Jon Visits

The South Melbourne Market Tram 96 stop near our place-here I am sending Jon off at the end of his stay.

Back in September, our friend Jon came out to Australia for a three week trip. Before and after his tours of Sydney, Western Australia, and Tasmania, he stayed with us in Melbourne. I've known Jon for about seven years. He was one of the first people to join the soccer team I started back in Denver, and he keeps the Smurf team going today! The Smurfs used to do a lot of camping, karaoke nights, parties, and BBQs together back in the day. It was good to reconnect with a Colorado friend.

Jon and I biked down to Brighton Beach on the afternoon he arrived, with a stop in St Kilda. We got some takeaway from Bala's and enjoyed our lunch on the beach. Luckily, we had a nice, sunny day for our ride.

The next day, I drove Jon down part of the Great Ocean Road. 

He was lucky enough to get to see several Australian animals all in one day!

I spotted this echidna on the side of the road; it looks like it got its nose stuck in some sort of ring!

We saw plenty of kangaroos on the Anglesea golf course.

Jon has a pretty sweet zoom lens, so I used his camera to get this shot of a guy at Bells Beach.

We didn't go all the way to Cape Otway Road, but we saw plenty of koalas near Kennett River.

And while we were out of the car looking for koalas, I spotted a kookaburra!

So I'd say it was a pretty successful day trip down to the Great Ocean Road and hopefully a good start to Jon's Australian experience. He has some cool pictures of the other parts of his trip (and all his trips-he's quite the world traveler) on his website-check it out: www.sunlightpeak.com/travel/

Thanks for the cool pictures Jon, and I hope you enjoyed your time in Australia!

It wasn't easy, but we found a place in Melbourne that serves kangaroo for dinner!

Birds, Not Bunnies

No, the Easter bunny didn't visit this year, but these cockatoos were having a grand ol' time in the park behind our place the other day! I figure this picture can hold you over until I catch up on some blog posts about our Easter weekend spent surfing, camping, and mountain biking. Stay tuned...

Blog About Birds

This blog entry is about the birds I have seen so far in Australia.  Some of them are quite unique.  The two colorful ones above are variations of the crimson rosella.  I thought the one on the right might be a green rosella, but it's got a lot of red on its front.  Anyway, they are members of the parrot family, and they are very bright and pretty.  I saw these two at one of the train stops while riding Puffing Billy.

This guy is a magpie.  You see these black and white birds all over the place, so I'm not even sure where I took this picture.  Yes, I am Googling to find out the names of all of these.  Don't go thinking I'm a bird expert or something!

This little guy on the left is a dusky moorhen.  I found him walking around the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.  He's kind of funny looking, but I like him.  The one on the right is an Australian white ibis.  Check out the beak on that thing!  He was also in Sydney, but near the Archibald Fountain.

Now on the left we have a white-faced heron.  On the right is a darter.  Its head is the only thing that sticks out of the water, and it looks like a snake.  Both of these were in Sydney in or near the water.

I saved the best for last...the sulphur crested cockatoo!  There were a ton of these in the Gardens in Sydney.  I saw one guy feeding them, and a cockatoo even landed on his shoulder.  Then the ranger came by and scolded him for feeding the birds.  These things are huge and loud (in an obnoxious way!).  There are several that hang out in the footy field behind our new place in Melbourne.  I might get sick of them eventually, but for now, I think it's neat to see such big, white birds flying around.  It feels kind of tropical, especially when they're in the palm trees! 

I know there are lots more to discover, but these are the interesting ones I've come across so far.  I don't consider the ducks or seagulls to be interesting!  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your Australian bird lesson for the day.