Surfing!

This weekend, Danny and I traveled 3 hours south to the town of Anges Water, where they offer surf lessons. The lesson was 3 hours long, and great fun! Danny was able to get up on his first try and was pretty successful, and I got up for a few seconds a couple of times.

On the way down, there were some interesting signs! One read, "Slow Trucks Carrying Explosives," I was not able to get a picture of it. There were a lot of signs warning against driving while tired, and to rest at the rest stops, which, unlike the US, were just a parking lot.

We stopped on the way down at a little town called Tanum sands, and walked to the beach. There was a seahorse and a crab decoration that was made out of metal. On the way back, we stopped at Lake Arwoonga (or something like that).

Evening at the Beach

Happy Valentines Day! A few days ago, we went to the beach after it had been raining, and it was so calm! There was almost no wind, and the waves were the smallest we've seen here. There was a beautiful sunset, and a little blue crab we came across. I saw a Giant Water Bug on the sidewalk last night, but didn't have my camera with me, so I was unable to take a picture.

Up the Mountain

This weekend we went to a nearby National Park, and hiked up to the overlooks. It was a cloudy day, which meant cooler temperatures for us, but not as good of views. We (or I) had a lot of fun looking at bugs and plants along the way. There were different habitats along the trail, including grassland, eucalypt forest, and dry rain forest. It was windy at the top! It took us about an hour to hike the 2.2 km trail.

Today, I went to check the mail and came across a Rhinoceros Beetle! It is one of the largest beetles. This one is a male because it has horns, females don't. They make a hissing noise when stressed, but are otherwise harmless besides a few scratches you might get from their feet. They are the strongest animals compared to their size, able to lift up to 850 times their own weight!