Melbourne ( pronounced by the locals as Melbun ).

Trip Start Sep 29, 2008

Trip End Aug 2009

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Where I stayed

Hotel Ken and Sue

(Melbourne hotels)

Flag of Australia Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Tuesday, February 10, 2009

We land in Melbourne after an overnight flight from Singapore. We are picked up from the airport by our friend Ken, who with his wife Sue and their two dogs we will be staying with for the next week. After a long search in the car-park for the car, we are driven down to the Mornington Peninsular and their house at Mount Eliza. This area escaped the devastating bush fires that have ravaged Victoria for the last week, with the eventual death toll claiming over 200 lives. From their house you can see the smoke on the hills that show how close the fires have advanced to the city.

We are treated like VIPs while at Ken and Sues, and enjoy being in a home rather than a hostel or hotel. Their house is lovely, with views of the countryside and the ocean. We spend the days being shown around by Ken, Sue having to work. He treats us to the many beautiful golden sand beaches that seem to be evident everywhere you go in Australia. We cruise the coast in his Chevy Camaro convertible. Bonza!

We visit their beach house in Waratah, walking the dogs on a deserted beach and enjoying a traditional Aussie barbeque and a few stubbys that evening. We even experience our first bush walk, always nervous of being attacked by one of the many deadly snakes or spiders that every Aussie seems to have a story about. Crikey!

For one day we take a trip to Phillip Island, famous for its wildlife. We visit a traditional homestead, with its working farm and watch a demonstration of shepherding. We then wander around a koala conservation centre, seeing these cuddly grey creatures sleeping in the branches of their favourite gum trees.

After a fish and chip dinner we then go and see what we have really come here to see, the Penguin Parade. After dusk hundreds of penguins exit the sea and make their way up the beach to their burrows. A whole tourist attraction has been generated around this daily spectacle. With photography banned, we wait. And wait. Only a particularly horrible brat throwing sand at strangers kept us amused. And then whispers go around the now cold crowd.

Strewth, was that a penguin? Or was it just a wave breaking?

No, it WAS a penguin. And then another. And another.

Soon they gather in small groups, making the dash across the sand in the safety of numbers. It's funny to watch their confidence grow as more of them gather together on the water edge.

When the numbers coming out of the surf start to dwindle we walk up the wooden boardwalks, watching the waddling penguins making their slow commute home. They are within touching distance of us, fair dinkum, separated only by a small fence. Soon they are home, nestled in their burrows amongst the gorse bushes.

We enjoy every minute with Ken and Sue, true Aussies in their friendliness and that 'every time is beer time.' We leave them having had a relaxing and enjoyable week, and both several pounds heavier!