Koalas, Penguins, Dolphins, and Roos......

We returned home from our trip to Melbourne and vicinity late last night. We had a really nice few days. It was our first trip to Australia. A few impressions- the Victoria area (state Melboure is in) is very flat. Flat as a pancake for miles and miles. It is also very dry. They are running only around 30% of water in reserve in the wells. Conservation and water reclaiming is key. You could see lots of dried up lakes and rivers. The swine flu mania has also hit Melbourne. We got temperature scanned in the airport and they were also shutting down schools the last few days. The Victoria state has around 4 million people (about the size of NZ) and Melboure has something like 3 million people (double the size of Auckland). Melbourne is light years ahead of Auckland when it comes to public infrastructure..... they have a free city circle tram, light rail service and train service. Overall, it was a cosmopolitan city that was friendly and clean and was doing a lot of right things to draw in the tourists. Melbourne was one of the richest cities in the world in the late 1800's and it still shows. Here are some trip highlights:


Pictures- http://picasaweb.google.com/jandlmarshall/Melbourne2009_05_21?authkey=Gv1sRgCM-Hqv2J0-rZhgE#

Thursday- We arrived in Melbourne on Thursday and got settled in a B&B that used to be an old stone bakery. We did a walking tour around the city and also made a visit to the aquarium. It was a well done aquarium with peppy penguins and rangers that gave some interesting talks about the wildlife. Thursday night was saw Billy Elliot the Play in the theater district. It is about a kid in England in the 1950's who is supposed to be learning to box and instead turns to ballet. I believe this show is coming to the DSM Civic Center (or has been already). Go see it if you get the chance. We really enjoyed it.

Friday- We started the day by going to Victoria's Market. There are 1,000+ stalls at the outdoor market- everything from shoes, to clothes, to fruit, veggies, meat and gourmet shops. In the afternoon we rented a tandem bike and cycled the trail that runs along the Yara River. That evening with had dinner in the Italian District.

Saturday- We picked up a car and headed south out of town to Phillip Island. The main reason for going here was to visit the koala conservatory and see the Penguin Parade. First stop was the koala's. We found out the koala's are extremely lazy. To find a koala, you look for a furry butt sleeping in the tree. Check out the pictures..... you will see what I mean. We also saw a wallaby (small kangaroo) at the koala conservatory as well. Next stop was the Penguin Parade. The island is home to a large populate of Little Penguins (yes, this is the official name). The Little Penguin is the smallest penguin. The little penguin will spend 2 - 3 weeks at sea fishing. At dusk, there is a particular beach where any penguins that are back from fishing nest at. All the penguins come in at dusk in waves. So, you will see groups of 50 - 100 of the penguins come to shore, cross the beach and go to their nests in one wave after the other. The penguins have their nightly parade choreographed pretty well- one group makes it across the beach and the next group comes out of the ocean to start the journey. Pictures weren't allowed during the penguin parade but you can see one here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_penguin

Sunday- Sunday we took a car ferry to cut time off the driving and had a couple dolphins visit the boat during the trip. They didn't stick around long, but we at least got a look. The goal for Sunday was driving along the Great Ocean Road on the southern coast of Victoria. This is kind of like driving Hwy 1 in CA- very scenic and also listed as one of the top drives in the 1000 Places to Visit book. At the end of Great Ocean Road is what I really wanted to see. The Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles are majestic rock formations standing off the beach. It told John we drove 150 miles to see rocks.... but it was worth it. Sunday night we stayed at another B&B along the Great Ocean Road. We had wine and cheese with the owner and her friend and heard some local stories about kangaroos getting in the road (just like the deer in IA).

Monday- We woke up to rain Monday morning. The locals were happy as they will take any moisture that comes around. We had hoped to see whales on Monday put they were not yet in the harbour for the birthing season. We headed back to Melbourne to head home. Highlight at the Melbourne airport---- Krispy Cream donuts! Can't buy one of these in NZ!

Now back to work for a few days. This weekend we have another 3 day weekend. It is the Queens Birthday..... got to love the queen for giving everyone a holiday for her birthday.

