A - Z of Australia - R is for Rubbish Removal

In some of the countries I have lived in, rubbish collection was done either weekly (in Braunschweig, Germany) or daily (in Johannesburg, South Africa), the latter involving a lot of council workers picking up bags from the pavement and throwing them into a truck driving ahead of them.

In Australia rubbish collection is a one-man show! Or one man and his truck, more precisely.

Every suburb has a designated collection day, but in my suburb, I put out my bin on the verge on Monday, and early Tuesday morning the truck comes, stops next to the bin, grabs it with some "claws" and drops the rubbish into the container, then puts the bin back on the verge. After collection you just bring the bins into your property.

In our council and in most of the cities I know, there are two bins -in Perth, one is a bin with a green lid for normal household rubbish, lawn clippings and small prunings and a yellow lidded bin for stuff that is recyclable - paper, glass, tins and cans, plastic (even plastic bags), although these recyclables should not be put in plastic bags. 

The yellow and green lidded bins awaiting collection

The truck picking up the bins

The green bin (normal rubbish) is collected once a week and the yellow bin (recycle) is collected fortnightly, on the same day as the green bin, with two different trucks doing the job.

Construction or building materials, soil or hazardous materials are not allowed in the bins and must be discarded at the  local Recycling facility (information about their location available from your Council or their website).
The council has a list of items that can be recycled and how to dispose of items that they do not collect, like construction material, etc.

Picking a recycling bin with the "claws"

Twice a year (in my council), we have a Green verge collection and a Hard Waste verge collection.
I find this service, which is of course provided through the property rates you pay your council, is to me one of the best services the council provides.

The hard waste comprises old furniture, white goods, televisions (these were out en masse lately due to a change from analogue to digital tv in recent months), general household junk.
Again, no construction material, motor vehicle parts or flammable liquids are allowed.

The council provides a map, (online as well) with zone maps and date schedule for each suburb within the council. You are allowed to put out the waste two weeks before collection begins.

They claim to remove up to 1 standard trailer load of hard waste from each property, but I have seen some houses with so much rubbish, they must have certainly thrown out the whole house!!

* When people start putting their stuff out on the verge, you can see a few people driving by with their small trucks, and they stop to examine the piles of stuff and sometimes pick a few things to take with them. I once saw an orange lounge suite being taken away, and then a couple of days later I went to the "flea market" and there it was for sale. "Money for nothing"!
Some things are actually quite good, and can just be renovated with a lick of paint or varnish.
A few years ago I saw 2 pretty round cane chairs a couple of houses from mine. They had nothing wrong with them apart from lack of varnish. So at night I went to get them, one by one, and after sanding and varnishing them, bought foam to make the pillows and they are still in use in my backyard!

Household rubbish, furniture awaiting collection

With the Green Waste verge collection, only tree prunings no longer than 1.5 metres, leaves, etc, but nothing inside bags. In this instance, two trailer loads will be removed from each property. 

These prunings are used to make mulch, which the council then sells back to us to put on our gardens in summer.

Green verge collection - a tractor picks tree trunks to put into the rubbish truck

Of course the cost of these services are built in the house and land taxes you pay your local Council, but I think we are being provided a very good and efficient service, and the cities are left clean and tidy.

How is the Rubbish collection done in your country?

A - Z of Australia - Z is for Zoo

Last year at the end of September I went to Adelaide, in South Australia and visited their wonderful Zoo.

To tell you the truth I think the last time I had visited a Zoo was probably about 15 to 20 years ago when my kids were small. 
Even though I have been in Perth for 6 years I never visited Perth Zoo, not even when I had overseas visitors... there are so many more things to see, that I never thought to visit it.

But when I heard that the only Pandas in the Southern Hemisphere were at the Adelaide Zoo, I had to go and see them!
Pandas are a big attraction in any zoo in the world, no wonder Adelaide Zoo is so popular!

Wang Wang (Net Net) and Funi (Lucky Girl) were chosen for their genetics so that they will eventually breed. They were both born at the Panda Research Centre in Woolong, China, Wang Wang in August 2005 and Funi a year later in August 2006. Pandas can live up to the age of 25 to 30 years.
Wang Wang is very placid and laid back and loves to snooze, while Funi is very active, playful and curious.

  

The playful Funi climbing a tree

Aren't they so adorable?

Apart from the Pandas, Adelaide Zoo has lots of other wonderful animals.

I managed to spend over 5 hours walking around the zoo visiting every single animal in the zoo and zipped around the zoo to be present at the various feeding times and talks - sea lions, hippos, lions, the tiger,  pelicans, penguins... (time-table available from entrance booth).

In the Children's Zoo enclosure animals can be fed with purchased animal food, but feeding is banned in all the other areas of the zoo.

Sea Lions - show time while feeding

Meerkat enclosure

Another Meerkat stretched in the shade

Little Penguins

  

Hippopotamus Pool

Sadly, Janice the hippo had died just the week before my visit, on 12 Sept. 2012

 

Children's Zoo - Petting zoo, where little animals were kept

Children's Zoo - houses with ferrets, guinea pigs, rabbits...

