Day Eighteen: Melbourne, Australia

Dear Everyone.

Tonight I wasn’t sure if I could even manage to blog because I was so tired when we arrived back on the ship after a ten hour bus tour. We didn’t spend the entire time on the bus, of course, but it was beginning to feel that way towards the end.

After we left at 8:30 AM this morning, we first stopped at the Healesville Nature Sanctuary and finally got to see at least two Australian marsupials: kangaroos and koalas. The wombats seemed to be on holiday and the Tasmanian Devils were too far of a walk for the time we were allotted. Actually, we might have had enough time had we been able to stop gaping at the kangaroos and koalas.

After the Sanctuary, we went to the Rochford Winery for another wine and cheese tasting, plus lunch. This winery was larger than the one in Tasmania; they had a huge green and a concert stage. Elton John played there last and Adele will be playing there March 14th. No pictures here because it was raining off and on.

By the time we reached our final stop, it was pouring rain. Because the car park was being reconstructed, we walked a ways down to a tiny train station to board the “Puffing Billy,” a vintage small gauge train. I was dismayed to find that we were boarding an open air train with wet benches and rain blowing in on us. As usual, I was ill equipped for a monsoon. Our tour guide said it would be an “adventure.” I’m sure everyone knows how I feel about “adventures,” but in for a penny, in for a pound. We decided to make the best of it by taking a selfie of our abject misery.

Note to readers: Trying to look miserable makes me laugh.

Note to self: It never hurts to have a rain poncho at the ready.

• 

• 

• 

Usually on these tours we have both a bus driver and a tour guide who has a microphone and rattles on about local history and so forth. Today, I thought the bus driver and the tour guide were going to come to fisticuffs over which route to take out of the city, which route to take to the Sanctuary and which route to take back into the city. I mean they discussed it ad nauseam. When we were on our way to the Sanctuary, the tour guide forced the bus driver into going his way. So, we made a wrong turn and had to make a u turn on a narrow road in a tour bus, with another tour bus following us, whose driver also had to make the same u turn! Now that was a tense moment. Our driver was less than pleased. If those two were any indication, people here must talk about traffic, distances and which way to turn all of the flipping time.

Ann’s Eavesdroppers’ Corner:

After visiting the Sanctuary, I just happened to overhear a lady saying, “I thought the animals would be more in the wild.” “As in, not in a sanctuary?,” I asked. No, I didn’t, really. Just wanted to see if anyone is still reading.