Koalas and Emus and Kangaroos, oh my!

We approached Australia with excitement as well as the understanding that we had two ports to spend time in, a day at sea and then our cruise adventure would be over. We docked at Melbourne at 8:00 AM and had an 8:30 AM excursion booked through the ship that we were very excited about. Of course, since we were in a new country, we had to go through immigration, show our passports and so on, before we could enter the country. They too were as concerned as NZ about bringing food into the country. As an aside, since I have been using NZ as an abbreviation for New Zealand, going forward, I will use OZ for Australia as it seems that many refer to Australia as what sounds like OZ or could be Ahhhhs.

There were 3 busloads of cruisers taking the same excursion as us so each one saw the sites in a different order, but we all saw the same things. Our first stop was the You Yangs Regional Park about 45 minutes out of Melbourne. Note that this was very close to Little River, known principally as the hometown of the band, The Little River Band. Interestingly, the Rgional Park was about 15 minutes away from Geelong (our next cruise stop), but was not offered as a ship excursion at that stop by the ship. At You Yang, our guide who had spent our 45 minute bus trip preparing us for what we would see and providing information about the area, took us to a field that was fenced off. She explained that we were on a bit of a safari and that in some cases we would have to walk in single file or take care not to scare the wildlife. She also warned us to beware of the scat. There was a lot and you could tell who left it by its size. First, we followed a few emus; a very gawky animal. 

Then we came upon 17 kangaroos.

Our guide pointed out the joeys, mothers, and alpha male. Here is the alpha male as he kept an eye on all of us.

We then headed to another area where there was a lake that was once part of a marshland and saw all kinds of birds. It was quite relaxing. From there we had tea time, with beverages and cookies out under a cabana. Then for the crowning (not so much) moment. We went into a nearby area and went to look for koalas. Our guide found one in a tree for us to look at. 

This was the best view we were able to get. (Don't worry, we do finally get to see a couple up close and personal in Sydney.) We later saw a second one from a similar vantage point. The guide explained a lot about the koalas, but they are not really cuddly. They have very sharp claws to hold on to trees. They rarely drink and get their fluids through eucalyptus trees. The eucalyptus tree is poisonous and the joey gets immunity to the poisons by eating the feces of its parent. Interesting. It was a very enlightening excursion, even if we didn't really get to see a koala close up. At least we had the opportunity to see them in their natural environment.

We headed back to Melbourne and the ship where Felice and I had a nice lunch and gathered our strength for what would prove to be a long afternoon. Since we were allowed to be ashore in Melbourne until 11:00 PM, we headed into the city to see what there was to offer. We took public transportation in and wandered the city. We went to the Queens Victoria Market, which proved to be more like a swap meet. And it was closing when we arrived. The City's buildings were very modern with many a bit avant-garde. We were helped by a local to find our way and probably would have stayed longer, but it was just very hot and crowded. As a city of greater than 4 million, we probably should have expected to be a bit overwhelmed, but we were not prepared to be. We headed back to the ship, missing Friday night services by about 15 minutes. We later learned that almost everyone from the prior week missed the services and they were not held.