitos. Especially Chris, who is a mosquito magnet (magnate?). I have several pictures of our walk with Chris in them. In each, he is way ahead of me trying to move faster than the mosquitos.



You wouldn't think that kangaroos would be hard to find on an open flat island. And we did eventually. Here are three for you to discover like we did.

Three kangaroos

And then later we got to see a couple up close and personal like. Now that's more like it!