Merry Christmas, everybody! It is now Boxing Day here in Australia, but I’ve had some cool moments around Christmas – most notably checking out the Bicton Baths and returning to Omeo Wreck on Christmas morning.

Bicton Baths

I am part of a Facebook group for snorkelers in Perth and have found some really great guides/resources since joining. When doing Google searches for snorkeling spots, I always would get the same results, but after joining the group, I found a lot of other options. Bicton Baths was one of them. Located along the Swan River, I was hesitant to go to Bicton Baths. I thought the water wouldn’t be as clear as the ocean, and that there would hardly be any marine life there. That said, since it was listed on the group, I decided to check it out and I’m so glad I did.

Bicton Baths is only 40min away by a bus/walk combo, which makes it the most easily accessible snorkeling spot for me. While it isn’t along the coastline, it is sometimes a better option for snorkeling when the ocean conditions aren’t that great, because it’s a little more sheltered.

The Bicton Baths are a popular swimming spot, but people snorkel there as well. The location is essentially a square-shaped jetty that kids like to jump off of and swim in.

I arrived around 9am and went in the water straight away. My first thought was – you guessed it – murky water! After a little bit, it cleared up. I was hoping to see sea horses, but didn’t see any. Instead, I saw the largest crab I’ve ever seen in my life, a prawn, a moon jellyfish, a gigantic bottom feeder, and… a stingray! The stingray was actually a lot different looking than the one I saw at Rottnest Island.

It was an exciting day. As the morning got on, more and more people arrived and kids started jumping off the jetty and into the water. I’m not sure if it was for that reason, or perhaps the water/wind conditions had changed, but at a certain point, the water became murky again and as we all know at this point I do NOT like murky water.

And for good reason! When I returned home from snorkeling, I talked with my housemate Kory about the snorkeling adventure and he seemed aghast. He goes, “you know there are bull sharks in the river, right?” It’s true – I had heard this before. I’m always thinking about sharks in the back of my mind, but I try not to let that stop me.

I did a Google search, and found that bull sharks are known as being the most aggressive of sharks. Somebody died from a bull shark attack near Bicton Baths a few years back – but death by shark attacks are rare. There was one in the 1970s and one in the 1920s as well. People dying in a car accident is wayyyy more common than by shark attack. It’s still a scary thought, though. No one wants to get eaten by a shark!

I ended up posting about it in the snorkeling Facebook group – asking what everyone’s experience had been with sharks and if they’ve had close encounters/if they often worry about sharks while snorkeling. The unanimous thinking seemed to be – sharks don’t inherently want to hurt us, and will typically swim away from us once they see us. Some people had never seen a shark, but others had seen plenty and never had a bad experience. Of course, there are exceptions.

I have seen sharks twice while snorkeling before – once in Hawaii, and once when in Miami with my friends Rob and Joey. In Hawaii, it was a reef shark and in Miami, it was… a nurse shark? I was surprised to find that I wasn’t scared either time. It feels natural, seeing a shark in the water just doing its thing. And neither of them paid me any mind. That probably had something to do with it. Still – great whites are scary, and I wouldn’t want to get bitten by any shark! That isn’t going to keep me from snorkeling, though! And I had such a blast at Bicton Baths.

Brown Jellyfish

All this time that I’ve been seeing jellyfish since being in Australia, I thought they were called brown jellyfish, but I was wrong. The jellyfish I had been seeing were moon jellyfish – so you can imagine my surprise when I finally saw another species of jellyfish… the brown jellyfish. They have stingers, and the end of those tendrils look like cotton on a q-tip. They are so cute, but they can sting you! My coworker was telling me that the brown jellyfish aren’t native to Australia, that they came over with the Dutch. Moon jellyfish are native. I love that as the months have gone on, there are more and more jellyfish in the water. The other day on my walk to work, there were SO MANY! They were everywhere along the river, and so many of them.

Christmas Eve in Australia

Christmastime in Australia! While this isn’t the first time I’ve been away for Christmas (Jordan/Israel with my friend Mike back in 2017), it was the first time I’ve been away for Christmas in a more… real… way. I spent Christmas Eve watching back to back Lindsay Lohan movies. The idea came about when I saw a trailer for Lindsay Lohan’s Christmas movie pop up on Netflix and I thought, “wouldn’t it be funny if…?”

