Phillip Island and the Penguin Parade -- Days 9 & 10

On Tuesday morning we returned to the Royal Botanic Garden for an Arboriginal Heritage Walk with Den, an aboriginal from Queensland.  He requested that we not publish images of his walk since it is part of his official work for the RBG.  Den chose Ben to help lead the group and use his walking stick to help shepherd us along.  We had a small group of eight in the tour and Den first started the tour with a smoke ceremony.  After he set up a small fire, he added three different types of green twigs to create more smoke.  One for the tribal elders, one for the children, and one for the adults and visitors.  After the ceremony, he led us around the RBG visiting the native plants and trees that were important in their culture for their needs including household items, medicines, and tools.  One tree, a prickly pine was a climbing tree, where the young men showed their maturity but climbing up the tree with no clothes.   The final part was to share tea with us and show us various tools.  He indicated that boomerangs have two purposes.  One type is used to injure or kill animals.  The other type is used near the animals to frighten them and then a hunter can capture them.  Den stressed that aborigines just consume what they need and respect the land and in turn the land will respect you.  He also showed us a map of the different "tribes", over 1,000 in Australia!

In the afternoon we drove south about 90 minutes to Phillip Island, a place dedicated to the protection and care of its wildlife.  It's known best for the nightly "penguin parade".  After sunset dozens of penguins come in from the sea to their burrows near the beach.  We watched from a platform next to the beach and watched the penguins waddle past us.  What a sight!  We stayed on the island overnight at the invitation of one of Timothy's friends and rose in the early morning to catch the sunrise over the Bass Strait (which leads out to the Great Southern Ocean). We visited the bird sanctuary in Rhyll, then walked through the Oswin Roberts Reserve, and finished the afternoon at Surf Beach, where we were happy to find quite a few surfers enjoying the 6 foot waves and beautiful sandy beach.

a quiet moment on an inlet in the afternoon, Cowes, Phillip Island

Timothy sharing some words of wisdom with his nephew.

Australian seagulls!

A young fisherman in Cowes

photographs are not allowed at the penguin parade and it is dark by the time they come ashore so I recorded these sounds after we left the viewing area.  There is no picture but listen carefully and you'll hear the baby penguins calling out to their parents for food.  Really!

This is a picture of a picture inside the penguin visiting center.Australia has "Little Penguins" -- they stand 8"-10" high -- very cute!

 We spent the night at the home of a church member from Melbourne

 Sunrise on the Nobbies, Phillip Island

 A great board walk taking us along this section of rocky coastline.  

Timothy and David were so engrossed in conversation that they didn't see the wallaby just above them on the hillside!

Walking and talking on the Surf Beach 

Sunny day, beautiful waves, a long sandy beach...can't get much better!

Dandenong Ranges National Park -- Day 8

Day 7, yesterday (Sunday), was a quieter day we spent more at home with Tim, Moira, and Patrick.  We attended First Church, Melbourne, and went to Huntingtower's Open House in the afternoon.  We got a nice tour of the school, conducted by one of the grade 11 students, Hudson.  We surprised Brett F-M with a visit to her classroom. Later I took a walk in the neighborhood and enjoyed Tim and Moira's lovely garden.

Today, Monday, we drove east to Dandenong Ranges National Park for a hike in the woods.  What a beautiful place! We enjoyed the multicolored birds --cockatoos, parrots, ravens (?), and galah, saw a kookaburra, searched for the lyrebird (never found), and caught sight of a wallaby.

We first drove to Sky High lookout.  Melbourne is in the distance, the Yarra Ranges, and Port Phillip.

A beautifully carve pole, completed in just three weeks.

 This is at the base -- isn't it great?

 The boys, at the pole and on a bridge in the garden near by.  The beautiful flower below was also in the garden.

 In the Secret Garden.

 One of many colorful parrots in the trees.

And on Ben.

 And Timothy.

 That David can't get enough of tree-hugging!

 The Mountain Ash sheds it's bark -- here's a strip of bark we found on the ground.

 Many paths through the forest.

Help!  Tim's being devoured by a carnivorous bark-shedding tree! 

 We met Gael (yes, GaEl -- pronounced like Gail) who lives in the area and gave us expert information about the lyrebird, it's habits and so forth. Unfortunately we didn't see or hear the bird on this walk.

But we enjoyed the walk anyway. 

And met a wallaby instead! 

And saw lots of cockatoos in the trees. 

 And caught sight of a kookaburra!

Interlude: Happy Birthday, Liz!

The Farmer's Market!! Day 6

G'day, mates!  We were off to the Farmer's Market early early this morning and found it hard to break away from this friendly, fragrant, and fun place.

 The market is huge and still growing.  We arrived early (6:45a) to beat the rush.  It didn't take long before the isles were crowded with lots of shoppers.

 Tim with one of the many vendors.

 David found the goldfish (not to be eaten...)

 I had a lovely visit with Tammy.

 This vendor asked me to take his picture...

 and then his family asked me to send them a copy!

 By 8:30 we were starving and stopped to get some hot donuts.  Oh, wow, delicious!

 Salamanders anyone?  Not to eat; this was in the same pet shop area where David found the goldfish...

 The lady is originally from Switzerland; we had a lovely conversation with her, too.

 The vendors here didn't want their picture taken so you'll just have to imagine two sweet blond-haired Aussies with these flowers all around them...

 Delicious bread!

And a dear man and his son, from Taiwan.