Prison, Penguines and the AFL

see all photos »

Our journey begins in Melbourne, Autralia's 'Garden City', set on the banks of the Yarra River. The city itself is relatively clean and safe, its populace is rather diverse and Melbourne advertises itself as cultural mecca of Austrailia home to a posh theater district as well as a symphony (Blah Blah Blah). Melbourne is well suited to the traveler, Brian and I had no housing reservations, but it was easy enough to find an inexpensive hostel for our stay.

We spent five days in Melbourne and the highlights included:

The Hall of Rememberance Honoring the Australians and New Zealanders lost in World War I. A very impressive structure, situated such that in November at 11am the sunlight passes through the skylight and on to a commemerative plaque (very much like Indiana Jones and lost ark).

The Royal Botanical Gardens Pretty much a big garden with plants from all over Australia.

The Old Melbourne Goal The origin Melbourne Jail and Execution center. Imagine the main Alcatraz cell block with a much more medival attitude.

Bar Hopping With Fellow Accenture-ite Dave S. Thanks again Dave for your hospitality.

The Great Ocean Highway Basically a highway along the coast (and there is a lot of it) that leads to the . . .

The Twelve Apostels and the London Bridge Which are sandstone outcroppings on the coast. They are huge in size and we took a very cool ride around them in a helicopter ride. Sadly there aren't 12 anymore because the ocean eventually wears them away and soon there will be none at all (seriously hindering tourist attraction appeal).

Australian Rules Football at the The Melbourne Cricket Grounds Melbourne is home to 8 (yes 8) AFL teams and they take it very seriously.

Fauna Park and Koala Conservation Center Here I got to hold a baby wombat and feed kangaroos, very cool. We also got see some Kualas, which means we got to see Kualas sleeping. Cause Kualas sleep for about 20 hours a day, eat for 3 and look for a mate for the final hour. Not a bad life. Later that same day we headed to the . . .

Penguin Parade Which is the nightly migration of hundreds of tiny penguins from the ocean back to their beach burrows. Very cute (I didn't just say that did I?).

Melbourne Zoo We killed some time at the Melbourne Zoo on our final day (oldest in Austrailia, third oldest in the world) which has some great big cat exhibits.

Next stop Alice Springs and the Big Red Rock . . .