My Adventure Down Under

This is our first day of touring. We need at 8:00 a.m. to travel to Healesville, which is in the wine region of Victoria province. It's a clear day and weather about 75 degrees with a slight wind. The mountains are called Dandenong, which is aborigine for "high placees" (the aborigines knew how to cut to the chase when it came to naming things). They are more like foothills although they told us further down the coast there is good skiing.

This is wine country. The Yarra Valley. Grape harvesting begins around March 1 so many of the vines were covered with netting to prevent locals pests from wreaking havoc on the harvest. They also plant rose bushes at the end of the vine rows. Apparently the local flying bugs will eat the sweeter rose petals before the grapes.

On the drive down we learned about two public service announcement projects by the Australian government, both of which are indicative of how folks down here look at life. It's no nonsense, tell it like it is. THe first is their "Dont Drink and Drive" bill boards. They simple say "If you Drink and Drive, Your're a Bloody Idiot!" Of course, someone has created a t-shirt to counter that directive. It says "If you Make it Home, You're a Bloody Hero!"

The second billboard is a campaign regarding skin protection and the sun. Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, and coupled with their lack of workforce and their immigration marketing, they have a real need to protect their population. The campaign starts with the kids. You are required to wear hats with back neck flaps to school. Mandatory. Also, sunscreen is available in most public bathrooms alongside hand soap. It's a generic brand marketed by the government, but everyone uses it. The actual campaign is called "Slip, Slap, Slop." The kids are taught to first SLIP on a t-shirt, SLAP on your hat, and SLOP on your sunscreen. It seems to be working. I just love it!

We arrived at the Healesville Sanctuary. Founded in the early 30's, it's a showcase of indiginous animals exhibited in their most natural habitat, most of which are rescued animals. We are on the "highlights tour" so we do the biggies: koala, emu, wombat, tasmanian devil, platypus, kangaroo, and dingo.

I want to be a koala. Seriously. They sleep 20 hours a day and eat the other 4. If you throw in some cable television, I'm sold! I have a few photos that I hope are ok, but since they are shown in their natural habitat, they are high up in trees asleep.

Emu's are ugly, although they do pose for you. Wombats won't look at you when they are eating, won't acknowledge your presence, sort of like Buddy and Jackie. The tasmanian devil is suffering from a rare form of contagious skin cancer. They are predicted to become extinct in the wild and are being harvested and sent to zoos for preservation. They also can devour a large whale overnight.

The platypus must only been seen without a flash on your camera so I wasn't too interested. They are tiny.

Kangaroo's have such attitudes. We were allowed in an kangaroo enclosure. They just laid until the trees and looked at us with such snootiness. There were both the smaller gray ones but also the large red ones. Disappointing though, no boxing. Here's a freaky stat: they can have one joey in the pouch, about a foot high, another one in there about 2 inches big, and another one inside the body pre-birth. They can also delay the birth for years depending on the climate, resources, etc.... Weird. I like them.

Puppies!!!! Dingos are just great. I want a dingo. Couple maybe. I have a feeling that the ones we saw are laying on someone's living room floor playing with squeeky toys at night.

Saw some snakes too--sort of. I never really SEE snakes at the zoo. I might be in their vicinity, giving the false impression that I'm really looking at them, but not really. And of course, every one down here is poisonous. I hurried through the enclosure to the next open room, only to run into a guy with a python around his neck. Not fair. He actually thought I might touch it. He doesn't know me very well. Got a picture though!

After the animals it was off to the real exhibit everyone was waiting for: wine tasting! We visited Chateau Yearing. Old historic winery/home. The luncheon was great! Also found out that Melba toast and Peach Melba was named after the opera singer Dame Nellie Melba who lived and is buried at the estate next door.

While casually walking to the front door, admiring the vegetation, an attack was launched with split second accuracy, such indescribable viciousness. Bushfiles! Good lord, these tiny flies are after your tears, your mucus in your nose and saliva in your mouth. That's gross to even type! We all started running toward the door and realized that the can of Deet insect repellant was on the bus. Next time!

After a great lunch, we had a 45 minute ride back to Melbourne. We had a great bus driver named David Smith, or Smitty. Just like Crocodile Dundee, very funny. On the way back the tour guide said we could spot some live kangaroos on the hillside, usually in "mobs." We were all looking for them when David piped up that it's easier to spot a dead one than a live one because they mark them with a red X on the roadway so they can dispose of them. Now, it was a contest to find a dead one. Everyone was intently glaring out the windows for the dead one. Finally, David explained "here comes one." People rose up out of their seats to see it. Applause for the dead one. It was a very dark and funny moment.

I was so very tired when we returned and Sue and I agreed not to go to dinner (many other passengers cancelled their reservations). I went to bed early too, since my day tomorrow would begin at 5:00 a.m.!

Overall, it feels kind of wierd to say that the highligt of a day was seeing a dead animal, but I guess after wine tasting, it takes on a special kind of fascination. I'm just glad David didn't stop the bus for a Kodak moment!

More tomorrow, after we have our first round of golf!