Three Days in Melbourne

From warm, sunny Sydney we flew to colder, cloudy/rainy Melbourne. After settling into our hotel in the afternoon (fine, but nothing like the cool 1888 Hotel we had near Darling Harbour), we walked to the river for dinner. We found a nice Italian place on a second story with a river view and I enjoyed duck while Dick had clams and pasta. The next day we drove northeast in the rain to visit Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. We walked for at least two hours in the rain because it was the only day we had to explore outside of Melbourne. We were not disappointed, as we got to watch kangaroos, wallabies, duck-billed platypus, cockatoos, cockatiels, parrots and parakeets, spoonbills, snakes, and so many more native Australian animals.

Emu

Parrots

Friendly (human-raised) parrot

Royal Spoonbills

Rare red-tailed cockatoo

Who knows? But god! Isn't it cute?!

A lyre bird

Then were the mammals and marsupials:

A Wallaby

A Dingo

A Kangaroo

My favorite were the koalas. I could have watched them all day, even though they don't move fast or often. They just looked incredibly cuddly! I wanted to bring one home!

Dick kindly bought me a stuffed animal koala when I was at my conference the next day, who I have named Healey after the park.

My conference, the International Society for Arts Education, was excellent, and my presentation went well. The conference was at the famous Melbourne Cricket Club, most beloved by cricket fans. I noted a number of ideas I plan to bring back to my College of Education.

MCC (Melbourne Cricket Club)

There is a major fine for any fan daring to touch foot on the blessed grass...

Outside the conference, we had a chance to see some of the city highlights, including Chinatown.

Dick's fav

Street scene

LOVE this sculpture!

LOVE this banner!

Chinatown

Our last night we had the pleasure of attending the latest production of Les Miserables at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was "the event" in the city. We ate at a Chinese restaurant right next to the theatre and had great seats for the production. I did not like the original production, but this one was wonderful. Dick had never been and seemed to enjoy it as well.

Looking out from Her Majesty's Theatre

Concessions