Melbourne - Days Two and Three

For the entire time that we've been in New Zealand and Australia, the weather has been nearly perfect. The sun always seem to come out at the right time. Yesterday our string of good weather ran out. It rained. Not a steady, hard rain, but not what we had come to expect.

The conditions didn't really affect our morning plans which included a trip to the 130 year old Queen Victoria Market. The market stall offerings include fresh meat, fish, and produce, clothing, kitchen wares, souvenirs, and many other items.

But in the evening the weather was a greater concern because our plans included visiting Phillip Island to see the daily penguin parade. Fortunately, the travel gods continued to bless us. Although we drove in rain for the nearly two hour bus trip to reach the island, the sun broke through the clouds just as we arrived rewarding us with a beautiful sunset.

Even with strong coastal winds, we enjoyed seeing the pelicans, wallabies and other wildlife on the island. 

Shortly after 8:50 pm, the Little Penguins (about 13 inches tall and the world's smallest) began to swim ashore after a full day forging for food in the Bass Strait.

After making it to the shore, the penguins began their march uphill to their nests where they would rest until morning when they will repeat this centuries old daily ritual. More than 20,000 penguins make up the colony. However, only about 2,000 approach land where the public can view them. It's quite an attraction. No photos permitted.

Today we got an informative lecture about indigenous Aboriginal and early Australian art followed by a guided tour of the Ian Potter Centre of the National Gallery of Australia.

I left the tour early to meet some Australian friends that I met on a tour of Southeast Asia. In July they visited Canada and the US including Washington, DC as part of a six week holiday. I gave them a tour of Washington's monuments and memorials. They returned the favor and took me on a tour of the 100,000 seat Melbourne Cricket Club.

Australians are passionate about their cricket. While I know nothing about the game, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour in part because we had an engaging docent who told wonderful stories about the history of the stadium and the game of cricket. The outing was something uniquely Melbourne and something you wouldn't get on most tours of the city. It was a delightful afternoon. I enjoyed catching up with my friends and hope to see them again on our journey to discover the world.