More Animals, Homesickness, and Australia Day in Melbourne!

So two days ago was Last Day in Sydney. We went to the Taronga Zoo which is a ferry ride away from the main city. I like ferries a lot. The zoo was pretty cool. Saw some Australian animals I am hoping to see in the wild before the end of my trip but I took pictures just in case. Also some not-Australian animals that were pretty great. But in general it was a pretty low-key day because we've been doing so much lately.

Yesterday we packed up and went to the airport nice and early to fly down to Melbourne in Victoria. We were supposed to have the early afternoon to settle in and then go on a tour but when we got to the hotel they told us the tour company had called and cancelled our tour and wanted us to call back. It turns out that we were the only ones on the later tour and so they moved us to the earlier tour, which started in an hour. Our room at the hotel wasn't ready yet, so we dumped our bags in their safe room, grabbed sweatshirts (because they warned us) and hopped a tram up to the main city to meet the tour bus. Trams here are super confusing, by the way. I think it is entirely possible to ride them your entire life without ever paying because although we bought tickets I have not yet worked out how you are supposed to swipe them. Weird.

Anyway, we made it downtown and needed food. We found this all-vegetarian burger joint called "Lord of the Fries". Awesome. Also, delicious! Their fakechicken was lovely! We ate and walked and finally found where we were supposed to meet our bus. The earlier tour took us to a bunch of places we weren't planning on going, but it was pretty great. First, they took us to this old farm on an island to the South which is apparently the oldest farm in Victoria. They had Highland Cows from Scotland (the original farmers were Scottish) which are adorable! Even more adorable, they had a wallaby pasture kind of thing. They let us in with them to take pictures.

Note the adorable joey in the wallaby's pouch. We also saw a bunch of wild wallabies later on from the bus. Super great. I really enjoy watching animals bounce across the landscape. Nothing better.

Next we went to the Koala Conservation Center. They have a huge area where they keep koalas in a natural environment and they built boardwalks for people to see them, although obviously you're not allowed to touch them. The koalas are totally fearless, they were in trees right next to the boardwalk and while we (and a huge group of people) were standing there taking pictures one climbed down from the tree, onto the railing of the boardwalk, walked along past and around all of us and climbed up a tree on the other side. It literally passed about six inches from me. I resisted the urge to snuggle it very admirably, I feel.

Next, we ate dinner and wandered around some boardwalks along the cliffs. It was beautiful! That whole area - most of the island - is natural habitat for Fairy Penguins. They have burrows all around and so there are boardwalks above them. I saw a few penguins in the burrows, and what I think is a gull chick, and lots of pretty sunset views over the cliffs.

Finally on the tour was the "Penguin Parade". Fairy penguins are the only penguins native to Australia. They're also the smallest penguins in the world, the biggest they get is about 33 cm. Every night on this island they all come back to shore and that was what we came to watch. We sat on bleachers watching the sun set and waiting for the tiny penguins to waddle ashore. I am very glad they warned us about bringing sweatshirts, too because it was very windy and chilly. The penguins came in huge groups and made the most adorable noises! They all stopped right in front of the bleachers, once they had crossed the beach, to preen. We weren't allowed to take pictures of them, which I fully support, but here is what they look like:

On the way back we walked along a boardwalk that the penguins were waddling right alongside or sometimes underneath. I stopped to watch and one went directly under my feet, about six inches away, and started making "peep peep peep" noises. SO CUTE! I watched what looked like a mated pair reuniting (they were preening each other), and I even got to see a parent feeding a couple of fuzzy chicks! As I was watching all the tiny penguins waddling along the sand I looked up and saw a wallaby bounding up the hill. A little later I saw bats flying around and by the time the sun fully set the sky was full of stars much brighter than they are at home. The whole scene was just beautiful and made me so happy to be here. I can't really explain it, but I'm glad I didn't try to take pictures of it, either, because they never would have done it justice. On the way home they played Surf's Up, the animated movie about penguins who surf. It was actually pretty good in a totally predictable animated-movie-about-surfing-penguins kind of way.

I don't know what happened between last night and this morning because I went to sleep feeling all peaceful and happy and I woke up feeling all depressed and homesick. Actually, that's not entirely true. Mostly, I miss Beloit. I think it's because I'm supposed to be away from home this time of year, I had my month at home and then I go away and I'm used to that. I am not used to being away from school and school friends, especially when they are all together. I feel like I have no right to be sad and mopey when I am in such a beautiful place having such a fantastic experience, especially since it has only been a week (well, a month since I saw school people, I suppose), but I can't help it. Hopefully meeting 11 new people in a few days and focusing on trying to make new friends (also all the studying) will help me not feel as sad about not being with my other friends.

Anyway, I tried not to dwell on it. Not on Australia Day! We hopped on the tram (I still don't know how those things work) and were headed downtown when we passed a park filled with people. We hopped off and it was really great! A lot like any "Yay we live here!" celebration in the US. There were about 5 roads lined with super old cars and booths for every culture in Australia and everything from free medical exams (sketchy!) to this weird game called "Flyball" which is essentially a relay race for dogs. Little kids were painting boomerangs and kites and everyone was wearing at least two Australian flags (including me! I got temporary tattoos :D). Australia Day is also Republic Day in India, and there is a huge Indian population here so they had a big concert with lots of Indian music and dance and it was really cool.

We met this guy on the road who freaked out when he found out we were American. Apparently we must move here immediately, because Australia "needs more yanks!" He listed off a whole bunch of (pretty offensive names for) cultural groups they have (the only one I remember is "spaghetti-heads") but they need more "Americanos"! Then he started chanting "USA! USA!" and wandered away with his wife. I love Australians. I don't even think he was drunk!

So, in honor of Australia Day, I offer you this Random Australian Fact:

The Australian Crest has two animals on it, a kangaroo and an emu. It looks like this:

Know why they picked those two animals? Because they are the only two animals that can't go backwards. Dear Australia, you are adorable. I don't know why that makes me so happy (both the fact that there are animals that can't go backwards, and that they thought about that when designing their crest).

Incidentally, I hate Hulu for only being available in the US. :( Will have to find other ways to distract myself. Hopefully tomorrow I will wake up suddenly not homesick/schoolsick anymore. In the meantime, I miss you all and I hope you are having a lovely night.