A Visit to Peel Zoo

April 23, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
6 Comments

KangarooOne of the most memorable parts of our family holiday last week was visiting Peel Zoo which is just an hour south of Perth in Pinjarra. We were staying at Fairbridge Village for the week so we were much closer.

Peel Zoo is located 10 minutes from Mandurah and 60 minutes from Perth Zoo. The zoo provides a hands on experience for its visitors. It is a privately funded zoo, focusing on education and conservation, and a wonderful place to spend a day. The zoo is constantly expanding, taking on more animals, and working with the community to protect and conserve local wildlife.

I must admit that I wasn’t totally convinced that the visit would be worthwhile. We’ve got a family membership to Perth Zoo which is a much bigger zoo with a far wider diversity of animals. There’s always so much to see at Perth Zoo that I felt I’d be disappointed by the very much smaller Peel Zoo. I needn’t have worried.

The big difference with Peel Zoo is the fact that you can get up close and personal with the lodgers. I can’t describe how wonderful it is to stroke a kangaroo. They really are the most beautiful animal and the roos at Peel Zoo are so incredibly tame. Their fur is so soft and I could sit around feeding them all day.

As well as patting kangaroos we got to feed and stroke an emu, some deer, and several other beasts.

While walking through the giant aviary I ended up with a bird on each shoulder. Neither of them were keen on going anywhere. They were quite content to use me as a perch for the rest of the day. Maybe they were hoping I’d just walk out so that they could escape.

At the end of our visit one of the zoo keepers very kindly introduced Emily, James and their cousins to one of the resident snakes. It was a delight to see how much she enjoyed sharing her friends with the children.

If you’re ever in the Pinjarra area I can heartily recommend a visit to the Peel Zoo. If you’re in the Perth area, make a day of it. Head down to the Pinjarra Bakery & Patisserie and enjoy some of their award winning goodies, then spend the afternoon meeting the locals at Peel Zoo.



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Ordinary or Extraordinary?

April 23, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

Do you ever have those moments when the ordinary becomes the extraordinary; where things that you encounter every day become brand new?

I cycle beside the river every morning on my way to work and it’s always enjoyable but on some days it just shouts out to be noticed.

As soon as I started crossing Shelley Bridge this morning I noticed how calm the river was. It was like a mirror, perfectly reflecting every building and tree along the foreshore.

I then took in the wider view and saw the clouds that looked like they’d exploded into the sky from the horizon, leaving feathery wisps of white across the city. The view changed as I continued the journey but remained remarkable all the way to South Perth where I had to turn away from the river to finish the ride to work.

I wonder how often we miss something spectacular because we’ve become too familiar with our routines.



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Porn in Public

April 21, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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The debate over whether pornography can ever be acceptable looks set to continue and you and I may have very different views but there’s currently a push that is gaining widespread agreement from various members of the community.

Walk into just about any service station, newsagent or a variety of other shops and you’re likely to come face to face with highly sexualised images on the covers of soft porn publications or what have become known as lads’ magazines. There’s a growing backlash against such magazines being placed in public view and many are calling for tougher restrictions to move certain publications out of the view of children and young teenagers.

Do we really want our sons and daughters to think that the provocative poses displayed on the cover of these magazines should be accepted as normal and appropriate for public places? This is not about banning the sale of such publications, it’s about removing them from public view.

My regular Wednesday morning guest on 98.5 Sonshine FM is Ross Clifford who is the Principal of Morling College in New South Wales and Vice President elect of the Baptist World Alliance. Each week we chat about a range of issues relating to spirituality and belief.

Today we discussed the display of pornographic material in shops and while Ross was speaking from a spiritual perspective he pointed out that it’s not just the ‘religious right’ having a whinge. Many people from a variety of walks of life are saying, “enough’s enough”.

Often in such cases we can be led to believe that there’s no turning back and that it’s just something we have to put up with but that’s not the case at all. Ross spoke about a variety of things we can do that will have a real effect including visiting Say No 4 Kids to become better informed on the issue and to sign their online petition.

Melinda Tankard Reist is a Canberra author, speaker, commentator and advocate with a special interest in issues affecting women and girls. She has recently written an article titled
Get porn out of the corner store say child health experts and advocates which highlights the issue and links to other coverage of the debate, including opinions from a group of child experts.

Are you someone who is tired of seeing unsuitable images everytime you go shopping? Are you concerned about the message it’s giving to impressionable young minds? Are you prepared to put in a little effort to see change occur?

Click the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post to hear what Ross had to say and then decide what you can do to bring change.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/SPI210410_1103.mp3]

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Can you ‘bear’ McDonalds new advertisement?

April 19, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

I’m lovin’ it.



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Sam Moran goes solo

April 19, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
1 Comment

Sam MoranBack in 2006 Sam Moran made a life changing decision when he pulled on a yellow skivvy to take the place of yellow Wiggle, Greg Page.

Now firmly part of the world famous children’s group he continues to juggle his commitments of touring the world with the Wiggles and spending time with his wife Lyn and their young daughter who was born in January.

If that wasn’t enough, Sam has now released an album for us grown ups. It’s titled The Colour of Love and contains a variety of well known songs including Fleetwood Mac’s You Make Loving Fun, Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody, God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, The Scientist by Coldplay and the classic James Taylor track Fire And Rain.

While he has no plans to give up his skivvy, Sam is enjoying the opportunity to sing for a different audience.

Sam joined me on the phone this morning as part of my radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM to talk about the album and his life with the group that’s been called “the world’s biggest preschool band” and “your child’s first rock band”.

You can hear our chat by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Among other things we discussed the mystery of why Wags the Dog can now talk. Apparently it’s a kind of ‘inner dialogue’ that we get to hear.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR190410_1106.mp3]

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