Last day in Victoria....

And it's been a doozy....mostly good, with the occasional hiccup and hail storm.

On the doozy side:

Heavy rains & severe winds continued on and off through the night and morning. Not the end of the world, but 60+ mph winds does impact a 4hr hike on coastal cliffs. Guess I'll have to come back.

The benefit:

(a) 3.5hrs at an animal sanctuary that I hadn't planned to visit. They let me in early. I was the only guest for at least an hour! I pet a Koala. I fed kangaroos, which is quite fun! I saw my first Tazmanian Devil - they don't seem nearly as destructive as the one on cartoons :-). I saw not one but two Joeys in the pouch; three if you count the little guy who was upside down & just showing his booty.

Tazmanian Devil

Baby!

This is Dez....the girl koalas don't like him b/c he's from the north (short hair) and looks small to them.

There are 3 kangaroos trying to eat....

This is the third, patient smaller kangaroo finally getting a turn to eat.

Wombat

An albino kangaroo....who knew

Emu....a very large bird! Second only to Ostrich.

(b) made it into Melbourne in time to see two more Monet paintings at the National Gallery. For free, which turned out to be a good thing!

 

On the doozy side:

I parked in front of the hostel to check in. The front desk said it was okay. I brought my bag in, came back downstairs and saw an officer writing me a ticket. For $141!!! He was very nice, but gave me the ticket. He told me where to write to ask for an exception.

 

The benefit:

(a) one hour free Internet from the guilt-ridden front desk

(b) dinner for under $10 at the hostel bar. I wasn't going back out after finding a place to park!

 

My biggest disappointment in Australia so far....actually, my only one probably. This is a plastic sign in a souvenir shop....these signs do exist on roads, but I have yet to find one!

My last photo in Melbourne. This was taken on the "space deck" - the roof deck of the hostel where I'm staying tonight.

My parking spot is good until 5am, so I will be up and outta here by 4:45am. Will fly to Brisbane next....should get some wifi up there at some point. More soon.

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