Negotiating a city of 4.5 million is never easy and I felt turned around in Melbourne and did not like the hostel that I landed in. I was sad to have to part with Sarah and acquaint myself with the city alone. Melbourne was truly worth getting to know. It is a city that endorses the arts and they seem to flourish here. Elegant tall buildings line a river and there are parks, sculptures, and trees to intrigue and make the experience as comfortable as a city can be. I am happy to report that there was a stunning art exhibition of aboriginal art that had been recently funded and which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was able to connect into some tours. One of them was “The Ocean Road” a curving coastline revealing the famous Twelve Apostles, stacks similar to the state of Oregon.
I saw koalas in their natural habitat in a manna gum tree forest. It was a day that took me through coastal towns so I feel I have a good sense of half of the entire coastline of Australia now. I was surprised when I had an alpaca spit on me. I asked what it meant. I was told it means that the alpaca liked me and that I should go out and buy a lottery ticket as it is a good omen. Alpaca spit is not something I want to go through again, thank you.
I also went on tour to see the penguin march. These penguins are known as the Blue Penguin or Fairy Penguin or Little Penguin. They are the littlest penguins in the world. I wasn’t prepared at all for what I saw. They came out of the sea at dusk, furtively, for they instinctively are avoiding birds of prey. They come in “rafts” together to the beach. They are bringing food they caught to their nests on the land where their young are. They march up in lines to the nests. It was an astonishing site. What was hard though was that about 700 people were right on the nesting grounds on a platform. There were people and penguins everywhere and as darkness fell I felt I was in a strange dream. I couldn’t understand why the penguins were not afraid of people and I couldn’t understand why people were allowed to be here. Penguins were marching all over the sidewalks and up into the parking lot and under the cars. I started to cry. It was the people being so horrible. They are not supposed to take photos because the flash blinds the penguins and they are unable to find their way to their young. People however do not seem to respect that. It was one of those terrible situations demonstrating how poorly we can behave as a species. I am to visit a friend next I met in Vanuatu next who lives in Coffs Harbour. In addition to Sarah, Leone has been a great support. Friends in foreign lands are extra especially wonderful.