We have been packing as much in to our days as possible which means we are usually trying to get out the door by sunrise. We decided to go for a walk as the sun was rising over Apollo Bay. I’m glad that we did because we saw a fairy penguin swimming in the bay. Actually at first I thought it was a injured bird because I have never seen a penguin in the wild but after researching it on the internet we determined it was in fact a fairy penguin (aka little penguin). I think I got a pretty good photo of it swimming.

I decided to walk out on the boat dock. It was pretty hard to stand on the dock because it was bouncing back and forth. I was standing at the end of the dock trying to get a photo of the fish in the water when I saw something huge come out from under the dock. Once it was all the way out from under the dock I realized that it was a huge sea creature. I’m not very good at identifying animals that I don’t see all the time but I think it was a sting ray. I got a little uneasy at staying at the end of the dock since it seemed like it was starting to circle me. After a couple of photos I made my way back.

We drove back to the Melbourne Airport for our flight to Hobart in Tasmania. The drive was pretty easy besides being behind some very slow drivers. I had to fill up the car. We only used half a tank of gas (thank goodness for renting a hybrid). Half a tank of gas costs me $50.

Apollo Bay

Today was our full day to explore the great ocean road and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. My eyes were completely amazed at how beautiful this coast is. The red rock and the green plants next to the red sand and blue water. What more could I ask for? Wait did I hear a helicopter tour of the twelve apostles? Yes, you heard me correct. I even got to wear the fun ear protection and microphone. For a small price more we could pick a low flying helicopter. Why not fly closer to the rocks? Our helicopter could also land in the water if necessary but I’m honestly not sure how it would survive the powerful waves. We had to wear life vests. Not sure if that made me confident or not. We had to leave everything behind except a camera. They weighed us and we were off to the heavens.

This was my first helicopter ride and it was amazing. We flew down the coast as our pilot explained what we were seeing I was taking as many photos as possible. My arm is actually sore from holding my camera so long. He warned us when we would drop. He asked if we liked roller coasters as we would turn sharply. It really was all great. The slideshow might be a little long since it was very hard to pick the best photos. These photos are only from the helicopter ride so there will be more to follow. (Click on the photo to view the slideshow.)

Helicopter

We left Melbourne for Apollo Bay. The route was Great Ocean Road. I managed to not have to do any “hook” turns in Melbourne so I was pretty happy. The photo below is of a street light in Melbourne. We drove the scenic route which also include a bike race. I was just thankful the bike race was going the opposite direction of me but the 4.000 riders were with us for 40 km of our drive.

We did stop a couple of places along the way for photos. I was really hoping to see a kangaroo but haven’t spotted one yet. You would think that since Hertz told me if I hit a kangaroo it would cost me $2,200 that I would have seen one by now. The biggest challenge to the drive was when we were going down the highway and the bikes were coming at us the opposite a direction and a dog got loose from a yard and ran straight at my car. It was ultimately chasing the bikes but boy was I worried about the dog. I was able to stop in time, and I saw people come running out of the yard after their dog. I’m just going to assume the dog is safe.

It is very helpful that there are plenty of signs that remind drivers to drive on the left in Australia. If only I could remember that the turn signal is on the right side of the steering wheel and not the left. I turned the wipers on more times than I can count. I also reach for my seatbelt over the left shoulder when it is really on the right side. I’m getting a hang of it though.

From Street Light

Besides the botanical gardens and the aquarium we rode the free tour bus to save our feet some. We took it across town to the Italian community for some lunch. We tried a pizza with ham, bacon, egg and cheese. They called it Aussie so we thought it was something authentic. It was decent and felt good to get some real food in us. Still not healthy so I guess we better walk some more.

We found a foreign language bookstore. It was amazing how many books they had in German. It was also amazing how much they charge for the books. The same German course book that I bought in Vienna last year was about 20 dollars and here it was closer to 50. So I didn’t buy any books but it was fun shopping. It also was good I didn’t buy anything since, I have no room in my suitcase because of the airline weight limit. I was only 1 pound short on the way over here.

