It's a small world...

Yesterday I was watching the morning news while getting ready and one of the stories talked about Michigan. They did the little tag and mentioned violence in Michigan. I rolled my eyes, thinking CO had more fuel for his Michigan teasing, but kept the tv on that station, my curiousity piqued. As it turned out, there was a story about a little town called Grand Rapids (lol) and a pillow fight held there over the weekend. I kept watching, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. How strange to be in Melbourne, hearing news about GR!

And then, yesterday on the train, I sat next to a couple of Brazilian women and their children. I got to practice my Portuguese. I'm getting kind of rusty at speaking - the words don't come to mind as quickly as they used to :( but I held my own and could converse pretty well. Funny that out of a whole train, I sat next to them!

Why is it...

... that Subway's baking bread smells so delicious every time I walk by, but their sandwiches just don't deliver??

Penguins!

So, until I figure out how to download my one picture of a penguin, you just get the story :)

We went to Phillip Island and had a great time!

We went to the chocolate factory and bought a chocolate shaped like a penguin- how wonderful!

We hiked along Cape Woolamai, which is another back-up site for the Bells tourney.

We went all over the island - to Smiths Beach, and also to Cowes, and to the Nobbies (it stunk, but was free.)

Then to the Penguin Parade. We bought Penguin Plus tickets (around $30/person) and showed up around 5:30. We wandered around the cafe and giftshops, then got to go outside to the seats around 6:15. We got popcorn to eat while waiting - kind of commerical, but hey, we got to see penguins! So around dusk, the ranger explained what was going to happen.

The penguins are out in the ocean all day long fishing and come back to land to mate and socialize. It's kind of crazy - they wait just offshore until they have a group of 15-50 and then all pop up onto the beach at the same time! And then there's a little break, and then another group pops up! One group at a time waddles across the beach and then off to their burrows in the grasses. There's a break for a few minutes, then the next group comes. It's quite hilarious to watch them waddle - I think they must be much more graceful in the water! It is amazing how they come in at nearly the same time each day, and in such big groups. We really enjoyed our time watching the penguins!

As you leave, the rangers remind you to check under your cars because sometimes the penguins hide under them.

If you go, be sure to bundle up because it gets cold and windy!

Hopefully, I'll post pictures one of these days...

There were supposed to be pictures :(

But apparently there's a virus on my USB storage-thingy (yeah, I'm all into technical terms).

Sad day.

Plus, the Geelong Cats lost yesterday.

Sad day again.

It's Grand Final Day!

-cue western themed music for showdown-

The Geelong Cats will face off against the Hawthorn Hawks today at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) in the final of the Australian Rules Football league. Our blessed Bulldogs lost to the Cats last weekend, but we're still going to cheer for the Cats (our Uncle John cheers for the Bulldogs, but our other relatives cheer for the Cats).

It is an absolutely beautiful spring day and it's really strange because no one is outside! It's a ghost town out there! CO and I are heading to the pub with our cousins (Cats fans) to cheer on the Cats - the game starts in less than an hour, so I had better go put on my blue and white!

(post on penguins coming soon - they were wonderful! We had a great time on Phillip Island!)

Happy Feet? More like Surf's Up...

CO surfed Bells today. Uh, let me just say that he was more than a little excited about it. I don't have pictures because I had to work. :( He's not home yet, so I'll tell you how it went later.

But, as a reward for my hard work, we're going tomorrow to see PENGUINS! Not just any penguins, but little penguins (aka fairy penguins!)!!!! I got a little preview tonight at the pier of the adorable little creatures. Yay! I'll try to post pictures as soon as I can :)

Speaking of wild animals, we had dinner with our friends from South Africa last night, and they were telling us all kinds of fabulous South African wildlife stories. Like when they were charged by an elephant and thought they were going to die. And when Robyn was 8 and she got out of one 4 wheel drive vehicle and got into the other, and her mom took a picture of it and when they developed the picture, there was a cheetah just 3 feet behind Robyn! They had all kinds of good stories!!

Holy Smokes!

One thing I forgot about in thinking about living in a city/by a city, whatever, is the amount of smoke you have to deal with. Gosh, it seems like everyone and their brother smokes here. It's just plain gross. Also gross are the commercials they run to get people to stop smoking - they show the amount of tar you get in your lungs if you smoke, and the junk that builds up in your esophagus. Eeeew!!