Wild Boing Boing!

(Matt and I wrote out our experiences while traveling and I'm just now posting so when we say "today" we really mean two weeks ago. Also, I can't figure out what's going on with blogger, but when I post a picture I can't see it until I publish it so I can't really comment on exactly where we are or what we're doing.)

We saw our first wild kangaroo today on the side of the road - not jumping around, but dead on the side of the road. They’re synonymous to wild deer for us back in the US; living in the forests just about anywhere and considered pests in urbanized environments. We don’t think they are pests at all, but rather an interesting part of the local landscape characterizing this place from everywhere else in the world. Kimberly and Marc’s daughter Chloe calls them “boing-boings”, so we have warmly adopted the term ourselves.

We spent the day traveling to Yallingup in the Margaret River wine region of South West Australia which is about 3 and a half hours South of Perth. Yallingup is a quiet little beach community catering mainly to surfers and weekend beach-goers. Matt successfully drove on the other side of the road. We used the GPS in his phone to help guide our way even though we were following Kimberly and Marc. The Smiths Beach Resort is beautiful! A neat secluded pool and a gorgeous view of the ocean from our suite.

We walked on the beach before dinner with Bella in the back pack sling, or “ergo“. The sand was white and thick; quite difficult to walk in from the sidewalk down to the water. The waves were big and a jewel-colored green. Surfers waited for the ‘big one’ and a couple of dogs played on the shore waiting for their masters to come in for the day. On our return walk we saw a real LIVE “boing boing” crossing the street (without getting hit by a car). It was from a distance with the sun behind it so we only saw the large silhouette of the kangaroo. (We’re hoping to see a platypus soon!) We barbequed lamb “popsicles” and enjoyed time together eating out on the balcony. Bella and Chloe drove all the other potential outside diners away with their wails.