Today was our free day in Melbourne. Not many more days to go. Many of the students decided to use it as a shopping day for souvenirs for themselves and loved ones. A number of the students went to the Crown Casino to watch the NFL playoffs. I know many of them will be happy with the outcomes because I heard many talking about the Giants and Patriots.
Mallory and I decided to go to a small seatown called Williamstown. Williamstown used to be the primary sea town instead of Melbourne. It was a very quaint little town. We walked a heritage trail and saw many of the historical landmarks in the town.
One of our favorite sites was seeing the Tall Ship, the James Craig. We were able to walk and explore the ship and it was quite impressive. It is normally docked in Sydney, but happened to be in Melbourne for the first time in 87 years. It was a neat place to be.
This is a picture of the Bolte Bridge that we passed under on our river cruise to Williamstown. Two interesting things about this bridge is that the politician it was named at had a history of drinking and driving charges, weird I know. Secondly, it is the tallest bridge in the Southern Hemisphere, however, what makes it the tallest bridge are the two towers on each side which cost something like $5 million AUD each. The sneaky thing is that neither of these towers actually touch the bridge. Just a little trivia for you.
One last picture of the Melbourne skyline as we came in from our cruise.
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Today was spent at one of the premier tennis tournaments, the Australian Open. This is the only grand slam event played in the Pacific/Asia Region.
Many of the students (and faculty) decided to upgrade from the ground passes that were purchased to tickets in the Vodafone arena. The Vodafone arena used to be center court, but when Rod Laver Arena was built it became the off arena. New policy has it that you need tickets to go in. Many decided to upgrade so that they could see players such as Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. However, there were also some matches by male players ranked in the top 10 (Dayvadenko and Gasquet).
Some of the students also took in matches on the show courts. The two matches that drew most attention was the morning doubles match by Bob and Mike Bryan. They are currently the number one ranked mens double team in the country and are from the USA. The afternoon saw the Williams sisters play doubles (and win).
It sounds like everyone had a great time at the Open. Mallory and I decided to get a nice meal in Little Italy. Here are a few photos from our day, please Enjoy.
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Yesterday was a very long day. We were picked up from the hotel at 9 am and met our guides from the University of Melbourne (Andy and Phil) and did not get back in until midnight. Just in time to see the end of the last tennis match on TV.
We started off the day with a long bus ride to San Remo where we took a short break and watched the feeding of the Pelicans. A local eatery feeds their leftover fish and scraps to the pelicans. After our break we went on a beautiful coastal walk which had some great beaches and views.
After our walke we went to the town of Cowes and grabbed a quick bite to eat. From there we went to a Koala Conservatory and the Phillip Island Wildlife Park. Both of these spots allowed the students to get some great pictures of native Australian animals. Many of the students took advantage of the opportunity to feed many of these animals. Below you will see a few of the pictures. I will label them for you also.
Here is a great picture of a younger Koala (not bear).
Here is Mallory feeding a Wombat, her favorite animal.
David and Matt stalking a kangaroo and her joey.
Here is an Emu.
Here is a Cassowary, Mallory talked about these in Daintree.
We also saw some Tasmanian devils, snakes, birds and a few others.
After the wildlife park we went to dinner before heading to the Nobbies (picture below). The Nobbies usually have some seals on them but because of the sunset it was hard to see them, but did offer some great views.
After the Nobbies we went to see the Penguin Parade. This is when many fairy penguins come in from the ocean and march up to land to rest after days/weeks of fishing in the ocean. The Penguins are very cute but don't come in until after the sun is set which is why we got in so late. The picture below is of a fairy penguin that some of us saw at the Nobbies. We were not allowed to take pictures at the Parade.
G'day to all who are still reading.
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This is just a quick update to let you know that we have arrived in Melbourne safely. Mallory and I spent the evening walking to Federation Square and along the river before grabbing dinner.
We will probably not be able to update the blog for a day or so because we have an all day activity planned tomorrow. Please tune in for when we get back. Take care.
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Today was a free day for the group so that everyone could go their separate ways. The students were very boring, they went to the Lagoon which is a local pool and got some sun and did some shopping. A few of them went to the local casino, okay, not what you think, on the top floor is actually a zoo, so they went and saw some wild life and had a good time.
Mallory and I decided to do something different. We had heard about the town of Kuranda which is at the top of a mountain and can be accessed by car, scenic train or skyrail. We have had enough of cars and buses so we decided to go up via scenic rail and then down via skyrail. As you will see from our pictures, we had quite a good time and some amazing views of the area North of Cairns.
One of the major scenic sites in the area are the Barron Falls which were quite brilliant and you could hear the power in them when we saw them both by train and skyrail. The interesting thing about the Barron Falls is that they are used to generate power and are considered a green source of energy that is used in Cairns and surrounding cities.
After some shopping in Kuranda and walking the town and enjoying the sites, we were able to head back down towards Cairns.
Once again the sites were amazing, but it is also interesting to know that the skyrail was built in such a way that the natural environment was not harmed. Most of the materials for the towers were brought on by helicopter and manufactured on site so that trees would not have to be destroyed. We saw a video of the building, it was quite amazing. After watching the video I am considering adding this to our course on ecotourism because of the sustainability principles used to create the skyrail. Besides, it was fun also.
The last photo is of what they call the "Flying Fox." When we were coming up via train they talked about this was a common way to transport materials and that some people even "commuted" to work via the Flying Fox. Now that might be fun.
Mallory and I finished off tonight with a dinner at a restuarant where we sampled the local fare. We enjoyed the "Ozie Trio" which consisted of Emu, Crocodile and Kangaroo. It was quite tasty, YUM.
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