As we walk it is pretty fascinating to watch the traffic. They drive on the opposite side of the car and road. To make a right turn you get in the left lane and stop in the middle of the intersection in front of the cars going in the direction you are turning. Once your light turns red you then make your turn. We will see how I fair at making a “right” turn tomorrow when I get in a car and drive down the Great Ocean Road. I hope I don’t make a lot of wrong turns at $6/gallon.

Cheers

I heard before I left that we should visit the aquarium to see the sea dragons. I have never heard of sea dragons so I just had to check out what these little sea creatures were. The hardest part of the decision was to pay $33.50 to go to an aquarium. For that price I better see some awesome sea creatures. I would say the first two things you see are worth the price. They had king penguins from Antarctica that were very cute. They fill their area with snow twice a day and it doesn’t stay white for long. I learned that a penguin poops every 17 minutes.

After the penguin exhibit you see the leafy sea dragon and weedy sea dragons. The weedy sea dragon just had babies successfully for only the second time in captivity. These animals are native to Australia. The weedy sea dragons are actually hard to tell they are an animal because they just look like a weed. I was happy to watch them for awhile next to a couple of Germans. I had the best of both worlds. I got to listen to German and watch a funny sea creature.

The rest of the animals were okay. I had to take all my photos through glass so it was pretty difficult to get some good photos. The frogs were pretty cute. Hope you can see the animals good through glass in the slide show below.

Aquarium

Our one full day in Melbourne. A lot of ground to cover in a short time but we are both ready for the challenge. We eat our donuts and head out walking toward the botanical gardens. The weather was cloudy and windy but was pretty good picture taking weather. Botanical gardens are always one of my favorite places to go to take pictures.

They have some pretty unique plants on display here. Plants that I have never seen before. The only downside is that most things were done blooming since it is the beginning of fall here. I can only imagine how good it must smell in November when things are blooming. The air smelled good and there were a lot of birds chirping. I have never heard such loud birds before. I only wish I could see the bird that makes the sound. There were signs posted that said we should watch out for turtles crossing. Of course, I make the dumb comment that boy I don’t have my camera out if we see a turtle. I forget how slow a turtle moves that I should hope I’m fast enough to get the camera out.

While walking through the fern gully we saw a creepy thing in the water. Pretty sure that was an eel. Then the ground felt like it was going to sink. We were walking on asphalt but it like a section melted or something and it was squishy. Hard to explain but you literally didn’t feel right walking on that. We needed a snack to get us through so we stopped at a tea house for a scone. Since a plate of two scones was $7 AUD we decided to split it. It came with cream and jam. I guess we should have had some tea but I just have a hard time with some of the prices so I opted for the free water.

I was quite disappointed to see that the glass houses (green houses) were closed due to storm damage. So most of my photos contain a lot of green. Most colorful plants were done for the year but the greens still looked great. Click on the photo to see a slideshow.

Botanical Garden

The jet lag is gone…actually I didn’t have any. It is really only a 6 hour time difference. I was very tired the first day here but I got a good night sleep. We did manage to walk around the city the first day here. My first observation was Melbourne is a city for young people who want the city life. It seems as some corners have 50 people waiting to cross the street. It was a bit overwhelming to walk in that when you don’t have a lot of sleep. Not to mention that it was raining. The weather has been like Portland so far.

We visited Victoria Market. It is a great market that reminds me a lot of the Naschmarkt in Vienna. You can buy all of your food at this market and more. The time to go is around closing and everything is sold at a good discount. We actually didn’t buy anything there but it was a good place to walk around. There was a donut truck that seemed pretty popular with the locals. $6 AUD for 6 donuts. Before leaving the market we just had to try the “American” donuts as the truck said. We got the six donuts and the man gave us 12. I love a good deal and now we have breakfast. The donuts were actually pretty good and had a very little bit of a cherry filling.

We ate at Pie Face for lunch. Pie Face is a chain serving savory pies. We each got a different one so we could try different kinds. We had a chicken curry pie and a ham egg and cheese. I’m beginning to sense that I will have a lot of working out to do when I get home. Probably doesn’t help me out that I’m watching Biggest Loser Australia while I’m writing. Food has been pretty hard to find so far and of course expensive. Below is a slide show of some photos from downtown Melbourne (click on the photo for the slideshow to play).

Downtown Melbourne