Happy New Years 2009!!!

Well we are settling right in here in lovely Melbourne. Since the last post we have been hitting it hard. Lets see....where to begin? Well the other night at the Victory game. Melbourne came back from 2-0 to beat their rival, Sydney. It was a thrilling soccer match with great goals scored by both sides.
We have thoroughly explored downtown and Victory Market. The downtown has a European flavor, the suburbs have a very American feel. We also saw the Melbourne City Zoo which had the standard fare of Aussie animals. Now that I have been here a while I am adjusting to the little differences. Driving on the left still freaks me out. You also past people on the street on the left which still seems to evade me.
We spent a day on Phillip Island. It's a popular get away for the Melbourne massive, where we accomplished many of my Australian goals. We began the day at the Phillip Island Wildlife park. Its basically a large open area where they allow you to walk around with kangaroos, wallabies, and emus. Most of them are tame enough to feed by hand. It was a trip getting close to these beasts. They also had a variety of other creatures in large habitats.

We then headed to the Koala Conservation center. Most of them spend the day sleeping but they were still close enough to get a good gander at. They are even more adorable in person. I have yet to hold one but there will be many opportunities. After watching the fuzzy lazy bears sleep we had fish and chips seaside for lunch.

The night we dedicated to the Penguin march, which has surpassed the Sydney opera house as the OZ's most popular tourist destination. Every evening the penguins leave the ocean for their seaside homes. So everyone gathers in a man made amphitheater to watch the funny critters scurry up the beach. This being the holiday season, there were 3800 people in attendance to watch nearly 2000 fat birds waddle up the beach. We arrived three hours early to get beach side seats. After the sun sets the birds leave the protection of the ocean. The first few birds scout out the beach then return with their frightened comrades. Imagine, after days out in the ocean you arrive home. As soon as you leave the water you are hit with stadium lights and 3800 fans staring down on you. It must be a daunting task for the world's smallest penguins. None the less they persevere. They begin waddling towards shore in small numbers and then attack the beach in groups of 20-60 birds running as fast as their fat bellies and little legs will allow. Viewing my first wild penguin gave me a warm giggly feeling I haven't had since Christmas '84. The audience giggles and points as the little doodles scurry in and out of the ocean. Trying to build up the courage to brave the spotlight and reach their little love dens. It was an absolute riot.
We are now making plans for seeing fireworks in Federation Square tonight for the new years. We will be some of the first on the planet to venture into 2009. Over 500,000 people are expected downtown. About 1/8 the population!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Thanks for all the comments and good wishes! We appreciate them! Missing all of you over the holidays but we are thinking of you!