I had been debating if I should go out and explore, but I had worked a long day the night before, so decided to take it easy on Christmas Eve. In the evening, I went to an AA meeting. It was interesting, because a lot of peoples’ shares related to the stresses of Christmas – seeing dysfunctional families, etc. I felt really grateful that instead of dreading seeing my family, I miss them a lot and wish I could teleport over to their homes to be with them for the holidays. The closest thing I get is video chats, but that’s still much better than sending letters in the mail like people did in the past, as my dad said to me.

Ammo Jetty and Omeo Wreck

On Christmas morning, I woke up at 5.45am to get ready and head down to Omeo Wreck. I had been to Omeo before, but a group of people from the Facebook group were meeting for a morning snorkel at 8am. Due to limited public transportation on Christmas, I had to plan accordingly in order to arrive a little after 8am.

After a quick train ride and bus transfer, I was left to walk the remaining 20 minutes to the beach. GoogleMaps took me in a WEIRD direction. I had to walk down this spooky trail next to railroad tracks, overgrown with shrubbery. It felt as if with every few steps, I heard sounds of something scurrying deeper into the bush. It felt like the type of area a snake would 100% be hanging out in. I tried to see if there was another way to get to the beach quickly, but this seemed like the only way… so I did it.

No snakes! I made it!

Unfortunately, by the time I got to the beach, the group had already been in the water and had swam quite far out which was a bummer for me. The water was murky (SURPRISE), but I still snorkeled around the shipwreck for a bit. I got out, discouraged that the group had swam so far along the rock wall already. But then I saw some stragglers, and decided to chance it and go back in the water. I’m really glad I did! Along the rock wall, the visibility was much better. The cool thing about Omeo Wreck is that it’s part of the Coogee Maritime Trail, which has a bunch of purposely sunken items that seagrass and coral has grown on over the years. There are cannons, “temples,” etc. Along the trail, there is plenty of marine life to observe.

While I’ve seen plenty of puffer fish since being in Australia, I hadn’t seen large schools of puffer fish swimming together. I didn’t even know they did that! But today, they kept swimming back and forth, in large groups. They swam right past me, underneath me, to the side of me. Really cool.

There was also some interesting coral to observe.

I was really hoping to see a starfish for some reason – I just had my mind set on it. After snorkeling at Omeo for a while, I decided to walk over to Ammo Jetty which is supposed to be a popular spot as well. In retrospect, Ammo Jetty is apparently better for diving than snorkeling. It is a long jetty that you can swim through, and observe the marine life that hangs out near the corals/seagrass that clings along the jetty planks.

I had been hoping the visibility would be nicer at the jetty, but it wasn’t. It was murky in a way that scared me, so I swam closer to the shore… and am so glad I did.

Having never seen a starfish in the wild before, I was rewarded with not one, but three! Although, I’m pretty certain one was dead.

My Christmas star.

Later in the day, I returned back home… a little sunburnt. Kory had friends over for a Misfit Christmas. We ate plenty of food, went in the pool, and most importantly – our friend Yen proposed to her girlfriend Candice! It felt really special to witness the event. The interaction was really precious and had me emotional.

We played games and just hung out for the rest of the evening. Now it’s Boxing Day and I’ve been calling family and friends. Later, I will get groceries and just hang out.

Art of the Week

This guy was actually the front of the Christmas card I made for Kory, but… it counts as art, right?!

I’m hoping to reinvest in art a little bit in the new year. I feel I’ve been quite disconnected from it lately. I also am accepting that my relationship with art has changed slightly while traveling, and that’s okay, too. Even if I don’t draw daily, or even weekly, I always have art as a resource and passion in my life and can create it whenever I choose.

Reflections

Boot = car trunk
Rock up = show up

I can’t believe December is almost over! While it feels like much longer than four months that I’ve been in Australia, December has really flown by. Before I know it, it will be time to move on. I’m glad that I’ve been able to make friends here and have had so many cool experiences. While this year has been emotional, exciting, and filled with love… I’m really looking forward to the new year. I think 2023 is going to be really awesome and the beginning of a true backpacker experience for me. I’m not looking forward to the hostels haha, but there will be plenty more to look forward to.

I hope you’ve all had an amazing Christmas and have a happy New Year!

I don’t have much planned in the coming days, but I do have quite a bit of time off work coming up. I’m sure I’ll go to the beach, maybe go on some hikes depending on the weather. And if not – I’ll just relax!

Sending you all my love! Talk soon.