March 21

Happy Spring!  Heard from Brenna, the baby’s room is nearly complete, she just added a few animal and cabin stencils to the wall murals.  The new blind and valance will be the finishing touches!  Sorry to hear the ‘cold’ she got has lingered and making her miserable.  We awoke to sunshine and blue skies, it’s mid 60’s here to stay in the 70’s.  Pat is so happy, her weather is back.  We take the bus on a city tour.  Stop at the Parliament Building, Windsor Hotel (old historic with a delightful collection of hand knitted tea cozies), and the Princes Theater.  On to Fitzroy Park where we see huge elms, cedars and all kinds of trees.  First hardwoods we have seen.  There is a conservatory beautifully planted with seasonal flowers, on up the path to the Fairies tree and model Tudor cottage village with water feature.  On to the Shine of Remembrance commemorating the wars that ANZAC has been involved.  The pyramidal structure had a center stone where a ceremony of remembrance takes place every half hour.  We walk to the top and have a 360 degree view of beautiful Melbourne, lots of parks, skyscrapers, houses, the harbor.  We opted to be dropped at the free circular trolley.  Only really interesting area that is new to us is a close-up of the harbor area and some large sculptures. Walk into the mall next to our hotel and look for a small carry-on.  Yes we must relent with the weight of our bags and the things we have bought.  We didn’t do too much but we have much more to go including 2 more countries to go to (NZ and Hawaii)!  Our big suitcases we opted to bring are very heavy even empty so it makes a difference.  Once we leave Auckland we are back in first class so we can take 2 bags each checked in.  The bus takes us to Phillip Island about 2 hours south of Melbourne.  We are in rush hour traffic and the roads are loaded.  We emerge into farmland, cattle and sheep. They are in drought.  We are in the far south of Aus at this point.  We cross over a long bridge and their sign says the reservoir is at 46%.  The island is huge and holiday properties for Melbourne.  There is a large group of Koala bears here (marsupials) and they are endangered. Koalas can only be found in New South Wales and Victoria, they only eat 3 kinds of eucalypts. We stop at the seaside town of Cowes.  Driving downhill through a narrow street of small shops and cafes under a canopy of golden tipped cedars with a view of the bay at the bottom  Stop at Italian restaurant with a view of the water, have a great bottle of Vic shiraz and a variety of small plates, all delicious.  Back on the bus to the farthest shoreline where the Fairy Penguins aka Little Penguins return from the sea to their chicks.  The coast line in Vic tends to be more rocky, we see a few palms in Melbourne but none out here.  The bright moon comes out and we sit behind ropes and watch as the ‘rafts’ of birds return from feeding.  They have built small houses for them that encourages them to nest and some burrow into the ground.  It’s quite a sight watching them march forward in large groups some having to climb rocks up the side.  They only get to be 1 foot tall and are navy blue not black.  We are able to follow them on the boardwalk as they make their various paths to their houses.  We are stopped with a gate to allow them to pass in front of us, a chick chases its parent picking at them for food and then a wallaby hops by.  Great viewing and experience.  There is a large seal population in the area too but we don’t see any.  A ride back in the dark to Melbourne.  Time for bed after a busy day.  Of to Tasmania tomorrow, only an hour flight as we puddle jump.