Dan & Olive's - International Travels (DO-IT): Melbourne, Bendigo & the Great Ocean Road, Australia (Feb 22

We flew to Melbourne ("Melbun" in Aussie English) on Feb 22 where we met up with Jen, a life-long friend of our daughter Christina. Jen grew up in Kamloops, BC (where we previously lived for 14 years) and was often in our home. We became friends with her family through the girls involvement in sports and school activities. Jen is engaged to Wez, an Aussie, and they are planning their wedding for later this year. They rent a little "character home" in Melbourne and offered to let us stay for a few days.

While the rainforest around Cairns was very green, the fields around Melbourne were very brown due to a prolonged dry spell

A Lorikeet feeding on a pear in Jen & Wez's back yard

On Sunday the 23rd, Jen took us to see a few sites in Melbourne. We started off visiting the St. Kilda market where each Sunday morning they set up booths with interesting arts and crafts. The area is so picturesque (reminded us of White Rock, BC) and has a long promenade where you can stroll along the ocean front and watch people who are out in the water, or enjoy picnics or playing at the beach. From St. Kilda, we made our way back to Federation Square, stopping for a time at the large Shrine of Remembrance and walking through the Queen Elizabeth gardens. We continue to be amazed at the diversity of the plant and animal life that is so different from what we are used to in Canada.

Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne

View from a climb up the Shrine of Remembrance with Jen

Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Melbourne

Huge Melbourne Cricket Grounds in the background - locally known as the "G"

The next day after supper, Jen and Wez took us to a national park just on the outskirts of Melbourne where on previous visits, they have spotted wild kangaroos. Sure enough, just at dusk, we were fortunate to find a mob of kangaroos and it was great to see them in the wild.

One of a mob of wild kangaroos

Jen & Wez with wild kangaroos in the background

On Feb 25, Olive's sister Violet, and her husband Peter came to pick us up for a visit to their home. They live about an hour and a half outside of Melbourne, in a city called Clifton Springs. Peter had booked time off of work to do some exploring with us and so on Feb 26, we set out for the city of Bendigo where Peter had lived as a youngster.

Bendigo was once a gold mining town and remnants of the importance of the gold rush still exist. In a city park, we climbed up the Poppet Head lookout tower and were able to get a good view of the city and surrounding area.

Poppet Head Lookout tower in Bendigo

In a nearby park (Rosalind Park) we were amazed to find some of the treetops dotted with large bats hanging upside down and appearing like hanging fruit. The bats, called either fruit bats or Grey-headed Flying Foxes, remained in the trees all day long and then became active at night.

Fruit Bats also called Grey-Headed Flying Foxes in the trees in a city park

Look at the "look" I got from this Fruit Bat

Other things we saw in Bendigo included Peter's elementary school (Camp Hill State School), the Police Barracks, the Conservatory, Botanic Gardens, a pottery shop, and a Chinese museum and temple. We took an afternoon road trip to nearby Lake Eppolock, a dam and reservoir where Peter watched boat races as a boy. The other thing we really enjoyed in Bendigo was the pathways around Lake Weeroona, located directly across the road from our hotel. On our walk we were able to spot numerous birds and a water rat. Peter had an immense knowledge of local flora and fauna and it was great to learn from him the names and bird calls of most of the birds.

Pair of Red-Rumped Parrots (you can only see their red rumps when they fly)

A rare spotting of a River Rat

From Bendigo, we made our way to Echuca where we took a lunch cruise on the Murray River on the paddlesteamer, the Emmylou. This offered another opportunity to see more interesting wildlife and trees in addition to enjoying a scrumptious lunch. Echuca reminded us of Barkerville (a town in BC that represents the goldrush days) as the town has a saw mill, blacksmith shop, museum and numerous shops with gold rush memorabilia.

Murray Riverboat Cruise with Vi & Peter

A Darter on the Murray River

One other trip we also did with Vi and Peter was to take a drive out to the Great Ocean Road with stops at Apollo Bay, Bells Beach (a famous surfing beach in Australia) and Lorne, a beautiful resort town with numerous Yellow Crested Cockatoos in the town.