Victoria

Travels around the Melbourne area have been exceptionally beautiful. First I took a day trip out The Great Ocean Road, down the coast to Cape Patton, the southern-most spot in Australia where the Pacific and Indian Oceans meet. Picture of me was taken  there.Then on to the Twelve Apostles, three of which have washed away - they are sandstone pillars along the coast. I took a helicopter flight over them. That was a great thrill for me, a first, something I've always wanted to do. I sat in front seat with windows down to the floor and just marveled at the water as well as the cliffs. Then another day trip to Phillip Island and the "Penguin Parade". Saw lots of wild wallaby on the island and I got one lucky photo of one with a joey. At dark the penguins return from the sea to feed their young left in burrows along the shore. A federal park protects them by building a grandstand and walkways through the area so people can view them up-close. And there were thousands of people as this is high tourist season - summer vacation  time, school's out. But it was all so orderly. No photography was allowed and generally folks were pretty quiet.  These  were Little Penguins (their name as well as their size); and very timid about leaving  the surf to cross the beach. It seemed they needed a group concensus before they took off waddling as quick as they could in groups of maybe two dozen at a time. Then I had a three day stay in Sorrento, way out on the peninsula. Melbourne is actually quite far inland. It is a little tourist town with beaches on both the bay side and the Pacific. But they were equally calm, great for little kids. So this was a family type resort, the surfers go were the action is - saw many the day I went out the Great Ocean Road. The first day there was a power failure all over town so got to see a clear night sky with Milky Way and a pass over by the space station. The next day I took the ferry across the mouth of the bay to Queenscliff, another modest tourist town where I happened on an exhibit of tea cozies at a church hall. They were delightful, whimsical, and totally serious. The town had five or six independent book stores. There are many more book stores around both the cities and small towns. I have not seen a chain-style bookstore in Australia.