Australia melbourne zoo

 At the Melbourne Zoo you could get really close to the animals


  really close


  Stupid auto focus on my camera.  Who wants to take a picture of a fence?



 Look at all the scars on that guys face.  Warrior!


 I don't know if these were part of the zoo or just wandering around cuz they weren't in any kind of enclosure



 cute turtle

 Giant Tortoise.  Huge!

 I am a child.  This makes me laugh hard.

 Happy Lizard

Orangutan in a blanket.  Which she then pulled over her head to block out everyone.  How can you not believe in evolution after seeing something like that?

 Lazy turtle riding a lizard's back

 In this part of the zoo, the ostriches were just walking around following us.

 that is one close bird!

 Not a baby hippo, a pygmy hippo!

 Gorilla sitting on its blanket.  And when it got up and moved it took the blanket, which it proceeded to put back down when it sat down again.  Smart!

 Someone look at me!

 Tiny tiny penguins. 

Wombats sleep like dogs apparently.

Australia-Great Ocean Road

 Day trip to Great Ocean Road.  The biggest national monument in the world. built by soldiers returning from the war to honor their fallen comrades.  pretty cool actually.

Here is the beginning.

yup, just a bunch of people standing around waiting to take a picture

Eventually you make it to the good part.  The 12 apostles.  Stones in the water.  Even though we only counted 8.

 

At first it was cloudy, but then the sun came out and it was a lot better.

 It was also cold and windy.  Either that or Kaori didn't want to listen to me anymore.

 Very beautiful coast.  And the road follows right along that coast, every single twist and turn.  Car sick much?

 also, because I have a tiny head she always leaned back to make our heads look similar size.




Then we went to a Koala park.  Or a park that had a couple of Koalas in its trees.

Can you see it?

And these colorful birds.

Also this old man with his over-sized clothes.

Then we came to a gorge

 Gorgeous isn't it?

the back end of the gorge with limestone stalactites.

A picture I like at the end of the day at a marina.

Great Ocean Road was pretty good.  I wish I had had a coat though.  Brrr!

Australia- Melbourne

First I would like to thank my hosts for the week, Nozomi and Kaori.  it is too bad this is such a crap picture.
 Melbourne skyline


 tram line down the center of the street.  Be careful of trams!


Through a park



At night

 A cool cafe/bar underneath a bridge right on the river

 Graffiti alley.  It is a tourist attraction

 Coffee and sudoku

 good times




Okay stop taking our picture

Fine, I will just take your picture aka Fancy boy Alex

 Melbourne State library's reading room.  Gorgeous

 It houses Ned Kelly's armor.  Ned Kelly is a famous outlaw in Australia.  He wore armor and the police couldn't kill him.  Cool.
 Melbourne Gaol (Jail) where they eventually hung Ned Kelly after capturing him

 a tree with paper like bark

 Went to St. Kilda's beach.  Very calm.

Stupid looking dog statue.  Not the statue is stupid, but the dog looks absolute special needs.

 The word choice...Australia!

 Went to the aquarium

 big crab

Cool river shark display.  Danger everywhere in Australia.

 manta ray feeding time.  They were hungry!

 A penguin going to get a rock for its nest

 bringing it back

and placing it into the nest in front of its mate.  Cute!

Kaori looks terrified.  And even though I wear the same shirt in all of these pictures, it is actually three different days.  Gross!