Australian Animals at Healesville Sanctuary

This is one last post about my time with my parents and aunt and uncle. When they came back through Melbourne after their time in New Zealand, we had a day to enjoy some Australian sights. Our first stop was Brighton Beach for "morning tea." I bought them various flavored macaroons from the market and brought along some strawberry lemonade.

Speaking of the market, I brought them all to the South Melbourne Market first thing in the morning and made them go pick out and buy their own meat item for lunch. They had fun navigating the crowds, seeing Australian items for sale (lamb and kangaroo), and trying out their knowledge of the metric system and Australian currency!






After morning tea, we drove out near Healesville Sanctuary and I cooked up a BBQ lunch while my family took a short hike in the park. The flies were insane and prevented us from even sitting down while eating, but we made it work. Then it was off to Healesville Sanctuary, where you can see all of the Australian animals in one place.

We started our visit with the bird show. They flew all around our heads while we learned facts about them.

The best part was when this eagle spotted a wild version of itself high up in the sky. Well, the wild one spotted this one too, and ended up swooping down incredibly close. We almost got to witness an attack; you could tell the handler guy was kind of freaking out!

Sleepy dingo.

After the bird show, we walked around the other exhibits, checking out several Australian animals. I've included a few of my favorite pictures for you to enjoy: a dingo, emu, lyrebird, red kangaroo, koala, pelican, colorful bird of some sort, Tasmanian devil, and kookaburra.

It's hard to believe that we won't be living in the land of these animals much longer. The shipping company came today and packed up all our things to send to California. We rented a car and made one trip to the op shop and two trips to the rubbish collection place. We're down to just one large backpack and one daypack for ten weeks of survival. This is getting really real!

Sunday Brunch and BBQ

Zack and I sort of have a new tradition. We go to brunch on the weekend...sometimes just the two of us, sometimes with friends. We've been trying various places around South Melbourne. St Ali's is one of our favorites. However, this past Sunday, we had to go back to Cafe Sweethearts, because I had seen what looked like American-style bacon on someone's plate last weekend after I had already gotten my pancakes. I know I've mentioned it before, but bacon here is not how bacon should be. It's basically pieces of ham. So I asked the waitress to tell them to cook it extra extra crispy. She described it as, "Make it look like it's been dragged through hell and back?" "Exactly," I agreed. You can see the results below, along with my obligatory chai latte. It was pretty darn good, though still a little too thick. Oh, how I miss good bacon!

Later in the afternoon, we met up with Klem and Vesna near the beach in Elwood for a BBQ. Even though it's supposedly springtime, it was windy and freezing. Not the best weather for a BBQ, but Vesna's delicious chocolate cake made it worth the trip! I like how Australia provides these BBQ areas near beaches and in parks that you can use for free.

Anyway, that's how we spent some of our Sunday. Oh yeah, and Notre Dame is now 7-0. Go Irish!!!