Day After Bastille Day Penguin Parade

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Today was an early flight in to Melbourne. The hotel is nice, Vibe, hehe, corny name. the best thing is that they have 24-hour internet, so I can try to catch up on updating the pics on the sight.
Anyhow, first impression of Melbourne came as I decided to skip the rainy day walking around the city and join what I would normally call hell; a tour bus. The tour was to go to Phillip Island just about 80 miles from the city.
The taxi ride to the bus was hilarious, and allowed me my first contrast to the nice, polite, Australian gentlemen that have taxied me from place to place. This time, a guy who I really have no idea where he came from, and smelled like he forgot to take a shower but had no problem rolling in wombat droppings on a daily basis, could not stop talking about what a mistake marriage was, and how happy he was at the age of 50-something to be with his 28 year old mistress. He even played show and tell with me, I got to see the grocery list that his mistress requests per week, on top of the monthly rent. Ahem, I mean, aghugh. Blurp. Vurp.
From what I’ve heard Melbourne is more of the cultural, cosmopolitan Australian city compared to Sydney- is this what they mean? I’m sure not, but what a first impression! Like I’ve said, the rain kept me out of the city and onto the bus to Philip island. First stop, roos!
We stopped at a roo farm and had a chance to feed and pet some roos. At first I was very cautious, remembering the boxing roo and some internet videos of people getting bucked across the bush… but these guys really were friendly- even though I did get the idea sometimes that they didn’t wanted to be touched THAT much. I think I managed a good pic, which was good enough for me.
Next stop was the Koalas (I was really checking em off the list today). In the eucalyptus trees, I got to spot a whole bunch of little fuzzy guys…some sleeping, some eating, even on had a baby in her hands and the baby would scratch its nose on the mom’s tummy. So cute!
The main event of the night was the Penguin Parade. Basically, these little penguins have been feeding out in the ocean for a day (up to a few weeks) and are coming back to land to feed their babies. The penguins come out of the ocean and onto the beach very carefully, oftentimes running back into the ocean until there is a big enough group of them to get to their baby burroughs safely. No pictures please, but I mangaged to snap a special picture in the gift shop. Some of you may be lucky enough to see it… others will just have to know someone who has it, because it’s going to be a special surprise to my penguin-loving family and girl back home!
Anyhow, I waited for the crowds to leave and watched the penguins come in for about an hour. It was a great experience but I couldn’t help but think that it would be better if I had time to chill after, look around the exhibit inside, and take in Philip island more… like go for a cruise around the race track, walk the beautiful Cliffside that is chalk full with wallabies.
The night ended with a really nice dinner at a place called Harry’s on the Esplanade. I had some local Philip island beef, a local Pinot Noir Wine, Apple strudel and ice cream (from a swiss german chef), and a special made hot chocolate. Perfection.

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Photos

Me and Roo
This little guy was a boxer in Queens before he moved to Melbourne