We went to Melbourne to visit
Julie who
had stayed with us in Kentucky when she was traveling through the US
learning about small farms.
That is her and her mom
and dad with
us.
She and her folks
entertained us with
food and stories about their farm, animals and some of the places we
missed in Australia.
We'll have to go back.
We rode the tram to their house.
Even at rush hour it was reasonably civilized.
When we got back to town late that evening we couldn't remember which
door in this building led to the bridge back to our hotel.
So we took a walk around the town and eventually got there.
The next day we found the Lightning Opals shop where we saw this opal
unlike any I had seen elsewhere.
We had been to another of their shops in Alice Springs but this is
their main location other than the mine in Coober Pedy.
The owner gave us a demonstration of how to work the stones
to
bring out their best color.
And when I offered to buy partially worked stones to show kids around
our home how it ws done he just gave them to me.
We saw this restaurant which was obviously a church in a past
incarnation.
We were told that the congregations of many churches have shrunk to the
point that they must close their doors.
Which leads to businesses like this.
These kangaroos were in a wildlife park not in the wild.
This lamb was less than one hour old but knew where to go.
Some koalas seem to have two faces like the one in the first picture.
I wasn't able to tell where mom left off and baby began.
These are silver gulls with their chicks.
Little penguins, also known as fairy penguins, come ashore along this
coastline and climb the rocks to the grassy areas where they dig their
burrows.
Every day they climb down, catch fish at sea, then return to feed their
chicks.
Absolutely incredible when you realize that they are only about one
foot tall.
We went to a viewing area where they don't have to struggle as hard.
There were bleachers for us tourists but we staked out a spot where one
of the penguin paths crossed under the boardwalk.
There were also signs telling visitors not to put them in their pockets.
Our location gave us really close up views of the penguins.
You weren't supposed to take pictures but we managed to get these
without flash.
The box with the red light is part of a weigh station.
Most of the penguins that take this path have RFID tags and their
weight is recorded coming and going.
That allows the scientists to track how much food they are giving their
chicks.