The wonderful Children's Zoo area is the ideal place for the kids to enjoy a close encounter with smaller animals, who can be touched and fed. There are over 120 small animals in this area - chickens, goats, deer, kangaroos, guinea pigs, ferrets, koalas, quokkas, rabbits, sheep, wallabies.
Who wouldn't want to be a kid to experiment all of these cute animals?

Langurs with their golden child born in August 2012. Langurs are born with orange hair but become darker as they grow. Originating from South Asia.

Brazilian Tapir

Cape Barren Goose

Australian Cassowary - related to the Emu and Ostrich

A female White Cheeked Gibbon (males are dark coloured)

I also watched the Lions being fed...they scared the crowd by roaring constantly

Collared Peccary - from Central and South America - related to pigs and hippos.

Oriental small clawed Otter 

The hungry Pelicans awaiting their feed

The Flamingos - are the oldest animals in the Adelaide zoo, one arrived in 1933, the other in 1948.

The two giraffes ran around their enclosure and loved watching the car park over the wall

The giraffes seemed to me to be in a far too small enclosure, when I think that they have such huge areas to run around in Africa...

I later chatted to one of the Zoo keepers and he assured me the giraffes were happy, playful and curious, played with each other and loved to watch the car park over one of the walls of their enclosure.

There are very interesting behind the scenes tours of the Zoo, where you can pay a "handsome" fee to be able to play zoo-keeper for a day,  feed some of the animals, or learn more about the running of the zoo.

Adelaide Zoo is this month celebrating 130 years with some special events.

I was so glad I visited this zoo and quite pleased that animals were so well looked after and happy.

Have you been to a zoo lately? Did you enjoy the experience?

PS - Believed to be one of the world 's oldest flamingos- Greater, one of Adelaide Zoo's two flamingos died  today 30 January 2014 at the age of 83. 

A - Z OF AUSTRALIA - W IS FOR WALPOLE

WALPOLE, a small town in Western Australia, about 430km south east of Perth and 66km from the town of Denmark, lies on the northern side of the Walpole and Nornalup Inlets.

The first Europeans to arrive in the area in 1909, were Frenchman Pierre Bellanger and his family, who travelled from Albany to take up farming land.

Map of Walpole (from internet)

For outdoor lovers, there are plenty of adventures from white sandy beaches, tranquil rivers and inlets, majestic forests, and a plethora of sports and activities like kayaking, fishing, canoeing, rafting, sailing, eco-cruises, bird-watching, bush walking...

Just 10 minutes away, Western Australia's most popular attraction, the Valley of the Giants, in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park is the ideal place to walk among the 400 years old tingle trees.

Climb 40 metres up the Tree Top Walk and walk the 600 metre long metal walkway to observe the Tingle and Karri tree canopies. If you don't like heights, don't climb as even though there can only be a maximum of 10 people per platform,  you can still feel the walkway wobble when you walk, it can be a bit scary!

The structural impact of this walkway is minimal on the forest below

The highest point of the walkway at 40mt above the tree canopies. 

Trees seen from the Tree Top walkway

One of the giant trees

Another giant - my daughter, me and my son reaching across

Another tree, another visit - with my sister from Portugal

                                This is Australia's only long distance walking trail, 963 km long,  starting in the hills suburb of Kalamunda, in Perth, running along the Southern Ocean at Walpole, and following the coast until it ends in Albany, 120kms away from Walpole.

It is named after an Aboriginal language group, the Bibbulmun, who inhabited some of the areas on the south coast. The track is marked with a stylised image of a rainbow serpent.

Bibbulman track goes past the Tree Top Walk.

Bibbulmun track board (photo from net)

Drive a few kilometres out of town, and wet your feet at the beautiful Circular Pool on the Frankland River. It's waters are calm in summer and you get waterfalls in winter. The site has a few viewing platforms and is wheelchair accessible too.

Viewing platform at Circular Pool

You can swim or wet your feet at the Circular Pool

Visit the calm and beautiful beaches around the area - my favourite is "Conspicuous Cliffs", where you can climb to the top of a cliff and have a 360 degree view over the beach and surrounding bush, and to reach the beach you cross a small river.
Peaceful Bay is another lovely beach with a camping site across the road.

The deserted Conspicuous Cliffs beach, seen from the viewpoint on top of the hill

Crossing the river to Conspicuous Cliffs beach

Conspicuous Cliffs - view from the top platform on the hill, with views to the surrounding bush area.
Waving at the lower platform are my husband and brother in law.

Peaceful Bay Beach

Sail or fish at Nornalup Inlet - photo taken from Coalmine Beach Camping place

There is plenty of accommodation in Walpole and Nornalup, from camping sites at Peaceful 

Bay, Coalmine Beach and others where you can camp or rent a chalet, bed and breakfast options, luxury chalets or motels.

Driving to Denmark you can make a few pit-stops visiting Berry farms where you can pick your own berries, visit wineries or a cheese factory, and a very interesting Honey shop, where you can see a bee hive in action, and buy all sorts of products made with their nectar - honey, soaps, creams, candles and even honey ice-cream.

Visiting the Honey shop on the way from Walpole to Denmark

Hope you enjoy Walpole and the surrounding area as much as I do. There is something interesting for everyone. 
Enjoy the visit!