Melbourne Day 1
Well this is just a quick note, that I will prolly update once I get some more time. I made it to Ozzie land just fine. The flight wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined. And my back is doing just great. So far I've met a couple nice people on the flights, and walking around.
I met up with Star yesterday, and we went on the Penguin Parade at night. Most things are a long bus ride to get to. The Penguins were no exception, but we did get to drive through a real nice beach area on St. Kilda Street. The houses here are very historic, with each little house having a name (Majestic, Peddles, etc). Reminds you of a time when street addresses were less common. Some of the places have been restored to their original glory, where others have been torn down and replaced with houses that look like something from the bluffs of Del Mar.
We stopped by a little wilderness park on the way out, its called Warrook, and they had Kangaroos that you could pay a AUS $1 to feed. I can tell you I was a little worried that the Kangaroo would bite me. But after Star started petting him under his neck and on his chest a little. I warmed up to the idea and he really liked it. Apparently they hate having their ears and top of head pet. So no problems. Its amazing the size of the Kangaroo's feet. Just look like a really long dog paw. Check out some of the pictures. They also had a special exhibit for the Wombats... apparently they are really good escape artists. They put special pen's together for them utilizing wire messing about 1 foot under the ground. This effort still didn't stop the female Wombat from escaping her pen... never to be seen again. For food I ate a wonderful Curry Beef Pie. Yum.
The Penguin Parade is on 'island' in the southern part of Melbourne bay. Its one of the few places you can watch the local "little penguin" (about 1/3 the size of normal penguin's) come out of the ocean from their day of fishing, and waddle up the beach to their Burroughs. Its really cute to watch them come out of the water... look around for bad guys (foxes and ferrel cats), the book across the beach. When we got there it was pretty cold, and packed, so we went to the farthest row of seats from the visitor center, and was pleasantly surprised it worked out to be one of the best seats in the place. The penguins come out of the water in two locations. Cruising right up by where we were sitting right on the beach. When you walk back up the paths, you can actually look down off the wooden raised paths and see the Penguin's continuing to work their way up to their specific burrow. They are noisy little guys. They make grunting sounds... at one point we were looking at a penguin about 15 feet away... and one of them started grunting, and something that sounded like it was right under my feet started grunting also... completely camouflaged in the bushes was 2 other penguins... i never did see them, just heard them 'bark' back.
Day 2 Really
Today we did a rather usual trip around Melbourne. Saw several parks, cathedrals, the botanical garden, WW-I memorial (Shrine of Rememberance), a piece of art that I think looks like the Eiffel Tower(sp?) and they say looks like a ballerina's Too-Too... which based on the 4 times I have been told it looks like a Too-Too... i figure they have to keep reminding people NOT to think of it as the Eiffel Tower. Really... the sky is red here too... and several other sites in Melbourne. Its an awesome town. The people are friendly and diverse. People are nice, and there is lots to do. I think I could eat my way though this town and never want to leave. I'm not nearly doing this place the justice it deserves. I am dashing into this Cafe between tours... the next one leaves in 30 minutes and I still haven't had lunch.
OK, I'm back from my tour off to the Dandelons, which is one of the highest mountains in Melbourne... it was supposed to give me a spectacular view of the Melbourne city. But it was overcast and cold today (12 degrees) so we could barely see the trees let alone a city from the top of the mountain. I did get some pictures of some beautiful wild parrots... but they seemed pretty used to tour buses stopping so they could get fed. Regardless got some good pictures. Also on the way up, the Eucalyptus Trees (called Gum trees) were the tallest I've ever seen. Easily 70+ feet high. I tried to take a picture that would do them justice... we'll see. There were also all sorts of Tree Fern's. Which made the whole area seem quite rain forest/prehistoric.
Mostly spent time on the bus, caught a little bit of sleep. Star went off to do a haunted tour of the city and I'm wandering around town, and most likely going to goto "Crown", which is a Casino / Movie Theater place. The key thing is they have 5 flame towers out on the river that go off every hour. I hope to see and feel that. Give me a little flash/flame back to Burning Man!
More soon, taking less pictures than I normally do, but still odd pictures of drinking fountains and scenery.
Cheers Mates