Melbourne – Part 2 The kangaroos are pretty nonchalent about the whole thing and didn’t really move much, despite Japanese tourists straddling them for the obligatory piccies. They just stood there and let people do whatever they seemed to want. That’s the roos, not the tourists. Can you tell what is is yet? (in the words of Rolf) I managed to talk one of those into taking a pic of me, which is no mean feat when the only Japanese I know is sushi and Fuji and the only Engrish they know are “Elvis Presrey” but with a bit of sign language and shouting I managed to get across what I wanted.
So, while I was in Melbourne for the whirlwind visit last weekend, I decided to book a trip to Phillip Island. It was gonna take up most of my one and only free day, but the highlight of the trip could not be missed! I was so looking forward to it in fact, I barely slept the night before, though this might have been due to the copius amounts of alcohol and the fact my bedroom overlooked the courtyard of a very busy pub that didn’t shut till 3am.
I had a couple of hours to kill in the morning, so thought I’d take a river cruise up The Yarra to see Melbourne. It’s a pretty easy and cheap way of seeing any city, if they have a river that is, but the return time was very close to my departure time for the other trip so I knocked it on the head. As it turned out the coach for Phillip Island was ½ hour late, so I could have done it! 
Some old Goat, on the left that is!
The 200km trip dahn sarf took a while, as we stopped off at various places on the way, including a working cattle farm and a koala conservation centre. 
The Koala Conservation Centre was brilliant. All the usual trappings of any tourist spot and more besides, but you do get to be up close with one of the iconic animals of Australia. They've built a boardwalk high up, so you are actually walk thru the tree canopy and therefore can get pretty close to the koalas. Obviously you can’t touch, harass, shout, poke or generally cause them any distress, after all this is a conservation centre, but you can get pretty close and they seemed as if they were used to the throngs that pass thru every day.
A couple of right ugly birds
The “working cattle farm” whos name I can’t remember….maybe Werorreroer Cattle Farm? (Lots of places here all sound and look the same having lots of W’s or R’s. Those are the ones named after or by the aborignal people of this land) 
This is where you can see emus, wallabies, kangaroos and wombats. Which, I think just about covers all of the iconic animals of this place! 
Why do people resort to shouting when trying to make themselves understood?
“NO-YOU-TAKE-PICTURE-ME!”
Or
"交政策を実施する外務省所管の独 !!!"
Anyway, you get the idea?
Melbourne to be continued....
|