MELBOURNE, Australia
We flew from Cairns to Melbourne which is the 2nd largest city in Australia, after Sydney which is number one. Like Sydney, it too has lots of green space, even though it has its big buildings too.
We took a bus tour for the Walk of the Penguins which is on Phillips Island. This is big business for the government which pockets the admission fees. The Little Penguins (aka Little Blue Penguins) come ashore each evening and walk across the beach and up the hill to their waiting chicks. They don't seem to mind the flood lights and people in the viewing stands. Because too large a percentage of tourists don't shut off the flash on their cameras, pictures are not allowed. If Dick knew this ahead of time, he probably would not have come for the show. On the other hand, if he knew enough to ask in advance for permission to take photos, then he could have joined an elite group on a different part of the island.
After the day trip to the Great Barrier Reef, our favorite day of the entire trip was the "Walkabout" we took south of Melbourne. First we went to Yangs Regional Park where we saw 5 different koalas in trees. Because of their very low protein diet of eucalyptus leaves, they don't have much energy and are only active 4 hours a day.
Also at Yangs, we saw a swamp wallaby. We then went to see Big Rock, a sacred aborigine site. Over the years they very slowly ground a hole in the top of the rock to collect rain water.
We also saw Emu, Cape Baron and Magpie Geese and lots of kangaroo.
The biggest and best market in all of Australia and New Zealand is in Melbourne. Victoria Market is a must stop.
