Phillip Island and the Penguins

Last night was a trip to Phillip Island to see the 'Little Penguins'.
Unfortunately, there are NO cameras allowed, so no pictures to share.
However, it was a really cool experience. These little penguins are warm water penguins, and live on Phillip Island. Here's a pic from the website

So, drive from Melbourne, across the bridge and onto the island.

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You go to the Penguin Parade park. At 5:00pm, they open the doors and you walk down to the beach and sit on concrete bleachers, looking out over the ocean. The park rangers come out and give a little history and info on the penguins. As night starts to fall, they turn on some lights so you can still see. The lights are kept low, but bright enough to see. About 6:00pm, we saw the first penguins come on to the beach. They come up the beach and head into the grassy areas where they have burros setup.
After about an hour, and about 150 penguins later we left. On the way back up the beach, we saw several of them in the grass and headed for the burrows. It was cool - we got to get very close to them. They do make a rather annoying screeching sound.

Then it was time to head back in and of course a stop at the gift shop, where TeachingMom found a stuffed penguin in a hand-knitted sweater. The sweaters are made and help when they find penguins who have been caught in an oil spill. However, the particular sweatered penguin that TeachingMom wanted wasn't out on the shelf. It was in the Glass display at the front of the store. But she REALLY wanted it. I convinced the clerk to open the display and get the penguin.
It was a really fun experience.
A scoop of ice cream for the kids, and back into the car. Only this time, we let the 17 year old family friend drive...for a while. She actually did pretty well, especially in the dark. Once over the bridge and off the island, we switched, and I drove back home.

Healesville Sanctuary

Yesterday was a trip to Healesville Sanctuary in the Yarra Valley. The Yarra Valley is very cool, green rolling hills with vineyards, and livestock.



Once we arrived, we were immediately "greeted" by these birds, which we later found out were called "ibis".

The hit of the day was the Koala bears. It was amazing to be able to get this close to them. When we first got there, the were mostly sleeping.

But the started to wake up and move around.



Of course, you can't come to Australia, and not see a Kangaroo.

Then it was time for lunch. The ibis were all over the place, and the were even willing to eat from your hand.

The last thing we saw was a Birds of Prey show. This was very cool. The birds would swoop down over the audience during the show, even clipping a wing on Teaching Mom's head.

Finally it was a display on boomerangs, and how to throw them.


Then back to the city...

State Library and Carlton Gardens

Today I went to the State Library of Victoria to see the exhibit "Medieval Imagination". This was a very cool display of illustrated manuscripts from the Medieval times. Most of these were bible and church manuscripts. Some of them I saw dated back as far as 1150a.d. It's amazing to see these hand-written manuscripts, and how well they have survived. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed. But, here's a link to the site: Medieval Imagination
The library building itself was actually pretty cool, and I did get some pictures of it.


Several statues are located in the front of the library. I found this one to be pretty cool:

This is called "St. George and the Dragon". Apparantly it's a legend brought back to England during the Crusades.

After the library, I walked up to Carlton Gardens. Along the way, I took some pictures of some old buildings. Some of these are pretty neat. Many of them have engravings near the roof

Most of this area is part of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology(RMIT) now.
This building was part of the original City Court.


The next building is the old Police Watch House

This is right next to the Old Melbourne Gaol(Prison). They have tours, but I'll leave that for another day.

A little further, and I arrived at Carlton Gardens

Carlton Gardens is a big park that houses the Royal Exhibition Center. This is the site where the first Parliament was held in Australia.

This painting was on a plaque outside that described the history:


The gardens were pretty cool, it's fall here, so many of the trees are changing color.

It was a nice day for a walk. Seeing this mom with her daughter on Mother's day, made me miss my family, but they'll be here in another few days:

Here's another picture, showing the changing leaves.

There is also a little pond in the middle with plenty of birds.

Some of leaves that fall off of these trees are huge. You can't really tell from this photo, but this leaf was about the size of my foot:


So after the gardens, I took the free City Circle Tram

to the Docklands.

Where apparently it's a popular place to get married:

I took this because it was about the 4th bride I saw having her wedding photos taken on the dock.
This ship was rather cool looking:

Notice on the bow it says Steve Irwin. A little research on the internet, and I found this is some sort of conservation group. Still a cool looking ship.
Then it was off to get some dinner, and ride the City Circle tram back to the apartment.

A Trip To The Beach

Melbourne is on the ocean, so I decided to take a trip to the beach. It's too far to walk, though, and I don't have a car. So, time to try the train. A few blocks walk, and I arrived at Flinder's Street Station. It's a very cool looking building:



So, into the train station, and onto the train. About a 20 minute ride, and I'm in St. Kilda.
A short walk, and I made it to the beach.



I was surprised by the number of Jellyfish I saw washed up on the beach.
Some were pretty large:


This one little area has about 7 jellyfish:


Also saw a number of starfish:


It wasn't really the time of year for a swim, but the birds didn't seem to mind the cold water.


There were also a few people willing to brave the cold water for some sailing.