March 20

Awoke to the rising sun, bags out at 6AM.  The birds are chirping and the day is a little cooler but very humid.  The area will get another downpour tonight, so glad we got our time here in between storms.  Chuck bought a painting from AB young man named Solane, this area artwork is based on figurative forms in nature and myth. And there are different weapons used and basketry.  We have breakfast in the hotel from the buffet.  Bus leaves at 7AM and we have sun and partly cloudy skies.  We retrace our steps back to Darwin.  A quick stop at the Bark Hut.  See more wallabies and various birds. Chuck had a snake cross his path night before last and another one was outside our room last night. We just learned that one of the couples found a scorpion in their room at Uluru.  We had ants.  Interesting that the Interior was much more buggy than the coastal areas. We stop briefly to take pictures of the cathedral termites (one of the three kinds we have seen so far).  The structures are 5 to 6 feet high with vertical columns, to let the heat out from their compost.  Qantas to Melbourne about 4 hours.  Chuck and Pat luck out with an open seat between us.  A meal and a movie are offered.  This is the longest air time we will have on the tour!  Melbourne (said as Melben) is more than 35 degrees cooler and half the humidity. It’s sunny and clear.  Our route passes over the dessert interior, farthest north to nearly farthest south (Minnesota to Key West), of the country.  Part of the tour we didn’t count on were the clear views of the land from the air.  We leave the green coast and fly over the dry, flat desert.  Very little green seen here, no people/property; the topography is fascinating, looks like the bottom of the ocean with shifting sand ripples made solid.  Then there are the numerous salt lakes, some huge beyond the eye and some very small.  We pass over Coober Peety where some opals are mined, it is so hot there the people live in caves underground.  As we approach Melbourne the area is highly populated with lots of farming surrounding but it looks very dry.  They are 4.5 million, the second largest city next to Sydney. Of the 25 million people in this whole country nearly half live in these two cities.  Sue from US got her purse caught in the escalator at the airport and it pulled her over.  She has cuts on her arm temporarily bandaged by the airport staff.  She flies on but must got to the ER in Melbourne.  Bus takes us on a quick tour of restaurant areas of Melbourne.  It is a beautiful city with lots of old Victorian architecture and new high rise buildings.  The area around Melbourne is known for wheat. The Yarra River flows through the center.  We are off the coastline about an hour away.  The Swanston Hotel is located near the heart of the city. Some of the streets are very narrow with little lanes, reminds us of London in some ways.  The streets are packed with people due to the Aus Grand Prix in town.  We opt to join our guide to walk down the street to historic Chloe’s Restaurant and Bar to see the famous painting of late 1800 naked Chloe.  It’s a slice of old London right here.  We walk with another couple over the bridge of the Yarra River.  It’s about the size of the Thames in London.  We pass their main train station which is a beautiful old ornate building.  The river is bordered by high rises of interesting arch and the bridges are all ornate, new and modern.  It’s Fraya birthday so we stop at Waterfront Southgate for a seafood dinner.  Open air veranda over the river, busy place with tanks of live seafood and fish on ice staring down at us.  Meal was very good and a good Vic chardonnay.  We have entered Victorian Territory.  For us this is the fourth state will be in while in Aus.  There are 6 in total (7 with Canberra the capital being a federal territory similar to DC).  We will have covered the top end, half of the east coast, the interior and the farthest south area and the island of Tasmania.  We’re in Melbourne tomorrow for city tour and dinner with the Little Penguins on an island tomorrow night.  More to come!