St. Kilda and Philip Island

Lifeguards using a Minnesota product.  Polaris!

Today is Monday morning, 6:30 am nearly.  You are reading this on Sunday (I assume you are reading it on Sunday, I guess it's possible you are reading this on Monday but then it would be Tuesday here...woah!).  So, what I am trying to tell you back home, friends, is that I am a voice from the future, a prophet, if you will.

I like my new found (and short lived) vocation.  I've always wanted to be the voice of reason from the future who says, "Calm down, I know you are panicking about tomorrow, but really, it will be okay."  So, I will function in that manner from now on.  Calm down, Christmas is coming, you are freaking out because there is still so much to do, but I'm telling you, it is FINE, the 22nd of December is looking good.  Days ahead are even better.

There, now don't we all feel better?

Yesterday (Sunday), we arose early and hopped on a tram to the lovely kitschy suburb of St. Kilda.  Our goal was the beach, but first breakfast at a little spot Jeff found.  Miss Jackson's was the name.  The breakfast was yummy and photogenic and we ate it all up.  I think I had the best thing:  cured salmon and poached eggs with "potted" avocado.  Crazy good.

But, the best part wasn't the food, even though it was amazing.  The best part was the man who co-owned the restaurant and was our server.  I don't know his name, why we didn't ask, I'll never know.  But he was an example of nearly every person we have encountered here so far.  He was kind, happy, funny, interested, talkative, warm...he was typical Australian.

Jeff and I have spent countless conversation minutes pondering over this one unique thing:  so far, we have yet to bump into a grouchy person.  It is nearly Christmas and back home, people are scowling because they can't find a parking spot, or short-tempered because they still have so much to do, or just curmudgeonly because they like it that way.

We wonder:  is it the sun?  is it the fact that they live in a beautiful location with animals that are loved the world over?  Are they free of the kind of fear we have experienced since 9/11?  is there something in the water?

The general joy is rubbing off on all of us.  The girls are getting along well, no one is really complaining even though we are pulling long days of walking or sightseeing.

I don't know why...but I'll take it.

After breakfast with our kind host (who gave us a guide to cafe's around Melbourne, his Christmas present to us, he said) we walked up to the beach and planted ourselves in the blazing sun.  (Australia has the highest rates of skin-cancer in the world due to the thinning of the ozone here, so we were properly sun-blocked up).  The beach was a typical public beach and is famous for the colorful bathhouses that line it (although we didn't get that far up the beach, so happy were we just to plop in a spot).  We saw maybe 100 jellyfish in the water and on the sand, so we didn't swim, even though a woman told me that the big jellyfish weren't the ones to watch for, only the small ones.  I had no way of knowing what qualified as big or small, so we avoided all of them (most poisonous animals in the world here, remember).  Shelby and Aubrey played in the sand, Jeff and I walked a little and Quinn and Gillian lounged.  Blissful.

Hand feeding a kangaroo

In the afternoon, we signed up for a tour to a place called Phillips Island about 120 km outside of Melbourne.  After grabbing some street vendor food, we loaded up on a bus for an eleven hour excursion to watch a Penguin Parade.  Yes, hold the phone, we got to watch penguins march up a beach with about three hundred other observers and it was great, but more on that in a second.

Roger our friendly guide took us to lovely spots along the way to Phillips Island were we saw beautiful rocky cliffs along the coast and watched surfers (met some chaps from the lifesaving club, a handy institution), met some Wallabys and Kangaroos and fed them a snack as well as looked at Koalas, chatty parrots and hungry emus.  We stopped for dinner in a little town on the beach and then made our way to the main event.

Philip Island is beautiful.  High cliffs.

It was the longest day of the year here in Australia yesterday.  On Phillips Island every day penguins march up the beach at dusk and make their way back to their little homes to feed their baby penguins and rest from long days of fishing and feeding in the ocean.  These tuxedoed creatures, are the smallest of the penguins in the world.  They were called Fairy Penguins until recently, but now are just called Little Penguins.  They are blue and white and adorable.

We made our way to the viewing stands en masse and waited.  There are no cameras allowed here, and they police that adamantly.  The penguins are known for being hesitant to make the journey across the sand, due to predators.  So, at dusk (a little after 9pm) a few brave penguins made their way to shore, waddled up the wet sand, stopped, tottered a little and then in what looked like a serious case of stage fright, ran off back into the ocean with their arms outstretched.  The crowds responded by giggling, it was a totally entertaining sight.  They carried on like this for probably fifteen minutes; running up the shore and then one would turn and hightail it back into the water.  Eventually, one brave penguin would totter a further step onto the dry sand and even the most hesitant would follow and begin their trek to their respective "cottages" that were all over the island.  They live in little dug out burrows or boxes made especially for them and these are really every where.

The penguins will hide under cars.  Careful!

Lots of fun.  People from all over the world were there and they had all been thoroughly entertained by these little creatures.  Everyone left there with a smile on their face.

We didn't get back to the hotel until midnight.  Another good day.