Bike to work week support

John took one for the bike club last week. As we are the International contingent of BOW WOW HOT International, he felt it was his duty to represent the NZ contingent of the club and ride to work for Bike to Work week in Des Moines. It was cold, he got rained on, had a flat tire on the way home and rode in the dark. But you can say part of us held up their end of the deal. I on the other hand rode when it was nice and warm on Sunday---- I think that counts though as it was only Saturday in DSM. Congratulations to the group for coming in 2nd place on entries! That is great!

We saw the premier of Angels and Demons last week with our free tickets from the newspaper. The movie gets two thumbs up! I liked it better then Da Vinci Code.

On Friday night we met our friends Sarah and Rod for drinks. We celebrated Sarah landing a job with a big advertising firm. She has been out of work for 6 months. It took about 4 months for her to get a work visa after they moved here from England and a couple months for her to find a job. Saturday we met up with Jo and Nick who showed us around when we came to Auckland for job interviews last Sept. Jo used to work with John while he was at Pioneer. She lives here in Auckland. They just moved into a new house and are working on getting settled. Sunday John went out sailing with the guy that he has been going with ..... sounds like it was a nice time except for getting rained on. Notice the rain theme continues to build......

We leave for Melbourne on Thursday. I will have lots of pictures and stories to share next week.

Land of the long white cloud....

Well, winter has arrived. The papers say it has even arrived early. It has been raining for a good week now and has been in the 40's all week. We have been starting a fire every night and getting out the winter clothes. We have also been experiencing a lot of squalls. Around here, a squall is a brief, isolated, heavy rain. Often, it will be raining in a small spot and the sun is out as well. There have been a few times where the sun is blinding you when you are driving but you are still running the windshield wipers. I have seen more rainbows in the last couple weeks then I have seen in my life. There has also been a lot of hail. One beach town a couple hours from here got a couple inches of hail..... it looked liked it had snowed.

Since it has gotten cold and rainy we have been spending our free time working on the house. We painted the family room over the weekend. We are slowly ticking off getting the rooms painted and getting closer to the big projects. We need to totally gut our bathroom and redo all the floors. I have John talked into buying a tv as well.

On Sunday, we went a play at the Auckland Theater called "She Stoops to Conquer". The play was originally written in the late 1700's by William Goldsmith but was updated to 1950's. It was kind of a Shakespearean comedy. It was well done and would be perfect for the Stoner Theater in DSM (better then a couple that we have seen there!).

I also won tickets to see the NZ premier of Angels and Demons with Tom Hanks. The local newspaper ran a contest and my name was drawn. We see the premier tomorrow night. I will have to post a review!

Auckland #4

The Mercer Quality of Living survey was released last week. The survey is based on political, social, economic, and environmental factors. Auckland was ranked as forth in the world for quality of life. Auckland ranked behind Vienna, Zurich, and Geneva. Even more reason to come visit us!

Not much new around here. Friday and Saturday were rainy and cold. We started the fire place for the first time over the weekend. Auckland houses are not built with heating. If you want heat, you use space heaters or a fire place. I am really missing being able to just flick a switch and instant warmth. I have not mastered getting the fire going for any extended period of time.

Sunday was a beautiful fall day. I planted some tulip bulbs out front. The display signs at the store assure me they will actually come up and bloom in NZ. But I am not so sure.... it seems way to warm for bulbs. We will see what happens come spring. We also continued to finish off painting the kitchen. One more room that I can call done!

For fun, we went out with Sarah and Rod for drinks and dinner on Friday night. Saturday night John and I saw the movie The International. This probably played in the States months ago. I tried to rent Bottle Shock last month (which was out in the States last Aug or Sept). I was told it is not available to rent yet..... as it is being released on big screen in NZ this month! There is the same issue with TV shows. NZ gets all the big US tv shows..... except they are 1 - 2 seasons behind. So, while the quality of living is high, the quality of movie and tv show timeliness if low. That is what you get for living in a market the size of Colorado!