Melbourne is a fantastic city. Walkable, metropolitan, clean, green and big whilst feeling small. At Federation Square X, me and the other couple went to Transport Public Bar. It seemed like probably just a touristy spot with cool, modorn decor. But it was fabulous. I had the chicken bacon spinach pesto risotto which had my new favorite: Australian bacon and dripped with parmesan. X had the linguine with tomato salami, red onion and smoked mozzarella. It was just the right amount of spicy. And the meal wasn't expensive, either.
Then we grabbed a rental car and headed out to Phillip Island. We joined the rest of the trip and went straight for the Penguin Parade. This is at dusk, when the Fairy Penguins (smallest penguins and blue in color) swim out of the sea in little nervous groups and get up the gumption to cross an expanse of sand for their nests. They were so cute it was ridiculous. And they kept getting scared and swimming back in the water. I guess with their blue and white coloring they are conspicuous to predators outside the water. Once they crawled up the hill into the grass where their nests were, their mates came out to meet them. They all squeal and honk and shout to each other to find the right home and mate. And some of them have to march as far as two miles, apparently. I wish they'd allowed pictures. But *sigh* no.
We stayed at the groom's family's vacation house. It was dark, cold and windy outside but the men whipped up a quick meal which was just what the doctor ordered. Then we stayed up laughing and drinking beer and playing cards. So I was beginning to think things were really looking up on the friend front. And I very much enjoyed everyone's company.
Then we got up bright and early. Half the group (who'd been in Australia longer and had already hit the animal parks) left back to Melbourne. The other half (us + 2) went to the koala preserve. So koalas sleep 20 hours a day. No joke. We saw a handful curled up into tight little balls and got lots of pictures. But then we were lucky enough to round a corner and see one just hanging out on a wood railing. And she took off, on all fours, all over the place. With us chasing her with a camera and trying to keep our distance. Again, ridiculously cute.
Back in Melbourne we stayed at a vacation apartment. X and I got our own room and it was pretty big and comfortable. We were located next to the Fitzroy which is our kind of neighborhood. Kind of like the LES in NYC or maybe like Hayes Valley in SF. We found a great little bar with cool murals and awesome sandwiches. At night, there was a dj spinning some cool stuff. For the next few days each person sort of did their own thing. X and I loved 'em, but good God they aren't big partiers. We never went "out" and they went to bed early every night. Oh well. If only the guys in our group didn't keep poking fun at how Aussie's don't know how to drink or party. What is that about? But we poke fun at them back and all seems well. I'm realizing that I would get along with each individual and could probably influence them to do stuff like stay up late but that I simply don't fit in the group dynamic. Once you get a group of people together with certain similarities, the group takes on those similarities as traits. And it doesn't budge for one little person like me.
Anyways, I love Melbourne. They have a free tourist shuttle that circles the city. And cool dive bars. Pretty soon the wedding!
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