I come from the land down under

picture links:
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Last week I went to visit the Melbourne zoo with my museum pass. I got to see ton’s more animals not in the wild so I think now I’ve seen enough animals.. I’m just left to spot them in the wild. It was quite a big zoo, all your typical animals and then tons of different types of monkeys :).

Friday we booked a philip island penguin tour which ended up including a lot more than just penguin viewing. We went to a vineyard where we tasted 6 different types of wines, we then ventured to a small Australian sanctuary where we got to touch a wombat and see all the other typical Australian animals. Highlights were seeing a baby wallaby, baby kangaroos in their mommys pouches and a baby koala.
The down side of this trip was it was rainy and cold most of the day. Once at Philip island we went to a beach but didn’t stay for long because no one wanted to get out of the bus, it was still a pretty site though. Then we went to the Nobbies where we has tea and biscuits and walked along the beautiful coast (cliffs and rocky) it is from hear that you can see seals and such but we did not have binoculars.. And I’ve seen my share of seals.
Finally, our last stop was the penguin parade. We wanted good seats so Leslie and I went down by the water around 6, where we sat on a towel which did not help, the penguins only started coming out of the water at 6:30, and by then were were frozen, but it was still one of the cutest things I’ve seen. Little groups of they are called “little penguins” waddling up the beach towards you and then up the hill to their burrows. You could also observe them in their burrows from the board walk, and they were making lots of noise because it is mating season. Finally we headed back for pizza, and left with a small penguin stuffed animal.
(this is what they look like - http://www.lovetravel.com.au/photo/Phillip/2535_night%20penguins_web.jpg)

Saturday night was a time change, we spring forward so it’s is now a 15 hour difference.. And once Canada Falls back an hour it will be a 16 hour difference.

Sunday morning I got up early and headed down the great ocean road with Mel, Joanne and John. We left at 7:30 and our first stop was at Torquay where there are a ton of surf shops. We then continued, stopped at a few viewing points, saw a whale.. Who knows what type. Our next stop was in Lorne where there are a few shops along a street near the water. Mel knew of a place where they had seen koalas in the wild before, so we stopped there and saw about 7 of them, so cute. We also got to see a seal about 2 meters away at Lock Ard Gorge. We stopped at Apollo bay, Thunder Cave, London Arch which are all popular spots along the great ocean road. You can check out my pictures to see what these all look like. We finally made it back to Jeff and the kids at 9:30.. twas a long but beautiful day.