Penguins and visitors

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(Caroline)
We had planned to do a bit more camping the weekend after Lorne but decided to give it a miss for a while until the days are a bit longer. As a result our weekend plans were not as well formulated as they have sometimes been so it was rather quiet. We spent Saturday morning at the fruit and veg market in Richmond then went on the hunt for curtain fabric for the car. We came back with some tasteful shark pattern and spent the rest of the afternoon affixing velcro to various bit and pieces. On Sunday we took the bikes out to St Kilda to visit the craft market and potter around the shops and cafes. After that we cycled back home via the docklands area. It's hard to describe it but it feels like the middle of nowhere with the motorway towering overhead and the massive container ships in the dock. It was all very interesting and always good to see places we have yet to come across yet especially so close to home. We were soon back on familiar territory and cycled home along the south bank of the Yarra (with tea and pecan pie on the way).

On Monday night we went to the Bushwalkers clubnight where a chap talked about cross-country skiing - we're going on a trip with them at the end of July so wanted to be prepared. I'm now suitably worried about the fact most of the pics he showed were of people going up hill! I may be relying on the apres ski in order to make the trip worthwhile but I guess we shall see.

(John)
Tuesday brought Jon and Andy's arrival in Melbourne. We met them, after work, at their hostel in St. Kilda explored the area...well stuffing our faces with pizza and washing it down with a couple of beers! They'd both been travelling all day to arrive from Hong Kong so it was a relatively early night. Jon and Andy both have jobs reporting on sport so it was no suprise that their visit included trips to the MCG and the Etihad (formely Telstra Dome) to watch Aussie rules, proper football and rugby. We joined them for the later two which were both good - particularly the Socceroos defeating Japan at the MCG on the Wednesday night. After a busy week Andy departed for Canberra on Sunday morning and Jon joined us on a trip to Phillip Island.

After a couple of hours driving to the island we decided to purchase combo-tickets to some of the tourist attractions. We started with a working farm and historic home on Churchill Island, then over to the surf beach on the Southern shore and on towards the penguin parade (via another potter along the coastline). The penguins (Little Penguins aka Fairy Penguins) were very cute. They arrive on the beach just after sunset and there are thousnads of them waddling up the beach in little groups...the beach must seem huge to them since they only stand a foot or so tall. We watched on from big concrete steps with a small crowd of other onlookers while the beach was lit up by floodlights. It did seem a bit odd for it to be so managed but that's necessary to keep us tourists away from trampling burrows and frightening the little blighters! Once they had finished waddling we headed up to the boardwalks where we were able to watch them at close quarters as they pottered around squaking loudly (mating season apparently!). Having checked in at the YHA hostel (and been upgraded to nice cabin) we ate out then played cards and drank wine.

The following day we headed to the koala sanctuary...and saw lots of koalas and some wallabies too. Helpfully a lot of the trees had a sdign at the bottom telling you about the koala that was up there...it seems the ranger pops round in the morning checking where they all are (fortunately they don't do much moving during the day!). After more paddling and ice creams we headed home. Caroline had work the next morning while I took a couple of days off to join Jon discovering Melbourne - including a tour of the MCG and a wander round Docklands.

We waved Jon goodbye on Wednesday night after Caroline had done her first evening volunteering with Fareshare.

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Photos

Penguine in a burrow
(no pics on the beach as the flashes upset them)

Koala Sanctuary
(I blame Jon Phipps for this pic)