Visions of fairy penguins danced in our heads..

6/18/08 1:21 am

Hello!

Wow, time has been flying! I just got back from Melbourne a couple hours ago, and before that it was just go go go (as always).

I had all my finals; somehow wrote 2 papers and took an exam, I don’t really know how that’ll turn out...ahem. But it’s done and I’m happy about that. School is such a fun-damper anyway.

After my finals were over I celebrated by going to Toronga Zoo (the one in Sydney) finally, with Ashley and Joanne. It’s a pretty good zoo and we had a lot of fun. And you can bet there are pictures to prove it (almost a whole album in fact). After the zoo, I went home and changed and then made the irresponsible decision to go out on the town (we were leaving for Melbourne on Saturday, the next morning). Well, I had a great time in King’s Cross, as always. A lovely Vietnamese-French fusion dinner with Melissa (not Melissa Kovner from home, she left a long time ago. Melissa who lives above me now). Then we met up with some of the girls and made a night of it. Got home a little later then expected (um...3 hours later in fact) and went to bed, only to get up and catch a flight. Not the best flight I’ve ever had...

We, Cydney, Lindsey and I, got to Melbourne Saturday afternoon and I took a nap. Way too tired to actually enjoy anything. But we went out for a great Italian dinner and called it a night. We wanted to get up and hit up the Sunday markets the next day. Sunday was an exploration day and a good dinner, in bed early because we had a really full day Monday. We had signed up for an all day tour that brought us to Phillip Island to culminate in the watching of the nightly penguin migrations. Fairy penguins live on this island, and every morning before sunrise one of the mates of a pair goes out into the ocean to fish all day to feed their young. Then every night, after sunset, they come back from the ocean and go to their burrows in the sand dunes. You can go at sunset and sit and watch the penguins come out of the ocean, a really amazing experience. You can’t take pictures though because the flash causes the penguins to regurgitate their food early, and the young don’t get fed (since their eyes are used to the dark ocean). We had a mini tour bus and in the morning drove to island. We stopped at a wild life preserve on the way and fed some kangaroos (big ones this time, see the video and album) and other animals. Then we went to a beautiful beach and the nobbies on Phillip Island (some rock formations in the ocean). Our last stop was the Penguin Parade and then pizza dinner and back to the hostel.

Our last day, today, was spent wandering around the city, going into shops and eating lunch. We caught our flight back, and here I am. On Thursday I go to New Zealand for a week, so now I need to prepare for that. Lots of packing and shopping to do (it’s winter, very cold there now). I come back Thursday of next week, then start preparing for Asia. It really is non-stop for me these days, but I’ll find time to write again before I head off to Asia. Hope everyone is well, I’m getting excited to come home (in a month and 2 weeks!). Love all around!

Links to photo albums are coming! My uploads won't work, bad internet.