Day 9

Today we started with a 3 hour tour (that’s right), of Melbourne, which is also know as the Garden City. As we drove through the city you can see why it gets it’s name, as there are parks throughout the city, and Spring Flowers in bloom.

The city is roughly 4 million people in Melbourne which is located in the state of Victoria. The town was alive with activity, as we happen to be here during one of the biggest events in the city, the annual Melbourne Cup, which lasts a couple of weeks. Throughout the weeks, several races are held, and the Darby Cup was the featured race on this day.

As we traveled around the city we saw men and women dressed in their finest clothes, women in hats, many of the men in tux. I would suspect that the excitement is much like that during the Kentucky Derby, and the other big horse races. The festivities conclude on Tuesday November 5, with the Melbourne Cup. Tuesday is a Holiday in Victoria, and they say that almost all of Australia stops for the 3 or 4 minutes of the race to watch or listen.

After the tour we had a few hours before we needed to board our bus for Phillips Island to see the Penguins ( more about this later). Across the river from our hotel is what,
until recently, was the tallest building in Australia, 88 floors to where we went, where they have a viewing deck so you can see the city from high above. To get to the viewing deck you enter a high speed elevator that takes 37 seconds to travel the 88 floors. Once up to the top there are viewing areas inside and out, and with the clear blue sky the view was incredible. I mentioned earlier that the Melbourne Cup was in town, well one of the pictures below is of the race track several miles away.

Next it was off to Phillips Island to see the daily ritual of the Little Penguins returning from the water after a day of fishing. The roughly two hour bus ride took us to the southern part of Australia, and onto Phillips Island. In addition to being a Penguin sanctuary, the Island is home to countless birds, the Swamp Wallaby, and several other animals. First stop was at a restaurant where we had dinner overlooking the scenic view of the Southern Coastline.

After dinner we boarded the bus for a viewing area a few miles away where we would await the “March of the Penguins”. Along the way we had several sightings of the local Wallaby population as well as a couple of Hawks looking for dinner. Now , know this upfront, no pictures of the Penguins as it is no longer allowed. You can take a look at what we saw by going to

http://www.penguins.org.au

Haven’t looked yet but told it is worth a look. The Penguins take turns during the spring after eggs are laid, going out at sunrise and returning at sunset from a day of fishing. They say that after the eggs hatch, mom and dad take turns fishing and by over feeding bring dinner back for the young. The first group of Penguins arrived on shore about 8:20, when a couple of dozen swam in, checked the area for possible predators, then scurried up the sand towards the safety of the brush and then started looking for their burough. They may be very graceful in the water and move very quick, but on the ground and rocks it was a different story. The process of 6 – 12 Penguins reaching the shore, checking the surroundings continues till all have returned.

We had the opportunity to view the little guys ( only about a foot tall) from several vantage points sometimes only a few feet away. There were roughly 10,000 people there viewing this event, which takes place almost every evening from spring through fall, but many head to other places in the winter only to return to their old home the next spring.

This was worth the 2 hour plus bus trip to and from.

Tomorrow we have a few hours in the morning free, then head to airport for flight to Sydney then on to Christchurch New Zealand.

My iPad is acting up, and the guy manning the Apple kiosk in the Sydney airport got me up and running, but thinks my battery may be getting ready to go, so may have to switch to Mary’s iPad which means Blogs may not be timely, but will do my best.

Hope everyone is enjoying reading about our trip as we are experiencing this great country.