January 8th-13th, Australia

January 8th, 2009
After a nine hour flight we arrived in Melbourne around 8:30 a.m. ... welcome to Australia!! We were greeted by our friend Paul at the airport; and went to his home in Williamstown, which is a suburb of Melbourne about 25 minutes from the city center. Williamstown is where the first settlers arrived in 1835; but because there was no fresh water they went further north to where the Yarra River is and settled Melbourne. It is easy to see why people enjoy this city it is a quant, quite town with almost a feel of New England. Situated along the bay with yaht & sailing clubs, a nice beach, and beautiful homes with rod-iron details and small porches.
January 9th, 2009
Today we went into Melbourne to get a real taste of the city and its people. Since its summer here, a lot of people are still on holiday with their families, which made the city busy- but in a nice way. We arrived at Flinders Street Station; Melbourne’s largest and busiest train station, which is famous for “under the clocks” all of which used to be manually run and a common meeting spot. A few sights in the city included St. Pauls Cathedral; built in the 1880’s, Federation Square, Queen Victoria’s Market, The Eureka Tower, and Royal Arcade. At Federation Square we took advantage of the National Gallery of Victoria; they had two exhibits that were really great. One being Ronnie Ellis; a photographer who captured Australian’s Society behaviours in the 1970’s & 80’s, and Rosalie Gascolgne; a contemporary artist who’s medium included road signs, antiques of all types, and distressed woods. Queen Victoria’s Market opened in 1837; and is 17 acres of vegetable & food stands, clothing and gifts. Our last stop included the Royal Arcade which is the oldest set of shops in Melbourne.
January 10th, 2009
On the road again! Today we headed to Phillips Island about a 1.5 hour drive from Williamstown. Phillips Island is famous for its Fairy Penguin’s, Koala’s, and Seal’s and is situated just off Western Port Bay. Our first stop was to see the Koala’s. Only found in Australia, these creatures are marsupials- not bears, eat primarily eucalypt leaves, and are usually awake at night and sleep during the day. We were able to see a few up close which was great and two that were actually awake eating; most were in the tree tops curled up sleeping. We also did a bit of “bush walking” here; where we saw a wallaby with a Joey in its pouch; a real surprise! At dusk we made our way to the Penguin Parade, at first we would just see one here or there popping their heads out of the water and letting the tides take them in and out. They usually came upon shore with a group of six and it took them awhile to get everyone coordinated and out of the water. Then they would waddle up shore to the sand dunes where the baby chicks were waiting for their parents to arrive with their food. The chicks were so amazingly fluffy; and when they “cried” it sounded so similar to a duck or chick when they want their food. It was incredible to see these creatures so close.
January 11th, 2009
We went to our first Australian BBQ today and were able to meet Paul’s family, similar in size to ours (7 kids, 7 nieces & nephews) we felt right at home. The food was great; steaks, hamburgers, hotdogs, and fresh salads with desserts. It was all very similar to our BBQ’s except they use regular bread instead of buns, which we thought was strange. In the evening we went to the 20-20 Cricket match; Australia vs. South Africa. Australian’s definitely love their sports, and this type of match is actually “new” in that is only a 20-20 game; the regular length of a game is 5 days! Basically a 20-20 game means that the first team is up to “bat” until they get 20 “outs” and they are getting all of the points they can during that time. Then the other team is up to “bat” and they see what score they can get. Obviously, this is the real basic explanation of what is happening; it took me a while to exactly understand everything that was going on. We had such a great time at the match; it was great to see the crowd and fans supporting their team; Australia won by 52 runs!
January 12th, 2009
Today we went wine tasting in the Yarra Valley; a region that is known for its Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet “blends”. Stopping at three different winery’s along the way we had a great time learning more about wine, how to really “taste” it, what to look for and how to describe it. Our first stop was at a small vineyard called Paton Hill. It was a very small winery with a sort of Tuscan feel; amazing reds- this was my favourite stop by far. It was a couple who owned the winery and she was so great to answer our questions and let us try a variety of wines. Our second stop was a larger vineyard called Yering Station. This is a wine that you should be able to find in the US, and our favorites were the Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon (just in case you can find it!) This place had a great lookout over the valley; and held larger events in that space which you could tell would be just fantastic. It just had such a great feel. Our last stop was another smaller winery that had a nice history. St. Hubert’s was first opened the late 1880’s, was closed in the 1920’s and reopened in the 1960’s. Overall, it was such a great day in the valley. The drive was beautiful, we sampled some amazing wines, and had a great picnic lunch along the way!
January 13th, 2009
Planning- for road tomorrow's road trip and our upcoming Australian adventures! Tomorrow we we will set out on Great Ocean Road on our way to camping this weekend in Warrnambool. We also needed to do some research about where we will be heading next week and get that all planned. With beautiful weather here we took advantage of the beach here Willamstown for a while, the bay was a nice treat as it was almost 100 degrees!! It's a dry heat much different from our hot & humid weather, so I was suprised to hear that it was actually that warm. In the evening we decided to stay cool and went to the movie Australia; it's a pretty good flick- I recommend!
Hope to update with pictures soon... hope you are all well!

---

---